Golden Hooves grabs Gold, Silver and Bronze at International Cheese & Dairy Awards

Regenerative dairy start-up, Golden Hooves has landed a hefty haul of trophies at the International Cheese & Dairy Awards in Staffordshire, coming home with Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for its Vintage Cheddar, as well as its Smoked Cheddar being named second best hard smoked cheese in the world.

Underlining how outstanding levels of taste and quality can be achieved when farming with nature, these awards will help to shine a spotlight on the rapidly emerging regenerative movement which Golden Hooves sits at the forefront of. On a mission to get more people eating regenerative food and drink every day, the British farmer-owned dairy brand is committed to making it easier for people to make better choices for the planet; combining exceptional taste and great looking products with sustainable credentials that are backed up by extensive research and data analysis.

Launched just two months ago, Golden Hooves Smoked Cheddar claimed Silver in the Naturally Smoked Cheese – Hard Class, taking its place among the most respected smoked cheeses on the planet. Golden Hooves Vintage Cheddar won Gold in the Best Welsh Cheese category, as well as Silver in the Past Masters Class, and Silver and Bronze medals in the Vintage Cheddar Class.

Stocked exclusively in independent retail stores, including delis, food halls and farm shops, Golden Hooves has filled its trophy cabinet at the first time of asking in 2024, with its Vintage Cheddar winning a Gold at the British Cheese Awards, also picking up a Silver in the Packaging category, and its Red Leicester winning a Gold at the Virtual Cheese Awards 2024, alongside Silver awards for its Mature Cheddar and Vintage Cheddar.

First Milk, the source of all the milk that goes into Golden Hooves products, is a certified B-Corporation and was awarded the King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development in 2023. Using grazing cows to work the land with their hooves, Golden Hooves’ farmers are striving to encourage plant and wildlife biodiversity, protect the soil and maintain living roots, a process which is believed to remove carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it into the soil.

Leona McDonald, director of Golden Hooves, commented:

“We’re thrilled to have done so well during our first appearance at the International Cheese & Dairy Awards – buzzing in fact, like all the insects on our biodiverse farms! It’s not easy to launch a new cheese, let alone spearhead a regenerative movement, so these accolades will give us all a boost, from our farmers to our cheesemakers, and everyone else who’s helping to make this happen. We all need to engage more with where our food comes from, and shiny trophies like this will make people more curious and confident about regenerative agriculture and how it can be a solution to climate change, as well as supporting our British farmers who are producing some of the best tasting cheeses out there. And that is official!”

Golden Hooves cheese is available to purchase from independent retailers across the UK, as well as online at thecheesemarket.co.uk. RRP £4.05 for Vintage Cheddar 200g and £4.45 for Smoked Cheddar 200g.

For more information about Golden Hooves, visit www.goldenhooves.co.uk.