The Real Cheese Project calls upon UK to choose its favourite cheese

The Real Cheese Project has announced details of its People’s Cheese 2024: Heritage Edition Final, which will see cheese lovers everywhere invited to join the virtual judging panel and decide on this year’s Champion Cheese. With the final set to be broadcast live from 7pm on Friday 11 October, would-be cheese judges can now order their tasting boxes ready to take part on the night.

Each tasting box will contain wedges of the four People’s Cheese finalists, all selected by the cheese loving public. This year’s ‘Heritage Edition’ has seen the UK’s finest territorial cheeses go head-to-head in a series of public votes at Chiswick Cheese Market, with the people picking their favourite Cheddar, Stilton, Red Leicester, Caerphilly, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, Lancashire, Wensleydale and Dunlop during the Round 1 heats in May, before judging the winners of each category again in July’s Semi-Final.

The People’s Cheese 2024 finalists are; Blue Stilton by Cropwell Bishop Creamery in Nottinghamshire; Extra Mature Cheddar by Keen’s Cheddar in Somerset; Mrs Bourne’s Cheshire Cheese by Bourne's Cheshire Cheese in Cheshire; and Thelma’s Original Caerffili by Caws Cenarth in Carmarthenshire.

The online final and public vote will be broadcast live from Goosnargh in Lancashire, at the home of Mrs Kirkham's Cheese - one the UK’s most admired and respected territorial cheesemakers. The event will be presented by comedian, actor and British cheese champion, Marcus Brigstocke, who will be joined by some of the UK’s top cheese minds to help guide the public judging panel through the tasting.

Continuing The Real Cheese Project’s mission to bring cheese lovers, cheesemakers and cheesemongers closer together, the People’s Cheese 2024 Final tasting boxes will be available to purchase direct from participating independent cheese shops, as well as online via The Real Cheese Project’s website. To take part, cheese fans just need to pre-order their tasting box, await its arrival and tune in on the night.

Earlier this month, The Real Cheese Project also launched a monthly subscription box, created to big up Britain’s artisan cheese community and get more people buying the good stuff. Inviting the curd curious to embark on a real cheese adventure, each Cheese Crowd box will come with a new cheese to try, a monthly cheese zine, a hand-picked pairing, a pin badge for new subscribers, and access to an online tasting to meet the cheesemaker.

5% of all profits will go into a Real Cheese support fund, which will be donated to initiatives that protect, develop and progress real cheese in the UK.

The People’s Cheese 2024 Final tasting boxes are available to purchase from independent cheese retailers across the UK, as well as online. Each box will contain 100g – 150g servings of the four finalists, and are priced at £25 plus postage. The virtual final will broadcast live on Friday 11 October from 7pm.

Full details on participating retailers, how to buy online, and how to join the final tasting, are available at www.therealcheeseproject.co.uk/peoples-cheese.