Dairy scoops best Scottish cheese at British awards

inverness-shire family ‘so delighted’ with their national recognition

By nichola rutherford

Published:

An Inverness-shire dairy has scooped a prestigious award for producing the best cheese in Scotland.

Connage Highland Dairy, based at Milton of Connage, Ardersier, won the prize for Best Scottish Cheese at the 2008 British Cheese Awards at the weekend.

And last night the Clark family, who run the multi-award winning dairy, declared their latest award for their crowdie, one of their most exciting achievements to date.

Callum Clark, one of the partners in the business, said: “We are all so delighted to have won this award.

“Not only does it recognise all the hard work put in by the whole family, but will help us raise the profile of this traditional, but unfortunately lesser known, cheese.”

The award was announced on Saturday, and British Cheese Awards chairwoman Juliet Harbutt paid tribute to the Clarks.

She said: “With 84 other Scottish cheeses vying for the Best Scottish Cheese Awards this year, including several past award winners, this very delicately-flavoured fresh cheese from newcomers the Clark family had to be truly outstanding to beat off such stiff competition, but that is exactly what their Connage Crowdie did.

“They should be very proud, and I hope their success will help focus attention on some of the milder, but more subtle-flavoured, cheese now made in Britain."

The Clarks have been producing their hand-crafted organic cheeses on the family dairy farm for only three years, but have already won an impressive collection of awards.

Crowdie is a traditional vegetarian fresh curd cheese that, it is said, dates back to the Viking era.

Traditionally eaten before a ceilidh, it is supposed to line your stomach and help alleviate the effects of whisky.

Unlike some crowdies, which can be dry, crumbly and high in fat, the Clark family uses simple, traditional methods to produce a unique soft mousse-like crowdie that is light and fresh-tasting.

They make their award-winning cheese from the milk produced by their organic dairy herd of 130 cows, mostly Holstein Friesians with Jersey crosses and Norwegian reds.