Barambah Organics take home gold from World Cheese Awards

A Goondiwindi dairy has received gold for not one but two of their cheeses at the World Cheese Awards in Italy.

GOONDIWINDI dairy company, Barambah Organics have won two gold awards at the World Cheese Awards in Bergamo, Italy.

Ian and Jane Campbell have been producing milk from Barambah Organics’ farms near Goondiwindi, Queensland for the last 17 years. They competed against 3804 entries from 42 countries to have two of their soft cheeses named some of the best in the world.

The dairy was awarded gold for its Quark, a European style cottage cheese and its delicious Labna, with fennel and sea salt, which was also named the best variety in Australia at the awards.

Barambah Organics was the only Australian producer to receive two gold awards at the prestigious event.

“This is a real thrill for us. We put so much effort in to ensuring our products are the best they can be for our customers, so it is nice to be rewarded for our hard work,” Mrs Campbell said.

“The first time we entered was 2009 and we got a silver, we were so excited, and the Quark has previously won gold there.

“But to get a gold for it and a gold for the Labna is just fantastic. To be able to shine and stand out with no bling or sparkly packaging is just outstanding.”

There were 250 judges from 35 different countries who assessed the appearance, texture, aroma and flavour of the cheeses, before making their final decisions.

Each cheese received a number of points to determine its ranking, and there were be multiple golds awarded in each category.

Mrs Campbell said only one other Quark cheese received a gold at this year’s awards.

“The cheeses don’t have any markings on them when they are judged, and they are blind tasted, so we know the outcomes are incredibly fair,” Mrs Campbell said.

“It’s a really level playing field and it’s all about the milk and the flavour of the cheese.”

Mrs Campbell said the secret ingredient for their winning cheeses was their fresh, quality milk. And the secret to their quality milk was making sure their cows are properly nurtured and nourished.

“You have to have that good main raw ingredient. It’s working really quickly and efficiently to make sure it is incredibly fresh,” she said.

“The quality and freshness is key. If you have rubbish milk you’ll have rubbish cheese.

“These varieties are not complex cheeses that need to age for months, which is why its so important to have that good raw ingredient.

“They’re not difficult cheeses to make, you just have to have good ingredients, good equipment and work quickly.”

Mrs Campbell said to send their milk to Italy from Goondiwindi, Barambah Organics was competing with some countries where the Quark and Labna cheeses originated.

“There’s a lot of excellent things that are coming out of Southwest Queensland and you just have to have a go and back yourselves and believe that you can,” she said.

“It’s about dreaming big.”

The accolades add to what has been an exciting year for Barambah Organics, with the dairy producer buying a new property in the Bellingen region of NSW. It spreads across more than 405 hectares, through the Bellinger Valley, along the Bellinger River, and will be used to produce its full cream milk.

“We’ll be bottling our milk from the property and we are currently certified ‘in-conversion’ to organic,” Mrs Campbell said.

“We will be fully organic by the end of 2020.”