McCadam, Great Lakes Honored at State Fair Dairy Competition

From the New York State Fair:

When it comes to cheese, McCadam Cheese Co.'s aged cheddar stands alone. 

It not only won its category in the Great New York State Fair's annual Dairy Products Competition, it also earned the Grand Champion award.

McCadam, which was founded in Heuvelton, St. Lawrence County and now is manufactured in Chateaugay, Franklin County, took first and second place in the aged cheddar category, and it also earned first place honors in two other cheddar categories: current cheddar and super-aged cheddar. Great Lakes Cheese Co. of Adams was the runner-up in the current and super-aged categories.

"The high marks across the board for these products reflect not only the great diversity of dairy products available in New York state, but also the incredibly high quality of these products. These are all products that belong in every New Yorker's kitchen," said Acting State Fair Director Troy Waffner.

Among the highlights of the competitions:

• ​ Garelick Farms of Rensselaer earned a perfect score of 100 in the fluid milk category. Stewarts Processing and Upstate Niagara Cooperative tied for second with 96.3 points.
• Upstate Niagara Cooperative's sour cream earned the only other perfect score of the competition, with the product from HP Hood's Arkport plant finishing a single point behind.
• HP Hood swept the gold and silver medals in all three cottage cheese competitions, for full fat, low fat and nonfat cottage cheeses along with two of the three third place "award of excellence" designations.

Dairy products experts gathered recently at Stocking Hall on the Cornell University campus to judge entries in 21 categories, from goat cheese to sour cream to milk.  

Winners of the New York State Fair Dairy Products Competition were announced on Dairy Day at the Great New York State Fair.