Yenra : Cheese : Smoked Cheese

Smoked Oregon Blue, from The Rogue Creamery, Central Point, Ore., was awarded the U.S. Dairy Export Council Award for Best American Cheese, 2004. Harvest Cheese, from Hillman Farm, Colrain, Mass., received Best American Cheese, World Cheese Awards, 2004. These fine cheeses represent the best of what the United States has to offer, said Todd Gerken, USDEC's director of marketing for cheese and manufactured products. The success of Smoked Oregon Blue, Harvest Cheese and the other 224 U.S. entries at this international competition tells chefs and retail buyers that our cheeses are some of the best in the world. This is the second straight year Rogue Creamery has won the USDEC prize. Last year, it won for its Rogue River Blue. This year's winner, a gold medalist in Class 27 (All other smoked cheeses), is a semi-soft, raw-milk blue cheese aged in Rogue's Oregon cave.