This is the eighth year for the cheese competition at the Eastern States Exposition (known as the Big E). The Big E starts in September, but the judging for the competition is always in August. (If this feels like deja-vu to you, it’s because I posted articles about this competition in 2014 (click here) and in 2016 (click here).)
I helped out with the judging, along with a whole crew of dedicated volunteers. Last year and this year, I was a steward. There were 4 of us, each assigned to a table of 2 judges. One was a “technical” judge and the other was “aesthetic.” Our job was to give the judges at our tables anything they needed throughout the day. We replenished their palette cleansers, replaced their spit cups, and cleaned their knives between cheeses.
Judgement Day
The judging segment of any cheese competition is always the most important. Some cheese makers submit their entries because they will potentially sell more blue ribbon cheeses than any others. (The general public tends to leave it up to the experts to tell them which cheeses to buy.) Others submit their cheeses because of the written evaluations they receive, whether their cheese wins prizes or not.
Every cheese is tasted and analysed by judges who have qualifications “you read about.” (In fact, you can read about them at the Big E website (click here).) Every cheese submitted gets 2 evaluations-one from each of the judges who scored it. This is a great opportunity for licensed cheese makers to get feedback from the experts.
The location was lovely
The barn is located next to the Mallory Complex, a huge agricultural building.
This is the view from our door. We had our lunch behind the flowers.
Our fearless leaders took charge
Elena Hovnagimian, runs the competition (with grace and dignity).
Bonnie Burr provided adult supervision for the stewards.
Kerrie McKinstry was the official “cheese mover” (but not shaker).
Alicia Audet has a big title- Agriculture and Education Department Coordinator for the Big E, but she stayed behind the scenes this year, organizing the categories of cheeses.
Preparing the Room
Elena gave us our assignments for the day
Here come the judges…
Phil Peterson and Kerry Kaylegian
John Miller and Lisa Caprera
Stephanie Ciano and Shawn Hockert
John Greeley and Stephanie Skinner
They spent the entire day tasting cheese. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Stewards for the judges
Bonnie with Carol Ramponi
U. of Connecticut student Emily Foraver
Marianne McCauley getting bread for her table (used to cleanse the palette)
Anabell Robinson picking out the next cheese for her assigned judges.
Behind the scene and out of sight, the pace was very fast
Ann Talaga is Kerrie McKinstry’s mother. She was labeling the cheeses when I took this photo.
Mary Pouliot put all the cheeses in their categories and then cut cheese at the judging. Mary is a Cheese Specialist for Table & Vine in W. Springfield, MA.
Rebecca Hale worked tirelessly (and cheerfully) the whole day, wrapping and labeling cheeses.
This crew tallied the votes as they came in, so we would be able to choose the Best of Show when the judges were finished with their evaluations – Michael Gauvin, Stephanie Barnes and Betsy Booth.
The cheeses with the highest number of points were put together for one last score
