Cracking cheese - here are wedges of the county's best produce

Katie Matten, left, and Caroline Bell, joint managing directors of Yorkshire cheesemaker Shepherds Purse

Yorkshire-based artisan cheesemaker Shepherds Purse has made history by winning two category gold awards at the Virtual Cheese Awards this year.

The Thirks-based family run business picked up the prizes for its buffalo blue and Yorkshire blue.

It is the first British cheese producer to win two categories – Best Artisan Soft and Best Blue – in the contest since it launched four years ago.

The Virtual Cheese Awards connects judges through Zoom and broadcasts the feedback live online for all to see.More than 200 British cheeses were entered.

Botton Village Camphill Trust produces cheese

Yorkshire Blue topped the Blue Cheese category with the judges describing it as “creamy but with a real hit of blue – it is not for the faint-hearted but a brilliant blue that is big and gutsy with plenty of flavour with a slight twang of bitterness at the end”.

Its cheeses also won two class golds in the first round of the awards buffalo milk soft and soft blue and three class bronzes for Harrogate blue, organic Yorkshire blue and Mrs Bell’s salad cheese.

Caroline Bell, joint managing director of Shepherds Purse, said: “We’re delighted to have won not one but two of the category golds.

"They are prestigious, very well respected and sought-after awards in the cheese industry so we are thrilled with our wins.”

Jimmy Dickinson with the cottage cheese in the Longley Farm factory

Shepherds Purse, based near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was established by Judy Bell who discovered her passion and talent for cheesemaking as she built her flock of milking sheep on the family farm.

It’s now run by her two daughters Caroline Bell and Katie Matten and produces a range of 10 award-winning cheeses using a variety of milks including sheep, cow and water buffalo.

The first award it ever won was a gold medal at the International Cheese Awards in 1989 for the first cheese it ever made.

In its 35-year history, the family has won more than 400 awards. Mrs Bell’s blue was awarded three stars at the Great Taste Awards – the Oscars of the food and drink world last year, beating 14,000 other products from 100 countries.

“Cracking cheese, Gromit,” is Wallace’s refrain especially when describing Wensleydale and singing the praises of Yorkshire’s bounty.

Other county cheeses include

Wensleydale Creamery

For a long time it was the sole producers of Wensleydale cheese in the dale. It still makes Wensleydale and other cheeses at Hawes and Kirkby Malzeard, ranging from flavour added to more traditional recipes, such as the lovely Kit Calvert and a modern take on Wensleydale blue.