The Dairy Products Competition celebrates New York’s dairy industry and its finest dairy producers and processors from across the state with gold or silver honors, or an Award of Excellence. This year there were 197 entries across 26 categories, including fluid milk, various types of cheeses, sour cream, yogurt, dips, cottage cheese, and for the first time ever, ice cream.
Cheese classes were evaluated by 13 expert judges, including several representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Markets, Cornell University, and Steve Funk from Nelson Jameson. This year, the Chief Judge was Valerie Catlin from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control. Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Milk Quality Improvement Program judged the fluid milk and ice cream portions of the competition.
The winners of this year’s competition were honored, as has been tradition, during a special awards ceremony on Dairy Day at the Great New York State Fair on August 31, 2023.
The winners are as follows:
Competition Winners
Class 1- Current Cheddar
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Great Lake Cheese Cheddar Cheese 98
Silver Great Lake Cheese Cheddar Cheese 97.5
Award of Excellence Agri-Mark Inc Cheddar Cheese 97
Class 2- Aged Cheddar
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Great Lakes Cheese Cheddar Cheese 98.5
Silver Worlds Best Cheese Cheddar Cheese 98
Award of Excellence Argi-Mark Inc Cheddar Cheese 97.5
Class 3- “Super” Aged Cheddar
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Great Lakes Cheese Cheddar Cheese 98.5
Silver Agri-Mark Inc. Cheddar Cheese 97
Award of Excellence Agri-Mark Inc. Cheddar Cheese 96.5
Class 4- Cottage Cheese Full Fat
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Lafargeville 4% Large Curd Cottage Cheese 99
Silver Hood Arkport Small Curd Cottage Cheese 97
Award of Excellence Hood Vernon Small Curd Cottage Cheese 96.5
Class 5- Lowfat Cottage Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Lafargeville Lowfat Small Curd Cottage Cheese 96.5
Silver Hood Arkport Lowfat Cream Cottage Cheese 95.5
Award of Excellence Hood Lafargeville Lowfat Small Curd Cottage Cheese 95
Class 6- Nonfat Cottage Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Lafargeville Nonfat Cream Cottage Cheese 98.5
Silver Hood Lafargeville Nonfat Small Curd Cottage Cheese 94
Class 7- Cream Cheese/ Neufchatel
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Kraft Heinz Regular Cream Cheese 99.5
Silver Kraft Heinz Whipped Cream Cheese 99
Award of Excellence Kraft Heinz Jalapeno Cream Cheese 98
Class 8- Low Moisture Mozzarella
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Great Lakes Cheese LM Whole Milk Mozzarella 96
Silver Great Lakes Cheese LM Part Skim Milk Mozzarella 95.5
Award of Excellence Lactalis American Group LM Part Skim Milk Mozzarella 95
Class 9- Mozzarella, non-pizza
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Lactalis American Group Part Skim Mozzarella 98.5
Silver Lactalis American Group Part Skim Mozzarella 98
Award of Excellence Upstate State Niagara Low Moisture Mozzarella String Cheese 97.5
Class 10- Ricotta
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Lactalis American Group Made With Whole Milk Ricotta 98
Silver Lactalis American Group Double Cream Ricotta 97
Award of Excellence BelGioioso Cheese Inc. Original Ricotta 95.5
Class 11- Provolone
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Lactalis American Group Provolone 98.5
Silver Great Lake Cheese Smoked Provolone 96.5
Award of Excellence Great Lake Cheese Provolone 96
Class 12- Cold Pack/ Process Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Yancey Fancy Maple w/Bacon Cheddar 99
Silver Agri-Mark Inc. Horseradish Cheddar 98.5
Award of Excellence Yancey Fancy Steakhouse Onion 98
Class 13- Flavored Natural Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold BelGioioso Cheese Inc. Smoked Fresh Mozzarella Ball 99
Silver Old Chatham Creamery Fresh Goat Cheese with Cranberries 98.5
Award of Excellence BelGioioso Cheese Inc. Pesto Sliced Fresh Mozzarella Log 98
Class 14- Open Class Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Old Chatham Creamery Nancy’s Hudson Valley Camembert 99.5
Silver BelGioioso Cheese Inc. Fresh Mozzarella Log 99
Award of Excellence Yancey’s Fancy Bergenost 98.5
Class 16- Goat/ Sheep Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Old Chatham Creamery Fresh Goat Cheese w/Garlic &Herbs 99.5
Silver Nettle Meadow Simply Sheep 99
Award of Excellence Cotton Hill Creamery Fresh Goat Cheese 98.5
Class 18- Farmstead/Artisan Cow’s Milk Soft Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Four Fat Fowl St. Stephen 99
Silver Four Fat Fowl CamemBertha 98
Award of Excellence Chuchtown Dairy Coperthwaite 97
Class 19- Farmstead/Artisan Cow’s Milk Hard Cheese
Company Entry Name Score
Gold East Hill Creamery Silver Lake 99
Silver Eden Valley Creamery Alpine Style with Caraway 98.5
Award of Excellence Jake’s Cheese Gouda 95.5
Class 20- Sour Cream
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Arkport Sour Cream 97.5
Silver Upstate Niagara Dairy Sour Cream 96
Award of Excellence Hood Arkport Sour Cream 95.5
Class 21- Buttermilk
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Arkport Buttermilk-Reduced Fat 98
Silver Upstate Niagara Dairy Whole Cultured Buttermilk 97.5
Award of Excellence Argyle Cheese Factory Full Fat Buttermilk 97
Class 22- Dairy Dips
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Lafargeville Heluva Good French Onion 98.5
Silver Hood Arkport Heluva Good French Onion Dip 96.5
Award of Excellence Upstate Niagara Dairy French Onion Dip 96
Class 23- Plain Yogurt
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Hood Vernon Nonfat Plain Yogurt 96.5
Silver Stoltzfus Family Dairy Plain Yogurt 95.5
Award of Excellence Argyle Cheese Factory Greek Plain Yogurt 95
Class 24- Flavored Yogurt
Company Entry Name Score
Gold Argyle Cheese Factory Maple Greek Yogurt 99
Silver Stoltzfus Family Dairy Raspberry Yogurt 97
Award of Excellence Old Chatham Creamery Ginger Sheep Milk Yogurt 96.5
Class 25- Fluid Milk
Overall Company Entry Name
Gold Stewart’s Processing Fluid Milk
Silver Upstate Farms Buffalo Fluid Milk
Small Processor Company Entry Name
Gold Weissmann Farms Fluid Milk
Company Entry Name
Gold Dygert Farms Creamery Chocolate Milk
Gold Stewart’s Processing Flavored Milk
Class 26-Ice Cream
Company Entry Name
Gold Mikey Dubb’s Frozen Custard Vanilla Ice Cream
Gold Stewart’s Processing Chocolate Ice Cream
Gold Stewart’s Processing Open Class Mint Cookie Crumble
2023 Dairy Products Competition
Grand Champion
Four Fat Fowl St. Stephen’s
