World class from Lotenhulle

"Little Cheese Farm" snatched 3 SuperGold medals at the prestigious World Cheese Awards in Oviedo. A cheese competition where 250 professional judges judged more than 4,000 cheeses, say the Oscars of the cheese world. Never before did a Belgian take home 3 SuperGolds! Reason enough for a little celebration in Lotenhulle! Our cheese farm was honoured with 9 medals and is therefore purveyor of the Belgian entries.

At our cheese farm, fresh milk is processed daily from our own cows.
We deliberately choose to milk both Holstein and Jersey cows and mix this milk. This blended milk is richer in proteins and fats than regular milk and gives extra flavour to our farm cheeses.

The common thread running through our story is short chain and respect for animals and the environment.
 

Our prize animals are

Gentenaer SuperGold , BoereJan 30m SuperGold, Ouwe Meetjeslander SuperGold, BoereJan 14m Gold, Maigre du Nord Gold, Maigre des Flandres Gold, BoereJan 2m Silver, BoereJan 5m Bronze and BoereJan 9m Bronze.

Gentenaer is a sweet cheese that matures for 6 months on oak shelves in our traditional maturing facility on the farm. Its typically rich flavour convinced the judges to award the cheese with SuperGold.

BoereJan is a classic example of a rock solid farm cheese, available in different ages. The biggest award went to BoereJan 30m. The other ages were all in prizes as well.

Our last SuperGold is a hard goat's cheese we made for cheese masters Callebaut-Vanhaver from Oudenaarde. Luc Callebaut was the First Cheese Master of Belgium (in 2008) and Nathalie Vanhaver the world champion "Concours Mondial du Meilleur Fromager 2017". The goat's milk comes from farmer Hans from Maarkedal. Here again, the short-chain story remains important.

The rationing of our cows is also partly responsible for their success at the World Cheese Awards! They mainly eat home-grown roughage from the short chain (grass and maize). The Meetjesland meadows are naturally rich in clovers and herbs. All this translates into the delicious taste of our artisanal cheeses.

We are firmly convinced that the future of Belgian dairy farms is to make dairy products for the local market with the existing dairy herd in Belgium. And thus to respond directly to consumer demand for high-quality sustainable products from the short chain.