Schools
18 September, 2023
Cheesy grins for Caboolture State High School students
CABOOLTURE State High School students have proven they’re on par with professional cheese makers, with the Royal Queensland Show’s (Ekka) Student Made Cheese Competition Awards taking place at the Brisbane Showgrounds last week.
Pimpama State Secondary College won the Mould Ripened Cheese White category for the second consecutive year, with a camembert entry titled Cheeseter MkII.
Chief Judge and dairy expert Russell Smith said the winning cheese was commercial quality.
“The cheese was absolutely superb and I don’t think fellow judge Mark Livermore and I have seen a better camembert entered in this competition before,” he said.
The Mould Ripened Cheese Blue category was taken out by Caboolture State High School for their entry titled Ashlee H. The school also claimed second place for their Archie H entry.
“Overall this year, the cheeses were better than we’ve ever judged in this competition,” Mr Smith said.
“Both Mark and I found it hard to believe how consistently good the cheeses were – we even scored them higher than a lot of commercial cheeses we judged in the Royal Queensland Cheese and Dairy Awards in May.
“Gumlu State School in north Queensland entered kangaroo shaped cheeses which were a lot of fun and also well made.”
Tullawong High School beverage champion
Meanwhile, Tullawong State High School claimed the Champion Fermented Beverage award in the Agricultural Sciences and Student Fermented Beverages Competition for their Team#1 Cabernet.
Mr Smith said the cabernet sauvignon was excellent quality red wine.
“The winning wine had some gorgeous complex flavours, so it was really quite a sophisticated wine that I would not expect to come from a school.”
Judging took place over two days, with 129 cheeses and 49 beverages entered by 25 schools.
Results:
Student made cheese:
Class 1 - Mould Ripened Cheese - White; 1st Place: Pimpama State Secondary College - Jahrome Bradfield and Shavanna Walker - Cheeseter MkII; 2nd Place: Toowoomba Grammar School - Toowoomba Grammar Delish; 3rd Place: Harristown State High School - Emily, Lilli, Emmy - HSHS Cheese Wisely.
Class 2 - Mould Ripened Cheese - Blue; 1st Place: Caboolture SHS - Bluey - Ashlee H; 2nd Place: Caboolture SHS - Archie H - Notes; 3rd Place: Beerwah State High School - Blue Ribbon Buddies - The Blue Wheel of Fortune.
