Park City Creamery Receives Utah Cheese Awards

For the second year in a row, Park City Creamery has been recognized, for its authentic European style cheeses, at the Utah Cheese Awards (UCA) competition. This years competition included 54 entries from 13 companies, with 18 gold medals, 12 silver medals, and 10 bronze medals awarded to participants.

The annual Utah Cheese Awards competition aims to recognize individual cheesemakers and food processors while promoting the quality of local products to Utah and beyond. Makers submit their products, which are judged by a team of individuals representing a cross-section of food-conscious Utahns and the awards reflect the personal tastes of the judges.

This year, Corinne Zinn, owner and cheesemaker of Park City Creamery took home silver, in the soft cheese category, with her Hidden Treasure, a cow’s milk brie-style cheese with truffles, and the bronze award, in the goat sheep category, with her Silver Queen aged goat cheese with vegetable ash.

It’s very rewarding because it’s a lot of work. It feels good to be rewarded by the public for our work. We are doing it with a lot of passion and a lot of love. Using my own personal recipe, I’m happy that people are ready for a new product on the market.

Corinne Zinn, Park City Creamery, owner and cheesemaker

Growing up in the French region of Belgium, Zinn has been using her own personal recipes as well as old French recipes to make her cheese for the past 15 years. Her silver winner, Hidden Treasure, a truffle brie, can take up to 15 days for the perfect rind to form around the cheese. Made with large pieces of truffles, this very flavorful cheese will get creamier in texture and stronger in taste as it ages.

Slice it and let it melt on a steak, or on a burger, or have it with scrambled eggs at Sunday morning brunch with a glass of Champagne.

Corinne Zinn

Winning bronze, the Silver Queen, an aged goat cheese with vegetable ash, is a halo shaped cheese, like a donut, with a hole in the middle. Flavors of lemon, a slight acidity, chalky texture, and vegetable ash, make up this soft cheese creation.

Vegetable ash is shipped to the creamery from France in order for Zinn to replicate an old French recipe derived from dried wine leaves. After the season’s wine harvest, wine leaves are broken down into a fine soot and used to coat the cheese. The ash has been used for centuries to help with preservation and in the early 19th century, cheesemakers discovered that incorporating ash into the brining process could fend off insects and mold.

The Silver Queen is very pretty on a cheese board with jam or berries in the middle. It’s very nice by itself or with a french baguette, pears, apples, or peaches. It’s chalky when it’s young and gets creamier from the outside in as it ages. It gets nice and gooey. It’s a nice mix of textures.

Corinne Zinn

Park City Creamery is a small owned and operated fromagerie, producing five world class, award winning cheeses, including Silver Queen, a goat cheese with vegetable ash, Treasure, a cow’s milk brie-style cheese, Hidden Treasure, a cow’s milk brie-style cheese with truffles, and Mayflower, a fresh goat feta, all made using local Utah cow and goat milk.

I really want to bring something new to Utah. Our cheese is made with local milk. The cows are eating the grass, locally. It’s pretty unique. Our cheese is made with altitude, made in Park City, in the mountains. It makes it really like a product that you would find in Europe at a market. We have everything here that they have in France so why not do it here too?

Corinne Zinn

In 2019, Park City Creamery took home a gold, silver and bronze award as well as best of show.

Because of restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has planned an alternate way to commemorate the announcement of the winners. The results will be included in gift packs, set to be released November 15. The UCA is offering two different gift packs which can be delivered anywhere in the United States. An additional shipment will go out on December 15 for holiday use and gifting.

Complete results will be posted Nov. 15. The packages are available online. The UCA can be contacted with questions at utahcheeseawards@gmail.com or call (435) 213-5444.