Best of Budapest & Hungary

Balaton cheese, produced by Balaton cheese, produced by Vászolyi Cheese, was the only Hungarian brand to receive a gold medal from the French jury at the Mondial du Fromage. Cheese, was the only Hungarian brand to receive a gold medal from the French jury at the Mondial du Fromage.

The award was handed over to Vászoly Cheese founder Kálmán Reményik by Mondial du Fromage chief organizer M. Roland Barthelemy (see picture)at the event held this week for the fifth time in Tours, France, forbes.hu reports.

Almost 200 exhibitors from around 50 countries entered 952 cheeses, 153 of which were awarded bronze, silver or gold medals. The event also included the Bocuse D'Or of cheeses, where eleven competitors prepared cheese platters and cheese dishes in front of the spectators.

Vászoly Cheese earned its place at the Mondial du Fromage as the winner of the 2019 Cheese of the Nations competition, and will now return home with the highest professional recognition: it was the only Hungarian brand to receive a gold medal from the French jury.

Balaton is a semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk, which is turned by hand in the ripening room every day for the first two weeks of ripening, every other day until two months old, then twice a week, and the rind is washed with a brine solution.