(225) 644-6000                                   April 13, 2007

HOLY COW! 

CHEESE DECLARED ARTISANAL TREASURE

A team of eight distinguished judges has awarded a first place trophy to one of Bittersweet Plantation Dairy’s newest cheeses, appropriately named Holy Cow!  The triple cream, bloomy rind cow’s milk was declared the best in the “Soft Cow’s Milk” category of the American Artisanal Treasure Awards hosted by the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.  Proprietor Norbert Wabnig created the Awards to honor producers of handmade specialty foods across the United States.

It’s not the first time that Chef John Folse’s Bittersweet Plantation Dairy has been declared a winner at the awards.  Last year his triple cream goat’s milk cheese, Gabriel, took a first place prize and before that his olive oil was honored.  Bittersweet Plantation Dairy products have also won numerous honors at the annual American Cheese Society Awards and the Wolrd Cheese Awards, but this is the first for Holy Cow, which is also known in Louisiana by its French name, Vache Santé.

This year’s American Artisanal Treasure Awards featured eight categories of cow, goat and sheep’s milk cheeses.  The judges included Evan Kleiman, Chef and Host of KCRW’s “Good Eats;” Hans Goplen, Executive Chef, The Farm of Beverly Hills; Kit Rachlis, Editor in Chief, Los Angeles Magazine; Mona Harrington, Chef, Culinary Institute of America; John Larroquette, Actor; Mike Kassar, Fromagier, Spago Beverly Hills; Sharon Palmer, Cheesemaker, Nanny Udderly’s Healthy Family Farms; and Deborah Racine, Public Relations.

Chef John Folse is the owner and executive chef of his Louisiana-based corporations including Chef John Folse & Company Manufacturing, Bittersweet Plantation Dairy, White Oak Plantation, Exceptional Endings and Lafitte's Landing Restaurant at Bittersweet Plantation.  He is the author of numerous cookbooks, including The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine.  Folse also hosts a nationally-syndicated television cooking show, "A Taste of Louisiana," a radio cooking talk show, "Stirrin' It

Up With Chef John Folse" and appears twice weekly on WAFB-TV’s 5 p.m. newscast.  Additionally, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. is named in his honor.
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