The winners of the 2023 Dairy Products Competition were announced Wednesday. Stewart’s Shops was honored with gold as the state’s top-scoring milk, and Upstate Farms Buffalo earned silver. This year’s competition also included ice cream as a category for the first time ever, with Stewart’s bringing home the gold for best chocolate ice cream and best-flavored ice cream, and Mikey Dubb’s Frozen Custard from New Rochelle earning gold for its vanilla. In addition, Four Fat Fowl Creamery from Stephentown was named Grand Champion for its St. Stephens cheese. A full list of the 2023 Dairy Products Competition winners is available here.
“Coming from a family of dairy farmers in Ireland, I am committed to continuing our historic support for New York’s dairy producers and processors,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “Our dairy products are some of the finest in the world and these winners are a testament to our State – I encourage all New Yorkers to enjoy these delicious award-winning products.”
The Dairy Products Competition celebrates New York’s dairy industry and its finest dairy producers and processors from across the state with gold or silver honors, or an Award of Excellence. This year there were 197 entries across 26 categories, including fluid milk, various types of cheeses, sour cream, yogurt, dips, cottage cheese, and for the first time ever, ice cream.
Other highlights from the competition include:
- Stewart’s Processing also took home gold in the Flavored Milk Category, while Dygert Farms from Palatine Bridge won gold in the Chocolate Milk category.
- Weissmann Farms from Roscoe won gold in the Small Processors Fluid Milk category.
- HP Hood (Arkport, Vernon and Lafargeville plants) earned the most medals overall, with a total of 14. They received the gold in the Full-fat, Low-fat, and Fat-free Cottage Cheese categories, as well as in the Sour Cream, Buttermilk, Dairy Dips, and Plain Yogurt categories.
- Great Lakes Cheese from Adams won gold for its Cheddar, Aged Cheddar, and “Super” Aged Cheddar, earning a total of eight medals – ranking second highest overall in the competition.
Cheese classes were evaluated by 13 expert judges, including several representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Markets, Cornell University, and Steve Funk from Nelson Jameson. This year, the Chief Judge was Valerie Catlin from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control. Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Milk Quality Improvement Program judged the fluid milk and ice cream portions of the competition.
The winners of this year’s competition will be honored, as has been tradition, during a special awards ceremony on Dairy Day at the Great New York State Fair, and a video presentation highlighting all the award-winning products of the 2023 Dairy Products Competition will be on display in the Dairy Products Building. Dairy Day takes place on Thursday, August 31 and includes milk tasting, a milkshake contest, a dairy day parade around Chevy Court, and more.
