WW Homestead Dairy dominates Iowa Quality Dairy Products competition on display at Iowa State Fair ...

The best Iowa produced butters and cheeses were chosen in the Iowa Quality Dairy Products competition, judged prior to the start of the 2022 Iowa State Fair and on display during the Fair at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. WW Homestead Dairy of Waukon dominated the competition by placing within the top three in all the divisions the family-owned dairy competed in, including sweeping the top three placewinnings in the Cheese Curd division, doing likewise with the top two spots in the Cow Cheese division and winning Best of Show honors with the dairy’s Ranch Peppercorn cheese curds (as depicted in the submitted photo above).

Judging is not on a head-to head competition basis, but is based on set quality criteria for each of first, second and third places. The Best of Show award is given to one product out of all the products submitted to the competition.

WW Homestead Dairy’s Best of Show Ranch Peppercorn cheese curds paced the dairy’s clean sweep of the top three placewinnings in that Cheese Curd division (as featured in the submitted photo at center). Their Grilled Steak & Onion cheese curds followed in second place and their White Cheddar cheese curds took third place to complete that sweep.

A similar sweep of the top two placewinnings in the Cow Cheese division of competition included a first-place honoring for WW Homestead Dairy’s Chipotle Morita Cheddar and a tie for second place for the dairy’s Medium Cheddar (as depicted in the submitted photo below).

In addition to those sweeping placewinnings, WW Homestead Dairy also had its Chocolate Milk finish in a tie for second place in the Dairy Beverages division, a product that won the Skim Chocolate Milk class at the World Dairy Expo held in October of 2021. WW Homestead Dairy also had its Salted Butter place third in the Butter division at the Iowa Quality Dairy Products judging. The dairy notes that its Cottage Cheese also placed third in its class this year at the American Cheese Society’s Cheese Competition, with that judging taking place May 19-20 at Huntington Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, MN and the placewinners being announced at the American Cheese Society Annual Conference held July 20-23.