Cultivating produce and people
The team behind two-time Outstanding Food Producer Award winner Hamlin Road Farm says it is extremely proud to be recognised for its sustainable practices.
Its Westgold’s salted and unsalted butters won gold medals at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards recently.
The wins follow a winning streak for the company’s salted butter. Last year saw it win its fourth gold medal at the New Zealand Champions of Cheese awards which have not included a butter section for 2023.
Westgold’s Garlic & Parsley Infused Butter was also a winner, taking home bronze.
Hamish Yates, WMP’s general manager sales and marketing, says the company always knew that its butter was special. The three butters winning awards simply reinforce that.
“The awards demonstrate the excellence of our product, right from our farmer suppliers providing creamy delicious milk to our master butter makers who carefully craft Westgold,” Yates says.
He says he is proud of what Westgold is achieving as a producer of high-quality butter.
“Our Westgold story is a great story to tell. It centres around milk sourced from cows grazed on grass on a small number of farms below the majestic Southern Alps,” Yates says.
“The fresh cream is traditionally churned and crafted by our master butter makers, using the traditional Fritz Churn method. Some of them have been doing that craft for many years and the results of their skills are very tangible.”
Judges praised the two gold medal winning butters, entered in the dairy category of the awards, describing Westgold Salted Butter as good quality and “creamy and tasty with a nice spreadable texture and gloss”.
They said Westgold Unsalted butter had a “clean, fresh flavour”. It was not too dense and spread nicely, while its aroma was “true and creamy”.
“The 2023 entries of this, the seventh year of our awards, was one of the most satisfying arrays to judge to date,” said Lauraine Jacobs who led the team of 25 experienced food judges that assessed the 290 locally harvested, grown, and made food and drink award entries over two days.
