The International Cheese and Dairy Awards – the world’s largest cheese and dairy show – gave us the opportunity to celebrate 100 years of cheese making in our centenary year.

Reaseheath has been training dairy students since its launch as the Cheshire School of Agriculture in 1921 and we marked the special occasion by producing a unique Reaseheath 100 cheese. The Cheshire cheese was made in our industry standard food processing halls by Level 5 apprentice dairy technologists on our Eden programme. They were supported by our dairy lecturers and used the traditional methods and cultures from a century ago.

We also proved that we fully embrace modern technology, research and development by displaying a seaweed cheese which we are developing with support from Oceanium and Mara Seaweed.

Oceanium is one of several of our industry partners to be venturing into new and exciting areas such as plant based food and drink development. The company has been hiring our facilities for new product development and it was through this collaboration that we linked with Mara Seaweed for an innovative ingredient for our centenary cheese.

Mara Seaweed produces kitchen ready seaweed flakes from sustainably harvested seaweed and our Dairy Technician Sue Moors used these in our special recipe to add health benefits and to enhance flavour and presentation.

Seaweed is classed as a superfood of the sea and has a history as a beneficial food additive going back centuries. Farmers harvest the increasingly popular product for Mara Seaweed by hand from a nutrient-rich intertidal range in Fife, Scotland and it is processed within 24 hours.

Mara Seaweed’s Brand and Marketing Manager, Clare Dean, said: “Mara Seaweed has been pleased to work with Reaseheath to produce an exciting and delicious tasting seaweed cheese to celebrate the college’s 100th anniversary. The project highlights great innovation, blending both the old and the new across culture, traditions and importantly, foods of the future.”

Reaseheath has been a leading supporter of the International Cheese and Dairy Awards for many years and our Commercial Development Co-ordinator Julie Bent, who co-ordinates our industrial training and trials within the international dairy sector, is a member of the event’s organising committee. We celebrated our centenary with our industry partners during the exclusive judging and trade day and visitors flocked to buy blocks of our centenary cheese when the show, held at Stafford County Showground, opened to the public.

Reaseheath Food Centre is BRCGS AA accredited and offers on-line and in-house training courses in partnership with key awarding bodies. We also have dedicated trial facilities and experienced technologists who can support all sizes of businesses with new product development.

See how we can help your businesses by visiting the Reaseheath Business Hub website and learn about our facilities by watching the Reaseheath Food Centre video.