CHEDDAR TAKES GOLD. Osseo's St. Isidore's Dairy Farm was honored at the end of April when its Cloth Bound Cheddar won a Good Food Award. (Photos via Facebook)

The Good Food Awards are not your typical food competition: It celebrates exceptional American craft food producers who uphold the highest environmental sustainability standards, engage in social responsibility, and attain exquisite flavor. Out of more than 2,000 entries from all 50 states, a familiar Wisconsin farm stood out in a big way, nabbing one of the coveted awards: St. Isidore’s Dairy in Osseo.

Locals and PBS Wisconsin viewers are likely already familiar with the dairy farm and its owner, Inga Witscher-Orth, who is also host of the popular PBS program Around the Farm Table. Witscher-Orth is a fourth-generation farmer and cheesemaker who is passionate about celebrating farms, food, and sustainability.

That passion clearly hit home at the Good Food Awards – which were held April 28 in Portland, Oregon – as St. Isidore’s submission of its Cloth Bound Cheddar was one of just three entries from the central U.S. to win in the cheese category (and St. Isidore’s was one of only three Wisconsin producers to win at all). “It is an absolute honor to be recognized by the Good Food Foundation not only for the quality of our cheese but also our sustainable farming practices and humane treatment of our animals,” Witscher-Orth said in a recent media release.

St. Isidore's offers pasture-based farming, allowing for free-grazing cows to roam in its native grasses and wildflower, which not only enriches the soil but also infuses the cows’ milk with a unique flavor. Sustainable practices from gentle bucket milking to its handcrafted cheesemaking efforts are upheld at the Osseo farm, which is also the smallest licensed creamery in Wisconsin.

Taste the award-winning local cheese yourself by picking up some of St. Isidore’s products at the Downtown Eau Claire Farmers Market or Fromagination.com.

Learn more about St. Isidore Dairy on its website and Facebook • Find more information about the Good Food Awards online