A North Yorkshire cheesemaker has secured the highest possible rating at the 2026 Great Taste Awards, with its Bluemin White cheese receiving three stars for the second time.
Shepherds Purse, an independent family-run dairy based near Thirsk, received the accolade from the Guild of Fine Food.
The three-star rating is awarded to a small proportion of the products assessed each year, placing Bluemin White among 125 food and drink products to receive the top distinction in 2026.
The recognition comes 13 years after the cheese earned its first three-star Great Taste award in 2013.
Bluemin White was developed in 2010 by second-generation cheesemaker Katie Matten, whose mother, Judy Bell MBE, founded Shepherds Purse on the family farm in 1987.
Matten, Joint Managing Director of Shepherds Purse, said: โReceiving three Great Taste Stars for Bluemin White is an incredible honour and one weโre immensely proud of.
โThis award reflects the passion, dedication and expertise of our whole team, and seeing that cheese now recognised for a second time with the highest accolade at the Great Taste Awards is an incredibly proud moment for everyone at Shepherds Purse.โ
Bluemin White is made in small truckles and matured in specialist ripening stores at the dairy.
Unlike traditional blue cheeses, it is not pierced during production. This prevents blue veins from developing inside the cheese, while allowing a distinctive blue rind to form around its soft, creamy centre.
After an initial period of maturation, the cheeses are wrapped and moved into a second store, where their texture and flavour continue to develop.
The latest recognition adds to a series of national and international awards for Bluemin White.
It received gold at the 2025 British and Irish Cheese Awards, was named Champion Speciality Cheese at the 2023 Great Yorkshire Show and previously earned gold and super gold honours at the World Cheese Awards.
The award also marks another achievement for Shepherds Purse, which has grown from Judy Bellโs early experiments with sheepโs milk into a dairy producing ten cheeses made with sheep, cow and water buffalo milk.
The business is now managed by Bellโs daughters, Caroline Bell and Katie Matten, who have continued the familyโs traditional cheesemaking methods while developing new varieties.
Other recent successes for the dairy include Organic Yorkshire Blue being named Supreme Champion at the Artisan Cheese Awards and Mrs Bellโs Blue receiving three stars at the 2023 Great Taste Awards.
The 2026 Great Taste Awards were judged by panels of food industry professionals, including chefs, buyers, retailers, writers and producers.
