This is the best cheese in the world, according to global competition

Cheese lovers, assemble. (Getty Images)
Cheese lovers, assemble. (Getty Images)

The UK is a nation of cheese obsessors.

If you - like most of us - like to keep a selection of cheeses in your fridge (just in case), you might want to add this Swiss gruyère to your selection.

The gruyère has been named as the world’s best cheese at the World Champion Cheese Contest.

The prestigious event takes place every two years, bringing together cheeses from 26 different nations.

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This year’s cheese winner was Michael Spycher from Bern, Switzerland.

His gruyère was very popular beating the record of 3,667 entries in previous years. It achieved an impressive 98.81 out of 100.

Spycher is no stranger to the cheese award circles, he also reigned victorious in the 2008 awards.

His gruyère was described as “a subtle, sophisticated flavour” by the judges, making it a must for cheeseboards around the world.

The runner up was also from Switzerland. It was a hard cheese made from cow’s milk by Hardegger Kase AG.

In third place was a type of gouda cheese from the Netherlands.

Does anybody else have a hankering for a cheese board right now?

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The competition - which is the largest of its kind - brings 55 judges together to look at products, making assessments on scent, taste and texture.

The judges come from an array of cheese-based backgrounds; cheese graders, cheese buyers, dairy science professors, and researchers.

The Wisconsin-based event saw a judging panel from 19 nations and 14 states.

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As has been the case with a number of other events around the world, the Coronavirus did stop one judge and 30 people from a university in Japan from attending the event.

The organisers said they were not permitted to travel internationally due to the virus.

That didn’t stop cheese lovers marvelling over the sheer volume of different cheeses at the event.

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We’re a nation of cheese lovers, so it’s no surprise that gimmicks like cheese hotels are particularly popular with us.

In fact, we almost lost our collective minds when McDonald’s released the new cheese share box.

All we care about right now, though, is how we can get on the panel for 2022’s cheese tasting event.