WHEN it comes to food, Cornwall’s the big cheese - two manufacturers with roots in South East Cornwall have just won major awards.

Cornish Blue cheese has won the People’s Choice award at the Great British Cheese Awards (www.greatbritishcheeseawards.com) for the second year running.

And Cornish Yarg was named runner-up in two categories, the best hard cheese award and People’s Choice award. The distinctive nettle-wrapped cheese was first produced by Lynher Dairies, near Upton Cross, and is now made further west in the county.

The Great British Cheese awards aim to celebrate the best of British cheese produced and distributed by independent cheese makers and retailers.

This year saw a record number of entries and more than 9,000 people voted for their favourite cheeses, producers and retailers.

Only those cheese producers and retailers who received the most votes in each category were shortlisted for an award.

The awards were organised by food website Great British Chefs and artisan biscuit-maker Peter’s Yard.

Philip Stansfield of the Cornish Cheese Co, which makes Cornish Blue, said: “It’s brilliant to win because the competition is like no other.

“The fact that the public could get involved and learn all about cheese on the way was great. Events like this raise the profile of every cheese-maker involved.

“Winning awards is a big thing in our industry as it gives us lots of publicity and allows us to spread the word and get it in front of new customers.”

The winners were announced at a ceremony in London.

A full list of winners is available from www.greatbritishcheeseawards.com