Belle Chevre Cheesecake and Honey Breakfast Cheese Named Sofi Finalists

ELKMONT, AL, May 09, 2013 (Press-News.org) The Specialty Food Association named two Belle Chevre products as finalists in the coveted 2013 sofi Awards competition, in the Diet & Lifestyle category as well as in the Baked Good, Baking Ingredient, or Cereal category. A sofi Award is the top honor in the $86 billion specialty food industry. Belle Chevre has previously won sofi Silvers for its Fig and Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheeses.

Belle Chevre's Chevre Cheesecake was named a 2013 sofi finalist in the Baked Good category. The cheesecake is a lighter, delicious alternative to a cream cheese-based cheesecake, and was released in 2012 to acclaim from the likes of The New York Times. Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheese was named a 2013 sofi finalist in the Diet & Lifestyle category. Belle & The Bees is a sweet, creamy goat cheese that is blended with Tupelo honey to make a delicious breakfast or any-time-of-day spread. The judges evaluated 1,885 entries across 30 Awards categories. Gold winners will be announced by noted chef Marcus Samuelsson at a red-carpet ceremony July 1, 2013, at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City.

"Two of my favorite products made it this far in the competition, and we are thrilled," said Tasia Malakasis. "Our goat cheese cheesecakes have been met with a lot of excitement from buyers and our honey breakfast cheese is consistently a top seller."

The sofi Awards are open to members of the NASFT, a not-for-profit trade association established in 1952 for food artisans, importers and entrepreneurs with more than 2,900 members throughout the U.S. and abroad. "sofi" stands for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation. For more information on the NASFT and its Fancy Food Shows, go to http://www.specialtyfood.com.

Belle Chèvre has produced a variety of internationally acclaimed chevres since 1989 using time-tested European farmstead techniques. The company is purposefully small, and each chevre is hand made by its passionate cheese makers. The result is an artisan cheese with a mild and distinct taste and texture that reflects the care with which it was made.

Belle Chèvre cheeses have received numerous national awards from the American Cheese Society and the American Dairy Goat Association, and has been featured in many top culinary books and magazines. Declared "American Treasure" by the internationally known authority on cheese, Steven Jenkins, and acclaimed by chefs and cheese lovers the world over, Belle Chèvre is available at upscale retailers including Dean and Deluca and the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills as well as larger outlets like Whole Foods Market. For further information, please contact us at 256.423.2238, 26910 Bethel Road Elkmont, AL 35620-3242.