Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

In this photo provided by the World Championship Cheese Contest, Roland Sahli, left, CEO of Gourmand AG, holds Gourmino Le Gruyere AOP, which was declared the 2022 World Champion Cheese at the World Championship Cheese Contest on March, 3, 2022 in Madison, Wis. (World Championship Cheese Contest via AP)

Asharq Al Awsat

09:50-4 March 2022 AD ـ 01 Sha’ban 1443 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

09:50-4 March 2022 AD ـ 01 Sha’ban 1443 AH

Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

A Gruyere from Switzerland was named Thursday as the top cheese for the second consecutive time in the World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin.

The cheese from Bern, Switzerland, made its maker, Michael Spycher of Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus, a three-time winner. Spycher also won in 2020 and 2008. The cheese, called Gourmino Le Gruyère AOP, earned a score of 98.423 out of 100.

The award-winning product comes from a small dairy working with 12 farmers within a 3 mile (5 kilometers) radius, a Gourmino AG spokesman said. Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus produces about 85 tons (77 metric tons) of the Gruyere each year out of a total 32000 tons (29,000 metric tons) of the cheese produced annually in Switzerland.

Wisconsin cheesemakers fared well with seven of the 20 finalists and winning 45 best-of-class categories. In addition, cheese curds debuted in this year’s contest and the state swept both the regular and flavored categories.

The largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the world started Tuesday with 2,978 entries from 29 countries and 33 states. Wisconsin cheesemakers submitted 932 entries.

“Cheesemakers worldwide have always been deeply committed to excellence in their craft,” said John Umhoefer, executive director for the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which hosts the competition. “That commitment is abundantly clear in the work of this year’s winners."

These Canadian Rocks May Be the Oldest on Earth

A close-up view of metagabbroic rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, that are 4.16 billion years old is seen in this photograph released on June 26, 2025. (Jonathan O'Neil/Handout via Reuters)

00:36-27 June 2025 AD ـ 02 Muharram 1447 AH

These Canadian Rocks May Be the Oldest on Earth

Scientists have identified what could be the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in Canada.

The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has long been known for its ancient rocks — plains of streaked gray stone on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec. But researchers disagree on exactly how old they are.

Work from two decades ago suggested the rocks could be 4.3 billion years old, placing them in the earliest period of Earth's history. But other scientists using a different dating method contested the finding, arguing that long-ago contaminants were skewing the rocks' age and that they were actually slightly younger at 3.8 billion years old.

In the new study, researchers sampled a different section of rock from the belt and estimated its age using the previous two dating techniques — measuring how one radioactive element decays into another over time. The result: The rocks were about 4.16 billion years old.

The different methods "gave exactly the same age,” said study author Jonathan O'Neil with the University of Ottawa.

The new research was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a collapsing cloud of dust and gas soon after the solar system existed. Primordial rocks often get melted and recycled by Earth's moving tectonic plates, making them extremely rare on the surface today. Scientists have uncovered 4 billion-year-old rocks from another formation in Canada called the Acasta Gneiss Complex, but the Nuvvuagittuq rocks could be even older.

Studying rocks from Earth's earliest history could give a glimpse into how the planet may have looked — how its roiling magma oceans gave way to tectonic plates — and even how life got started.

“To have a sample of what was going on on Earth way back then is really valuable,” said Mark Reagan with the University of Iowa, who studies volcanic rocks and lava and was not involved with the new study.

The rock formation is on tribal Inukjuak lands and the local Inuit community has temporarily restricted scientists from taking samples from the site due to damage from previous visits.

After some geologists visited the site, large chunks of rock were missing and the community noticed pieces for sale online, said Tommy Palliser, who manages the land with the Pituvik Landholding Corp. The Inuit community wants to work with scientists to set up a provincial park that would protect the land while allowing researchers to study it.

“There's a lot of interest for these rocks, which we understand,” said Palliser, a member of the community. “We just don't want any more damage.”

Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

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These Canadian Rocks May Be the Oldest on Earth

These Canadian Rocks May Be the Oldest on Earth

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