Cowgirl Creamery

Cowgirl Creamery is a company located in Point Reyes Station, California which manufactures artisanal cheeses. Founded in 1994, the company both manufactures its own cheeses (including Red Hawk and Mt. Tam, named after Mount Tamalpais)^[1] and sells other imported and domestic cheese. The company operates storefronts in the Ferry Building of San Francisco and in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. (founders Sue Conley and Peggy Smith are D.C. natives).^[2] Smith worked for years in the kitchen at Chez Panisse, and the restaurant is among many Bay Area establishments to incorporate Cowgirl cheeses into its menu.^[3] Cowgirl Creamery was referenced in an episode of the popular TV sitcom "Will & Grace" (Episode 06.01 Dames at Sea) in the scene where "Will" is trying to ease the mind of "Jack" in suspicions of a drunken rendezvous with each other.

Cowgirl crafts their own cheeses using Organic milk from the neighboring Straus Family Creamery. Mt. Tam, a triple-cream similar to Explorateur, and Red Hawk, a triple-cream, washed rind, unctuous cheese, are the more well known of their aged cheeses, but the company also makes Pierce Point, St. Pat, and Devil's Gulch on a seasonal basis. Only two of their aged cheeses are in a slightly different format. Inverness looks like an aged goat cheese but is actually made with cow's milk, and Wagon Wheel, which is a firmer cheese, is made in 25-pound wheels. Their aged cheeses are named after landmarks or other features local to the Marin Headlands. Cowgirl makes fresh cheeses, a clabberd cottage cheese, a fromage blanc, a creme fraiche, and Niloufer's Panir, which is named for chef Niloufer Ichaporia King. They make an unpublicized aged cheese, S.F Drake, which is the same size and shape as the Mt Tam, but is washed in Muscat wine and topped with macerated currants and has a stronger, sweeter flavor.

References

1. ^ Fletcher, Janet (2005-02-24). "Cowgirl Creamery strikes it rich with a triple cream". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/24/WIGGQBFE291.DTL&type=wine. Retrieved 2007-10-14. 
2. ^ Burros, Marian (2005-10-05). "Cowgirls Going Home". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/05/dining/05chee.html. Retrieved 2007-10-14. 
3. ^ Nicholls, Walter (2006-06-21). "Some Old Friends Say 'Cheese'". Washington Post: p. F01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/20/AR2006062000365.html. Retrieved 2007-10-14. 

External links

• Cowgirl Creamery
• NPR's All Things Considered: "For Cheesemakers, Cows Make All the Difference