Cowgirl Creamery Artisan Cheese Shop

December 2009

You might see a common destination for our family outings. Take for instance our most recent trip to the Ferry Building in San Francisco. For our holiday entertaining we love to include a must have appetizer: a beautifully prepared cheese plate.

Our first stop at the Ferry Building was the Cowgirl Creamery Artisan Cheese Shop to hand select several of their delicious cheese offerings. As busy as this little shop can be, be patient, grab a ticket to secure your place in line, and you will get the undivided attention from one of their knowledgeable staff on selecting your cheeses.

We selected 4 different cheeses:

Old Kentucky Tomme… a cheese produced at Capriole Dairy on the lush and rolling hills of southern Indiana from a have a happy herd of four hundred Alpine, Saanen, and Nubian goats. Made with raw milk, Old Kentucky Tomme is a mellow, buttery, and mild semi-hard cheese with elusive white mushroom overtones. 2nd Place Ribbon, American Cheese Society Competition in Burlington, Vermont, 2007.

Bayley Hazen Blue is a buttery, natural-rind cow milk blue cheese that is made with whole raw milk. The milk used is primarily from morning milk, which tends to be lower in fat. The milk is taken from their own herd of Ayrshire cows who graze from late spring to early fall. Bayley Hazen Blue is drier than most blues, and the penicillium roqueforti takes a back seat to an array of flavors that hint at nuts and grasses and sometimes licorice. 2nd Place Ribbon, American Cheese Society Competition in Burlington, Vermont, 2007

Fiore Sardo. With a paste more golden than is usually found in sheep milk cheese, Fiore Sardo is banded by a hard, black, natural rind. This semi-hard cheese is sharp and savory and the slightest shavings of it brings simple, olive oil-dressed pasta alive.

Cave Aged Marisa. Snuggly situated among the softly flowing green hills and fertile pastures of central Wisconsin. Sid Cook, the current and fourth-generation owner, is one of a small group of certified Master Cheesemakers in the United States. This sheep milk cheese is aged for six months in an open-air cave where it is endowed with a complex sweet earthiness. A high butterfat content balances the cheese's inherent saltiness with a rich creaminess that deepens as Cave-Aged Marisa ages. 2nd Place Ribbon, American Cheese Society Competition in Burlington, Vermont, 2007.



Cowgirl Creamery Artisan Cheese Shop
http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/cowgirl_creamery.php

How to create an ideal cheese plate
• Serve at least three kinds of cheese, chosen from different categories.
• Always serve cheese at room temperature. Be sure to take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before serving.
• Hard cheeses can share a knife, or supply a cheese plane. Supply separate knives for each soft and semisoft cheese.
• For appetizer or after-dinner cheese plates of three to six selections, plan on one to 1-1/2 oz (30 to 50 g) of each type per person.
• Accompany your cheese board with crackers and bread that don't have very strong flavors that would detract from the flavor of the cheeses.
• Apples, pears, grapes, and peaches all go very well with cheese. Nuts are also good accompaniments.

Pairing Cheeses with Wines
• Blue cheeses such as Stilton or Gorgonzola go well with dessert wines like Sauternes and Ports.
• To accompany fresh cheeses like a goat or feta, choose a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir.
• Soft-ripened cheeses like Teleme or Brillat-Savarin go well with Chardonnay.
• For aged cheeses like Cheddars, aged Gruyeres and Parmigiano-Reggiano serve Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel or Burgundy.