The San Francisco Bay Area is fanatical about cheese, and so much of our local enthusiasm is owed to the two chefs who created Cowgirl Creamery, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith. We are huge fans of Cowgirl Creamery. They were at the forefront of the American artisan cheese movement, and are still making award-winning cheeses in delicious variety, using milk from nearby dairies.

Fantastic, pure-organic cheeses, such as the mellow, triple-cream Mt. Tam and bocconcini (small balls of fresh mozzarella), are produced at at their creamery on Tomales Bay. Red Hawk is a striking red-orange, aged cheese, and the Inverness makes for a tangy, creamy mouthful.

Their seasonal cheese offerings are delightful: St. Pat comes in the Spring, and is wrapped in stinging nettles; Pierce Pt, for summer, is washed in a muscato wine and rolled in coastal herbs and wildflowers; Chimney Rock, in autumn, is dipped in muscat wine and dusted with ground organic pioppini and shiitake mushrooms; and for winter there’s Devil’s Gulch, dusted with spicy-sweet pepper flakes.