Wagon Wheel Cheese | culture: the word on cheese
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Wagon Wheel

Producer
Cowgirl Creamery
Country
United States
Region
California
Size
14 ins diameter, 3 ins high
Weight
15 lbs
Website
www.cowgirlcreamery.com
Milk
Cow
Classification
Firm
Rennet
Animal
Rind
Natural
Wagon Wheel Cheese

Cowgirl Creamery, based in Sonoma County, California is the vision of owners Sue Conley and Peggy Smith.

Friends since college days on the east coast, they moved to California together in the 1970's, and, since both women were passionately interested in the food business, Peggy went to work at Chez Panisse in Berkeley with Alice Waters, while Sue became co-owner of the famous Bette's Ocean View Diner.

Twenty something yars later in 1993, Sue sold her part of the business in order to form Tomales Bay Foods, a business designed to provide a marketing outlet for local agricultural food products in Marin County. Discovering that her new company was fulfiling a tremendous need and niche, Sue asked Peggy to join her in launching a greatly expanded business, including a permanent farm-market type store selling locally made food products and a cheesemaking operation.  The cheesemaking business and retail stores became known as Cowgirl Creamery.

The business flourished, and it quickly became clear that the cheese retail, wholesale and cheese making operations were the most successful.  Today, Cowgirl Creamery has additional retail stores in San Francisco and Washington DC together with a much larger cheesemaking operation and warehouse based in Petaluma, CA.

Cowgirl Creamery, under the guidance of head cheesemaker Maureen Cunnie, produces a range of fresh and mold ripened cheeses using organic cow's milk from small local dairies.

Wagon Wheel is the latest addition to the Cowgirl Creamery lineup.  A semi-firm cheese, it is made from organic cow’s milk sourced from the Straus Famly Creamery.

Produced in a large 15 lb format and aged a minimum of two months before release, the rind is a gentle orange-brown color that encases a pale straw toned interior with a slightly springy texture.
 

Tasting Notes

Flavors are slightly tart with notes of brown butter and caramel.

Pairings

Wagon Wheel makes a great addition to a cheese board as well as being versatile in the kitchen.

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