Food Inspiration at the Ferry Building: Part Deux

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Our next stop was Cowgirl Creamery, where we were treated to a cheese tasting and talk by the cowgirl herself, co-founder Peggy Smith. We learned about and tasted some incredible cheeses. But I have to admit: I am a little intimidated by cheese. Or at least, talking about cheese. Oh, I like to eat it. But when you start talking about the history of it, how it's made, how the taste of milk varies throughout the month based on the cows' monthly cycles, etc., I'm like "What? Can we just taste it?" Maybe it's because I have never made cheese or even seen the cheese making process, so I don't feel as intimately connected to it as I might to some other foods.

We tried a Mt. Tam cheese, which is made with whole milk and cream added to it, so in other words a LOT of fat. The next one we tried was very interesting - St. Pat's. It was wrapped in a nettle leaf and there was this whole story about how they came up with the cheese and the name. Something about how the cows stay in the barn in early Springtime until there is enough grass in the pasture for them to graze on, then they're let out, and their milk starts to take on a grassier kind of taste? They eat a lot of greens, including young nettles. Oh yes, and something to do with St. Patrick's Day. That is when the cows are milked, maybe. Or when they're let out of the barn. It shows you how well I listen when there is cheese in front of me. This must be a very wholesome milk, because I remember drinking nettles tea when I was pregnant and nursing to build a healthy baby and healthy milk. Anyway, the cheese was very good, and made with whole milk, no cream added. Another we tried was Red Hawk, and that was the BEST. It had a great story behind it too.

What I was very suprised to learn in this cheese lesson is that YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO EAT THE RIND. I always thought it was considered unsophisticated to cut away the rind on brie or other cheese that has a rind. No. Peggy says that while rinds on many of the cheeses are edible and you CAN eat them, you don't really want to do that. Cut them off. So when you serve it at a party, you set the half or quarter wheel of cheese out, then you take a slice, then cut off the rind on your individual plate before putting it on a cracker or whatever. This made me feel a lot better because the rind is icky.

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