Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt Tam and Red Hawk

Point Reyes Station, CA

Cowgirl Creamery, just north of San Francisco, was founded in 1997 by Sue Conley and Peggy Smith, who began their cheese-making operation in an old barn, using organic milk from the neighboring Straus Family Dairy. Today, they have two highly regarded, award-winning cheeses: Mt Tam is a luscious triple cream, soft-ripened in small but thick rounds. Red Hawk is a washed-rind cow’s milk cheese, treated with a brine solution that turns the rind a reddish orange and gives the cheese a full, robust flavor.