Ten Sustainable, Local Cheeses to Treat Your Guests (and Yourself!) to This Season

We are very lucky to be close to one of the best cheese producing areas in the world. Sonoma county is home to some of the very best artisan cheeses. They’re produced by small, independently run dairies who pride themselves on special care for their livestock and making the best cheeses possible.

The following cheeses can be found in local stores, Diablo Foods, Chow’s Market and Whole Foods.

1. Cowgirl Creamery tops my favorites list, with their outstanding buttery, creamy  Mt. Tam. During the spring this is wrapped in nettle leaves and called St. Pat’s. In the fall it’s wrapped in herbs and titled Pierce Point.  This is a Brie like cheese that is so creamy, you might mistake it for butter, but it has a tangy brie rind to bring your tastebuds back to cheese. Also from Cowgirl Creamery,  Red Hawk, is a stronger tasting cheese, more like a Camembert, and is delicious on bread. Cowgirl’s hard cheese, Wagon Wheel, tastes similar to cheddar. Chow market has the best prices in town on all Cowgirl Creamery cheeses.

2.  Pt. Reyes has an incredible, soft, pungent Blue Cheese, which is my top choice for a blue cheese, it’s a creamy, spreadable blue cheese that goes well with hamburgers, salads and apples.  Pt. Reyes also has a hard cheddar like cheese called, Toma.

3. Petaluma Creamery offers a creamy white cheddar, as well as an incredible Pepper Jack and extra creamy Monterey Jack. Diablo Foods offers one pound blocks and Whole Foods has the half pounders.

4. Bravo Farms, available at Diablo Foods and sometimes the Farmer’s Market, offers a mouth watering Chipotle Cheddar.

5.  Rouge & Noir, a Marin dairy, offers brie, triple cream brie and camembert that compliment crackers and baguettes very well.

6. Clover Diary has several very nice organic cheeses available at the best price at Diablo Foods. To put together a nice selection you might want an extra sharp cheddar, Havarti and a Fontina.

7. For Goat Cheeses you have many local choices. Bell Weather (Carmody, Crescenza), Cypress Grove (Humbolt Fog), Laura Chenel, Redwood Hill Farms, Skyhill Farms and Springhill Farms are all delicious options.  You could also ask the cheese ladies (Suzanne and Melissa)  at Diablo Foods for their recommendations.

8. Although it’s an out of state (Utah) creamery,  it is run sustainably and it’s still on this continent as opposed to all the European imports, and it’s available at Diablo Foods, Bee Hive Creamery has two cheeses that I would highly recommend. Both their "Barely Buzzed" and "Cajun Rub"  are truly unique cheeses. Barely Buzzed has a espresso bean and lavender rind which adds a wonderful zing to this hard cheese. The Cajun Rub is a Monterey Jack type of cheese with Cajun spices, but not too hot to handle.

9.  Andante Dairy has some amazing triple cream rind cheeses called Nocturne, Pianoforte, and Legato and is available at Whole Foods Lafayette.

10. For fresh, local ricotta cheese try Bell Weather Farm’s sheep ricotta, or Cowgirl Creamery available at Diablo Foods and Whole Foods.

Next up: Make your own cheese! Riki the Cheese Queen has kits available for every level of cheese maker, from first timers to experts. http://www.cheesemaking.com/