Shooting Star Creamery Wins Big at ACS

Yet again, California has a lot of winners at the American Cheese Society’s 36th Annual Competition! Let’s take a look at Avery Jones.

Meet Avery Jones. She is the daughter of Reggie and Kellie Jones of Central Coast Creamery. She is 15 years old.

Avery is the founder of her own brand called Shooting Star Creamery.

And she just won 3rd place Overall in the Best in Show class at the 36th Annual Competition at the American Cheese Society! With 1,742 entries.

Down below you can see Shooting Star Creamery’s Aries which is an aged alpine style sheep’s milk cheese that took home the accolades.

Reach for the stars Avery!

You can stay up to date with Shooting Star Creamery on Instagram at @shooting_star_creamery

Jenny MacKenzie of Tomales Farmstead Creamery

Original Interview by Hilary Green, ACS CCP at Marin Co. Monger

Jenny MacKenzie in the barn at Tomales Farmstead Creamery. Photo Courtesy Jenny MacKenzie

Four miles inland from the mighty Pacific ocean, a small Marin County dairy is making some of the best cheese in America. Tomales Farmstead Creamery is a 160-acre sheep and goat dairy in Tomales, California. Founded in 2003, owners Tamara Hicks and David Jablons dedicated four years to the restoration of the land, and after careful coordination with sustainable land management organizations, the farm became an Animal Welfare Approved goat and sheep dairy in 2007.

This year, Tomales Farmstead won second in its category at the American Cheese Society conference for Atika– a sheep and goat blended cheese with a beautiful, basket-weave natural rind. At the helm (or vat, as it were) for this winning batch: assistant cheesemaker Jenny MacKenzie. In my quest to better understand the world of West Marin cheese producers, I reached out to Jenny for an interview this month. Jenny is an East coast transplant with a love of cheese and sustainable agriculture. What’s the story of a micro-dairy cheesemaker whose work wins a national award? Continue below for Jenny’s story!


August 26, 2018

Marin Co. Monger: What brought you to the world of sustainable agriculture?

Jenny MacKenzie:  I started making cheese in 2014 on a very small, farmstead goat dairy, Appleton Creamery, in Appleton, ME. Working on such a a small farm and being surrounded by other types of small organic/sustainable/diverse farms at the farmer’s markets where we sold cheese really sparked my interest in sustainable agriculture. After attending the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, ME that same year I really fell in love with small sustainable farms. Just being immersed in agriculture and learning the harms it can cause but being fortunate to see how it can be done correctly with little to no impact was so fascinating to me. I really don’t see why anyone would want to farm any other way!

To read the rest of the article visit Marin Co Monger

Hilary Green, ACS CCP

Retrospective 2018 Part 1: American Cheese Society Competition

Boonters Blue

As we get into the new year, here is a recap of the California Cheesemakers who took home medals at the ACS 2018 cheese competition for their award winning cheeses.

ACS Logo

Cheddars

Blue Mold Cheeses

Boonters Blue
Boonters Blue

Fresh Unripened Cheeses

Soft-Ripened Cheeses

Hispanic & Portuguese Style Cheeses

  • Karoun Dairies, 3rd Place GM, Para Freir, Jaime Graca
  • Marquez Brothers, 1st Place GM, Menonita, Queso Menonita

Italian Type Cheeses

  • Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, 3rd Place HY, Point Reyes Fresh Mozzarella, Kuba Hemmerling
  • Belfiore Cheese Company, 2nd Place IC, Feta Cheese in Brine, Lino Esposito
  • Sierra Nevada Cheese Company, 2nd Place IG, Bella Capra Goat Feta, Ben Gregersen

American Made / International Style

  • Oakdale Cheese, 2nd Place DD, Mild Gouda, John Bulk

American Originals

  • Rumiano Cheese Company, 3rd Place CD, Uncoated Dry Jack rBST Free
  • Rumiano Cheese Company, 2nd Place CD, Peppercorn Dry Jack rBST Free
  • Fagundes Old-World Cheese, 3rd Place CJ, Hanford Jack, John Fagundes
  • Peluso Cheese, 2nd Place CT, Teleme Cheese, Joseph Reynoso
  • Marin French Cheese Company, 2nd Place CC, Petite Breakfast
  • Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, 2nd Place CC, Point Reyes Toma, Kuba Hemmerling
  • Central Coast Creamery, 1st Place CC, Bishops Peak, Reggie Jones
  • Cypress Grove, 2nd Place CG, Humboldt Fog Grande
  • Central Coast Creamery, 1st Place CS, Ewereka, Reggie Jones
Ewereka

Flavored Cheeses

  • Nicolau Farms, 3rd Place KD, Black Truffle Casiago, Walter Nicolau III
  • Oakdale Cheese & Specialties, 1st Place KD, Cumin Gouda, John Bulk
  • Nicasio Valley Cheese Co, 3rd Place KF, Foggy Morning with Garlic and Basil, Aaron Langdon
  • Fiscalini Cheese Co, 2nd Place KF, Hopscotch, Mariano Gonzalez
  • Karoun Dairies, 2nd Place KG, Para Freir with Jalapeno, Jaime Graca
  • Cypress Grove, 3rd Place KN, PsycheDillic
  • Bellwether Farms, 1st Place KO, Pepato, Liam
  • Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, 3rd Place KS, The Fork Pimento Cheese, Kuba Hemmerling
  • Bellwether Farms, 3rd Place KC, Blackstone, Liam Callahan
Pepato

Smoked Cheeses

  • Rumiano Cheese Company, 1st Place LM, Smoked Mozzarella rBST Free

Sheep’s Milk Cheeses

  • Bellwether Farms, 3rd Place OU, San Andreas, Liam Callahan
  • Central Coast Creamery, 1st Place OU, Ewenique, Reggie Jones

Marinated Cheeses

Washed Rind Cheeses

Farmstead Cheeses

  • Pennyroyal Farm, 2nd Place MX, Boont Corners 2mo, Erika McKenzie-Chapter

For a full list of results from the cheese competition, you can visit the ACS 2018 Results