It's November! Which means it is almost time for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, Girlsgiving and everything in between. No matter who you celebrate breaking bread with, we all know that what you bring to the table (literally) says who you are as a person. Our recommendation for dinner? Park City Creamery of course! We sat down with owner Corinne Zinn to hear how she got her start making her delicious cheeses and her recommended pairings that will definitely be the star of any table.
UMLF: Corinne, tell us about your background and why you started Park City Creamery? Corinne: When I moved to the US 15 years ago in the beautiful region of The North Fork, between all the vineyards, I was missing my European cheeses. There were a lot of good wines but no one was making cheeses. Coming from Belgium I used to organize wine and cheese pairings in Brussels quite often. There you could find cheese stores in every corner of every street and finding myself surrounded by vineyards and no cheeses I needed to do something about that! So I started to research online and connected with some French cheese makers and farmers and started to buy goat milk from a local farm and following the advice from the knowledgeable French cheesemakers I started to make some small batches of goat cheeses. I started out just giving it my family and friends, until I decided to bring some to Leroux Creek Inn and Maison La Belle Vie, two French Vineyard in Colorado, FROMAGE !! They got very excited about it and started my little farm business, called then Roubideau Farm to You - We could see the Roubideau Canyon from our farm (canyon named from Antoine Roubideau - Fur trapper in 1828). So I was buying my milk from a local farmer who couldn't keep up and told me I should buy my own goats so I ended up with a herd of 50 goats...Unfortunately I got divorced and had to sell my goats and farm which was bought by a farmer in Midway UT. I told him since he is buying my goats I would help him to create his cheese business and work as a consultant for Duval Farm in Midway. Deer Valley Resorts was buying our cheeses and after a while proposed me joining the Deer Valley Team and create Deer Valley Artisan cheeses. I worked as a cheesemaker for Deer Valley for four years until the resort was sold and they decided not to pursue the cheese program. Our cheese was already in numerous stores in Utah and my customers were sad to lose such a great product, that's when after brainstorming with friends and my new husband I decided to launch Park City Creamery and create authentic products using premium goat milk and cow milk sourced locally. Our goat milk comes from Drake Farms and our cow milk from Redmond Heritage Farms. UMLF: You have some really unique flavors, how do you come up with them? Corinne: My choices come from the type of cheeses I really like. I wanted to create an authentic product, unique to Utah Terroir. The flavors of the cheese itself comes from the biodiversity of our lands, our beautiful mountains, grass, flowers the cows and goats have access to in Utah. I choose milk that is not standardised, which gives a variety of different flavors throughout the seasons as the cow gets more fresh grass in the spring and fall. I get an unusual floral taste with a mix of banana and pear smell, this is really unique from Utah terroir. Adding truffles, the black diamond of gastronomy, to my brie gave a more mushroomy taste, that is very well like by gourmet palates. Silver Queen, goat cheese with ash, is an old recipe in France, they used the ash before the refrigeration to preserve the cheeses. The ash neutralized the surface and kept harmful insects away. Its coming from one of my favorite cheeses made in France, Sainte-Maure de Touraine and Selles sur Cher, the Silver Queen is my own version of my favorite goat cheeses. Utahn seem to like it to as it recently got Best of Show at the Utah Cheese Awards. UMLF: What are some of your favorite pairings with your cheese? Corinne: To help my customers with pairing each cheese label has its own pairing suggestions.
UMLF: You recently won big in the Utah Cheese Awards, tell us about that! Corrine: That is such an honor to get nominated Best Cheese of Utah just after 6 months of starting our company! We took home Best of Show for our Silver Queen Ash Goat Cheese, Bronze for our Treasure Brie, and a silver medal for our Hidden Treasure Brie with Truffle! Knowing Utahn loves what we do is the best rewards of our hard work. UMLF: Every business has its highs and lows. Tell us about a challenge you faced as a small business owner and how you overcame it? Corinne: Our big challenge right now is to be able to produce enough as the demand is growing and get enough cash flow to buy more equipments, more milk to keep up with the demands. The SBA and the Utah Microloan Fund have been such an huge help in advising us and helping us with cash flow. Sometimes you get stuck in your own mind and need to brainstorming with fellow business people to find a solution, it makes such a difference to have access to these resources! UMLF: How do you believe the Utah Microloan Fund has helped you and your business? Corinne: The UMLF has been an amazing help, from advise to get the cash flow I needed, it all brought a big peace of mind. I was so stressed out, getting lots of orders and seeing my cash flow going down waiting for my customers to pay, which take 30 days in the food business. The UMLF came up with a solution and got the help I needed in just a few days. Easy process, great knowledgeable people. I really recommend every new start-up to consult them. They will answer all the questions that keep you awake at night! UMLF: Tell us where we can find your products? Corinne: Our cheeses can be found in Harmon's and Caputo in Salt Lake City. In Park City we are available at The Market, Element kitchen, Provisions on Main, Copper Moose Farm. We are also in restaurants like the Montage, Hearth and Hill, Firewood, Courchevel, Boneyard, and Riverhorse. In Moab we are sold at the Moon Flower co-op store. A priori (Caputo distribution company) is distributing the cheeses in many restaurants in Utah Lastly caterings companies LUX catering, Ellie's kitchen, Sweet and Cheese and Maven Oak Creative Platters use our cheese as well. To visit Park City Creamery or to find a local stockist visit:
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