PULLMAN, Wash. — What happens when tomato meets oregano in the WSU Creamery? Hundreds tried to name the delicious result, but there was only one winner: Oreganato. The new cheese flavor, made with loving care by the WSU students who produce world-famous Cougar Gold, is being released today, Valentine’s Day.
The two ingredients actually met and fell in love more than a year ago, but kept their relationship under wraps until it was formally named last November, said Russ Salvadalena, manager of Washington State University’s Creamery. The WSU Creamery spent much of 2011 collecting and selecting suggestions for the cheese’s new. Hundreds of ideas were submitted. In November, customers voted for their favorite cheese name.
Hayley Hitchcock of Bozeman, Mont., a business major at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, submitted the winning name for this match made in cheese heaven. Hitchcock was in Pullman last February because she had heard what a wonderful school WSU was from Julie Jensen Thomas, a former Ferdinand’s employee and WSU grad. While in Pullman, Hitchcock visited Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe, the retail outlet for the WSU Creamery, and submitted her idea for a name for the new cheese flavor.
For submitting the winning name, Hitchcock received some cans of cheese from the WSU Creamery just in time for the winter holidays. Since a new batch of Oreganato had yet to be produced, none of the cheeses she received were of the new flavor. “I will have to order some Oreganato in February, for sure!” Hitchcock said.
Oreganato is available at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe on the Pullman campus and on-line at www.wsu.edu/creamery starting today. Quantities are limited, so order early to ensure you don’t miss out on this delicious flavor.
EDITORS: Media Download Info: BRoll/SOT’s are available for download. Go to http://mediatransfer.wsu.edu/ and
log-in using “wsunews” as Username and “wsunews” as Password. The files are called “CheeseSOTS” and “CheeseBRoll”. Right-click and save your preferred format. Do Not Open In Browser. Please courtesy “Washington State University”.
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