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Cougar Gold Marks 75 Years of Yum

Can of Cougar Gold Cheese

How many cans of Cougar Gold cheese has the Washington State University Creamery made since the famed cheddar debuted 75 years ago?

It takes John Haugen, WSU Creamery manager, long minutes to calculate that answer.  

He explains: From the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, the WSU Creamery only made Cougar Gold during school breaks, when the milk produced by WSU’s dairy herd wasn’t needed in university dining halls.

From 1975 until 1992 the creamery made cheese five days a week. A move from Troy Hall to the Food Quality Building in 1992 more than doubled the size of the batches, followed in 2000 by an increase in the number of batches made each week.  

“So, just over 9 million cans,” Haugen concludes, adding, “That’s quite a bit of cheese.”

Quite a bit of cheese indeed.

Enough cheese to satisfy loyal Cougs across the country. And enough to feed growing national acclaim for the sharp white cheddar in the iconic yellow-and-white can.

Demand spiked after Cougar Gold got rave reviews in the last couple of years from the Rachael Ray show, and by Bon Appetit and America’s Test Kitchen foodie sites.

Historic photo of cougar gold cheese

Just over 9 million cans. That’s quite a bit of cheese.

John Haugen
Can of Cougar Gold Cheese

We prefer to sell direct to customers so they know where the cheese came from.

John Haugen

The Creamery’s mostly student workforce produces and markets about 260,000 cans of cheese every year, with a goal of reaching 300,000 cans. About 80 percent of that is Cougar Gold.

During the holiday season students might ship 2,000 packages a day from Pullman.

“We prefer to sell direct to customers so they know where the cheese came from,” Haugen said. “We want to keep it connected to WSU.”

Cougar Gold is also sold in the Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe on campus and in a handful of retail locations.    

Each can is stamped with the name of the student cheesemaker who oversaw its production. Because Cougar Gold is aged in the can for a year before sale, that student may have graduated by the time the buyer takes a can-opener to their tin. Some students have gone on from the WSU Creamery to careers in food sciences and yes, cheese-making.

The WSU Creamery is a self-supporting enterprise. In fact, it gives back to WSU by funding scholarships, graduate assistantships and a faculty position in the School of Food Science.

While Cougar Gold celebrates its 75th anniversary year, not all is happy news for Ferdinand’s fans: there are no plans on the horizon to make WSU’s gourmet ice cream more widely available.

That’s partly because Cougar Gold is so popular that there isn’t enough milk supply to expand ice cream production, Haugen said. But it’s mostly because the WSU Creamery is and has always been about students.

“If we just hired employees, yes, we could expand to a 24/7 operation,” he said. “But we couldn’t do that and give the students the training and the opportunities they have. We want people to know that this operation is about the university and comes from the university.”

First year of production:1948
Inventor:Norman S. Golding, who Cougar Gold is named after
Flavors made by the Creamery:Cougar Gold, Natural Cheddar, Natural Viking, plus flavored Viking cheeses like Crimson Fire! and Dill Garlic
Number of student employees:About 65 total in cheese-making, Ferdinand’s retail and direct marketing
Size of cheese cans:30 ounces

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Cougar Gold Marks 75 Years of Yum!

Enough cheese to satisfy loyal Cougs across the country. And enough to feed growing national acclaim for the sharp white cheddar in the iconic yellow-and-white can.

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