SKOWHEGAN — Ricotta made by a local creamery has earned major recognition once again.

Skowhegan-based Crooked Face Creamery’s “Up North” applewood cold-smoked ricotta was placed atop a list of “25 Essential American Cheeses” in the March issue of Food & Wine magazine.

The cheeses — among them, a “gold-standard” Vermont cheddar, a blue cheese from Oregon wrapped in pear-spirit-soaked grape leaves, and a Connecticut cheese described as “sublime stink bomb” — “embody the high quality and wide variety of styles of cheesemaking taking place across the U.S. today,” according to the magazine.

The monthly magazine’s cover story in March, by food writer Tenaya Darlington, celebrates the recent growth and recognition of American-made artisan cheese. Along with the list of 25 recommendations, it offers recipes and pointers on the best pairings.

“Food & Wine is a pretty big deal, and just to be up there on the list is amazing,” said Amy Rowbottom, founder and owner of Crooked Face Creamery, in an interview Monday.

The ricotta from Crooked Face, which Food & Wine noted has “a hint of campfire” from the smoking process, has earned high praise before.

It most recently took home a bronze medal at the 37th annual World Cheese Awards, held Nov. 13 in Bern, Switzerland.

Crooked Face also won a Super Gold for its plain whole milk ricotta at the awards, which is put on by the British organization the Guild for Fine Food and claims to be the largest and most prestigious cheese competition in the world.

And in 2021, Food & Wine featured Crooked Face as Maine’s representative on its list of the top 50 U.S. cheesemakers.

But the recent mention in Food & Wine still came as a surprise, Rowbottom said. She found out only when a customer sent her a message on Instagram congratulating her.

Rowbottom said she had sent a sample of the applewood smoked ricotta to Darlington, the food writer, about six or seven years ago and Darlington then featured it at a Philadelphia restaurant. Darlington later featured the cheese in a book — that came as a surprise to Rowbottom, too.

“These things — they come out of nowhere,” Rowbottom said.

Rowbottom, who grew up on a dairy farm, is a self-taught cheesemaker who started experimenting with the craft after an initial career in marketing, sales and publishing.

In 2019, with her business growing, Rowbottom moved production from her family’s farm in Norridgewock to the Somerset Grist Mill at 42 Court St. in Skowhegan. The downtown mill, the former Somerset County Jail built in 1897 and closed in 2008, also houses Maine Grains, a farm-to-table restaurant, a local radio station and a knitting shop.

Crooked Face Creamery now sells a variety of cheeses — not just ricottas — and other accoutrements at the downtown storefront, online and to wholesale customers. A 7-ounce round of the applewood smoked ricotta sells for $10.

The success at the World Cheese Awards led to a 400% increase in sales during the holiday period, Rowbottom said. Business, she said, has continued strong through January and February, usually slow months during the dead of Maine’s winter.

She’s waiting to see how much of a boost the Food & Wine list will give her business. The March issues are still hitting shelves.

“All these things keep happening — you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Rowbottom said of her recent honors. “I go through the winter months trying to recharge and take a little time off … and it’s just been a whirlwind.”