Dutch cheeses

Good Food Blog

What is RSS?

Posted at 2:50PM, 17 January 2008 by Jenni Muir - Food writer

Under normal circumstances I'd no sooner go to Borough Market on a Saturday than visit the dentist. I hate crowds, and there always seems to be more people there taking pictures than buying food. But this week I was forced down there for work and happily found a lovely cheese I'd not tried before (while unsuccessfully attempting to skirt the human traffic jam in the Green Market area).

Every Dutch person I've ever met talks longingly of the wonderful farmhouse cheeses made in Holland and how sad it is that most Brits are only aware of dreary factory-produced Edam. In fact for years some of the best 'Dutch' cheeses on sale in the UK have been the artisan-made gouda-style cheeses produced by Dutch expatriates, such as multi-award-winning Teifi from Wales and the fabulously buttery Coolea from Ireland.

But a company called Boerenkaas is importing fine farmhouse varieties from Holland and selling them at Borough and Hackney markets, as well as wholesale. Not only do they offer superb unpasteurised aged gouda, but mature cheeses made with organic ewes' and goats' milk. The manufacturing process for each is very similar, but the small scale of production and the different milks used result in cheeses that taste more dissimilar than they appear.

I picked up one sample and without looking at the sign assumed it was flavoured with walnuts - but no, it was flecked with fenugreek, a spice usually associated with Eastern Mediterranean and Indian cooking. Cumin, however, is commonly used to flavour gouda and if you take a look at John and Patrice Savage-Onstwedder's Teifi you'll see they like to add other ingredients too, such as nettles, garlic and laverbread.

I'm not a huge fan of flavoured cheeses but the fenugreek worked beautifully with the nutty taste that's characteristic of aged sheep's milk varieties. The paste of the goats' milk cheese was drier and whiter, but not overly strong as some mature goats' cheeses can be. Add a dark golden slab of Captein Gouda - full flavoured, buttery and tangy - and you have a remarkable cheeseboard, rather like the cheesy equivalent of a wine lovers' horizontal tasting.

Comments

Treacle Toffee

22 January 2008, 9:50PM
Treacle Toffee

When I visit family in Holland never mind the duty free, I always come home with a suitcase full of cheese! The real dutch cheese has fantastic flavour, nothing like the plastic imitations you get in the UK supermarkets. I always bring home young Gouda with Fenugreek and the wonderfully mature Old Amsterdam which knocks the (smelly) socks off an extra mature cheddar!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Jenni

4 February 2008, 3:56PM
Jenni

I love Old Amsterdam too, it's so deeply fruity and savoury, but don't often come across it in the shops these days, at least not round our way. If anyone's interested in trying it, you can get it online from http://www.thecheesesociety.co.uk/

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
kipperelli

11 February 2008, 8:42PM
kipperelli

I totally agree, having lived in holland and shopped for cheese in the markets they are soooo lovely to munch on. They also do great chips with pinda saus (peanut satay sauce ! oh my)

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Lucy

27 March 2008, 3:26PM
Lucy

I love Dutch cheese. I have family in Beverwijk and we always stock up on Extra strong Gouda and edam. I still have some in my fridge from a trip there in the New Year. I never get my gouda anywhere else. I once asked a lady in tescos how old the Gouda was, she replied "oh its fresh in today dear" I rest my case

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Charmaine a goat milk gal

23 August 2010, 9:59AM
Charmaine a goat milk gal

I am a fan of goat milk, especially goat cheeses. Though they are whiter and drier but, I choose to homemade to suit my flavor.

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:

Your binder

Here are three other great reasons to sign up:

You get an online binder, where you can store all your favourite recipes and create menus.
You can add your own recipes to this site for others to try; plus, rate and make comments on recipes, and share your views on our blog.
You can sign up for our weekly newsletter (sent out on Wednesdays) - it's packed with recipes, special offers and competitions.