A Dutch gentleman in the cheese business once told me that the reason his country’s cheesemakers put so many different spices in Gouda—cumin, caraway, fenugreek, mustard seed—was because the Dutch eat Gouda every day. You have to change it up or lunch gets boring. Goat Gouda, which didn’t gain traction in the Netherlands until the 1980s, provides some variety in the modern Dutch diet. But sheep Gouda? “I am aware of no exported cheeses from the Netherlands made of sheep’s milk, nor, to my knowledge, is there any dairying of sheep there at all,” wrote Steve Jenkins in his authoritative Cheese Primer twenty-five years ago. Time to strike that, Steve. A new Dutch sheep Gouda has landed and it’s on the march.
Read moreUltimate Holiday Cheeses
Want to guess which of these beauties was the hands-down favorite in my recent class on holiday cheeses? The top vote-getter didn’t surprise me, although (lovely as it was) I didn’t vote for it. I selected most of these cheeses because they’re only or primarily available now, during the run-up to the holidays; others made the cut because they are party-worthy for other reasons. People expect Cheddar and Stilton on a holiday buffet. Shake things up with one or more of these showstoppers.
Read moreDutch Treat
Even dinner guests who tell me they detest goat cheese tend to devour the goat Gouda I serve. “This is goat cheese??” they’ll say, astonished by how sweet, silky and mellow it is. Yay! Another convert. How can you not love a cheese that tastes like it’s halfway down the path to candy? A fine goat Gouda like Brabander deserves to be loved by everybody, not just people with cow’s-milk allergies. Dutch rock-star retailer Betty Koster oversees the long aging, so no wonder it’s fabulous. Grab your cheese plane and a jar of fig jam and get to know one of The Netherlands’ tastiest exports.
Read morePeak Performance
Meg Smith Photography
How old is cheese making? Five thousand years, at least, so you would think every possible technique has been tried. A cheesemaker who wants to create something original doesn’t have endless options. You can play with milk blends, cultures, washes, shapes. But probably somebody else has done it first. That said, the new Bishop’s Peak doesn’t remind me of any other cheese I can think of.
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