Groves of Cloves, Seeds and Nettles… in my Cheese!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Yet another cheesy post, taken from my archive photos as we take a virtual tour through one of The Netherlands best Specialist Cheese Shops: Ed Boele’s in the Fahrenheitstraat in The Hague.

Plain cows’ milk cheeses are of course what the Dutch are famous for.

The Dutch have both in the past and present, exported not only vast volumes of cheese, but also the world-famous back and white super-milker, the Friesian Cow too.

But of course not just cows produce milk… there are also goat and sheep cheeses available  in every cheese shop.  Usually quickly identifiable by their very white colour, these cheeses are often accompanied by a distinct sharpness, even in the young cheeses, and this can be an acquired taste.

When I first came to live in The Netherlands I found these far too strong for my taste, but this is where the little slip of cheese tasted in the cheese shop comes very much in handy. Over the years I have tried many a little slice of goat and sheep cheese and yes, to be honest  most have been beyond me, but over time, I have found several exceptionally tasty but also mild sheep and goat cheeses that I can now enjoy.

It’s always worth a try and who knows, maybe you’ll  find one that suits you too.

Then there are the “cheeses with bits and flavours”. Cheese makers are Foodies after all and what true Foodie doesn’t like a little culinary experiment?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

“Brandnetelkaas”  (stinging nettle cheese) contains, you guessed it…. stinging nettles. …and No, they don’t sting at all once they are in the cheese.  There is a distinctive taste to it and it comes with small green pieces of stinging nettle mixed throughout the cheese.

Personally, I’m still working on liking stinging nettle cheese,  not because I actively dislike it but rather because I have  a long list of other cheeses-with-bits-and extras that I like even better.

Amongst others there is ‘knoflook kaas’ (garlic) cheeses, “gerookte kaas‘ (smoked) cheese, capsicum cheese (slightly spicy)…

‘westfriese-kruidenkaaas *’ (West Friesian herb cheese)  with garlic, celery, chives and paprika,  ’noten‘ (nuts), ‘fenegriek‘ (Fengeek) ” mosterdzaden‘ (mustard seed)…

‘peperkorrels‘ (peppercorns) but  there are several others probably top the list of perennial Dutch favourites:  

‘ komijnenkaas‘  (cummin seed cheese) This is another of the  ’acquired taste’ cheeses and personally, I like it in small quantities.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I have stood in the shop in times past and watched in wonder as I waited my turn as customer after customer before me buys  a slab of  cummin seed cheese with their regular order of cheese  and I’ve been facinated at the apparent national appitite for this particular cheese.  It’s so popular you can get it country wide in any cheese shop.

‘kruidnagelkaas‘ (clove cheese) This cheese is a must for any true lover of cloves… and one of my personal favourites.

(*) a small note about the westfriese-kruidenkaaas  I mentioned earlier, it’s fabulously delicious  “as is” on crackers or bread, but I wouldn’t recommend cooking with it because I tried twice. First to make a herb-y cheese sauce and second to mix with  hot pasta.

Both times it the result was excessively salty, even though I added no other salt to the recipes. You win some, you loose some, cooking with this one was a definite fail.

These are just a small selection of the Dutch cheeses on offer… now you see why a shop that specialises in just cheese is such an excellent idea here in The Netherlands… but I’m not finished yet!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Let’s take a Spin and look at a Farmhouse Wheel…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Here are some more of my archive photos from one of the Netherlands best Specialist Cheese Shops: Ed Boele’s in the Fahrenheitstraat in The Hague.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, there are about 600 dairy farms in The Netherlands where the milk is made into cheese on the farm itself.  This cheese is called “Boerenkaas‘ (farm cheese) and the place it is made is called ‘de kaasboerderij”  (a dairy,  but translates literally  as ‘cheese farm’)

I have inquired about the possibilitiy of being able to visit one of these farms so that I could document the process but it’s harder than it sounds due strict health and hygiene regulations that require that the general public be separated from the manufacturing process of food by glass or perspex screens and other regulations to protect the public from themselves or others around various heavy machinery.

I will endeavour to keep looking to see if it’s possible to find a Dutch dairy that will give me a tour and let me take photos, you never know I may hit the jackpot one day.

Surprisingly even though the Netherlands is not a large county and the farms are small, the cheeses made in the farmhouses vary considerably in taste. texture and quality.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Each farm has their own way of making the cheese, the recipes differ, the type of rennet used, the amount of salt, as do the methods of ageing,  the fat percentages in the milk,  the strength of the taste is often to the regional preference and even what the cows ate for breakfast yesterday makes a difference.

In general farmhouse cheeses are made with full whole fat, non-pasteurized milk  that in turn produces  a young,  a medium aged, old or very old cheese, and so if you only wanted to compare the most basic of the 200 farmhouse cheeses you would be looking at at least 5. 000 cheeses without even beginning to consider the goat milk, sheep milk and other varieties.

Ed told me that he visits  farmhouses all over the Netherlands and tastes the cheeses for himself.  Slowly over the years he has built up a selection of some 20-30 favourites, and there are usually at least 20 of these in the selection of  ”farmhouse cheeses” in his shop at any one time.

We can attest we, like his other customers agree with his selection: there is always a queue for these cheeses and little plates with cut cubes for tasting are popular. Not that it would matter if there was no little plate… it’s standard practice in The Netherlands to ask to taste these cheeses before buying, they will expertly slice off a sliver of cheese with a cheese-knife and you may compare several before  making  choice.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

A word of warning to the newbie cheese taster: It’s  entirely possible to taste so many fantastic cheeses that you end up exiting the shop with three or four of the  five cheeses you tasted instead of just the one you intended to buy.

More than once in the past after a cheese shop dalliance  have Himself and I ditched the evenings planned meat and salad menu and instead bought some crusty bread,  pâté, crackers, cherry tomatoes on the vine and settled down on the sofa that evening with our decadent cheeseboard dinner.

At the farmhouse the cheeses are put into  round wooden forms that are called  ”wheels”  and are made into these flat rounds because this shape ensures that  the ageing process is nice and even throughout the cheese.  All hand made cheeses are turned regularly so that the moisture inside evaporates evenly as possible as the cheese matures.

The shop also sells a few of the 15 Dutch factory made cheeses,  which are generally made from pasteurized, skimmed milk  instead of the unpasteurized full milk of the  Boerenkaas  and often has a higher salt content.

Factory cheeses have the bonus of  being cheaper and melting at more consistent temperatures, useful in the food industry and in cooking.  There’s a factory cheese called  Cantenaaer that Himself and I think rivals the handmade cheeses for taste, so it’s not necessarily about first or second rate quality, they are just different and  there is plenty of room for both.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)