In this installment
Betty Koster’s Goudas
Brabander Goat Gouda Cheese
L’amuse Pril Young Gouda Cheese
Rispens Sheep Gouda Cheese
Betty Koster’s Goudas
I used to joke that The Netherlands only had one cheese: Gouda. Gouda in endless varieties, gouda with endless wardrobe changes. Gouda aged one year. Two years. Four years. Gouda with red wax. Gouda with black wax. To me, Dutch gouda was an enjoyable cheese, but monotonous, dull. It never got me excited. It never had me reaching for more.
Then I met Betty Koster. Betty and her husband Martin founded the cheese shop Fromagerie L’amuse in Amsterdam in 1989. The name belied its confidence in its home country. This was a shop of fine imported cheeses—many of them French—alongside some good-enough Dutch ones. That soon changed. Betty began traveling across the country, meeting cheesemakers and agers. She took chances on small Dutch cheesemakers. She worked with cheese agers who were willing to experiment with different lengths of aging, different temperatures, different environments.
By the time I met Betty she’d been developing her stable of great Dutch cheeses for almost two decades. She’d become an icon in The Netherlands. She had gone from cold-calling cheesemakers to talk about the cheese she just bought to driving to farmers across the country and seeing them make cheese firsthand. She got to know the person behind the cheese, something no other shop or exporter did at the time. Before that the Dutch farmers and cheesemakers were unknown. They made cheese in anonymity, which, in the food world, is never a recipe for excellence. Any time a food is made without recognition it is usually made for cost savings, for profit—not for flavor.
Today, her shop is the most copied, revered, sought- after and examined vessel of Dutch cheese in the country. When you visit you’ll see a glowing wall of waxed wheels of gouda behind the case. It’s still a gouda-centric cheese business. But the diversity in the goudas is shocking. From soft, sweet, young goudas to crystalline, caramelized aged ones. From sheep’s milk goudas from flocks grazed on seaside grass island, to goat’s milk goudas that taste like milkshakes. Many Americans I know admiringly refer to Betty as the Julia Child of Dutch cheese. She’s larger than life, expressive, immediately approachable, funny, and knows her topic inside and out. You might be surprised by the variety of flavors you’ll find in these three cheeses. Though they’re all “gouda,” they’re so much more than just a name.
Brabander Goat Gouda Cheese
Brabander is a goat’s milk gouda that reminds me of a milkshake. It’s so easy to eat it’s absurd. It’s so easy, in fact, that when I’m invited to a party and expected to bring something for us all to nibble, this is the cheese I bring. Everyone loves it: kids, adults, cheeselovers, cheesehaters, and anyone with teeth.
This Brabander Goat Gouda is made in the Brabant region of southern Holland from the pasteurized milk of Saanen goats. The wheels are aged for around six months before making their way to us. What’s interesting about the aging of these wheels is they’re done in a facility that has very little climate control. For a few days in the summer, they might turn on the controls to keep it cool, but otherwise the cheese is allowed to mature at whatever seasonal conditions happen to blow through. It helps the cheese surrender its moisture a bit faster and develop its flavors a little quicker than other cheeses. Coolers or caves (where many folks age out their cheese) develop flavors slowly since the cheese is rather stunted by the cold temperatures. Nothing happens fast when it’s cold.
But the seasonality of the weather puts the cheese into the natural state of the rest of the environment in which it’s being made. You can’t fake the terroir in a situation like this and it takes the skill of the affineur (or as they call them in the Netherlands: “opleggers”) to coax and contain the flavors of the cheese because without the help of climate control, it could all spin out of control very quickly.
But what really concerns us is the flavor. It’s sweet with notes of caramel in its long finish as well as some bright notes and hints of grass and hay. It’s buttery and tastes fresh. Great for a cheese tray or for grilled cheese sandwiches. Cut in cubes and toss with fresh greens, toasted nuts and slices of apple.
L’amuse Pril Young Gouda Cheese
This is Betty’s house gouda. She’s put her mark on every stage of it, especially the aging, which is done at higher-than-usual temperatures to give the cheese both crystalline crunch and creaminess. These two coveted cheese features are rarely found together, yet we’ve come to expect them in this lovely cheese.
After working with Betty for so many years, we’ve developed a “flavor profile” that we want to sell for all the different ages and varieites of goudas. “Pril” means young, which in our little corner of the cheese world means it’s less than a year old. As gouda ages, the sweet notes become more concentrated and butterscotch notes tend to dominate the flavor.
Younger goudas tend to be sweet, but not as intensely so. The milky, clean notes are the most prevalant and desirable. It’s an everyday cheese you can eat anytime. It’s a great way to enter the world of Dutch cheeses and opens the door for more varied experiences from the Netherlands.
Rispens Sheep Gouda Cheese
While most gouda is made from cow’s milk, and now we know there’s a small amount made from goat, but the truth is almost none of the gouda made in the Netherlands is made from sheep’s milk. Not only is this a delicious find, it’s a rare one to boot!
Jacob Rispens shepherds 300 Lacaune sheep which is precisely 73 more individuals than live in Morra, the town he calls home. It’s in the far north of the Netherlands, not far from the barrier islands that protect the province of Friesland from the icy North Sea. The sheep’s fat-rich milk is made into compact 10 inch wheels of cheese under the guidance of Betty Koster (there’s that wonderful woman again). Her guidance led us to this wonderful cheese that’s just recently found a permanent home on our shelves.
Its sweet, soft aromas of buttermilk and dry hay seem to lend to its irresistable flavor of salted caramel. It’s that type of sweetness that makes it great after dinner with a small coffee. A dessert cheese if there ever was one.