Willem is the cheese maker and not just the supervising one either. And no, he does not stem from a long line of cheese makers, neither does Maja. Actually, we stem from a long line of small town people. But as “back to the landers” we thought we could live the “simple good life on the land,” by milking a few cows and making cheese. After all Willem had his Agricultural schooling and Maja had lots of determination. So, we went back to the Netherlands where we came from. There we followed cheese-making courses and worked on a farm, with a cheese-making lady who did stem from a long line of cheese makers.
Well, its over forty years later now and life on the land definitely is not that simple! But we like what we are doing and make a decent living in a place we like. We ended up selling the cows and started buying milk from a neighbouring farm. Milking is a full-time job and so is the cheese making.
We have been producing our “Farmstead Gouda” since 1980:
- Following an age old, hands on process
- Shaped into golden wheels with a natural rind, allowing them to breathe and thus interact with the air surrounding it.
- Aged under conditions subject to the seasons, as before the age of refrigeration.
- It is believed that optimal ripening occurs at temperatures around 12-15*C (our storage room varies from 10-18*C depending on the time of year)
And that’s what we do: following time-honoured practices, that are hard to beat as far as taste and textures are concerned!