Gouda: The Rediscovery of Traditional Farmhouse Cheeses

The Netherlands may be one of the smallest countries in Europe, but it has consistently punched above its weight in cultural economic and gastronomic terms.

It’s difficult to believe, but The Netherlands is the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products, after the USA.

As well as being home to the world’s most advanced systems of intensive agriculture, the Netherlands is also home to some of the most famous cheeses. But what remains of traditional producers in a country that, from the air, resembles a sea of greenhouses?

One of these three cheeses, Gouda, is present in the Showcase of Terra Madre. In this article we’ll speak about all three, to give a more complete picture of traditional cheesemaking in the country.