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Good Taste: Wilde Weide gouda

Cheese of the Month You think you know gouda? You probably don't know what gouda can be unless you've tasted Wilde Weide, a "farmhouse" cheese handmade by Jan and Roos van Schie on their little island in South Holland in the Netherlands. Unlike

You think you know gouda?

You probably don't know what gouda can be unless you've tasted Wilde Weide, a "farmhouse" cheese handmade by Jan and Roos van Schie on their little island in South Holland in the Netherlands. Unlike even the best mass-produced goudas, which can become waxy and butterscotchy with age, there is a remarkably subtle complexity to Wilde Weide, but also a fresh brightness evident from the organic raw milk of Montbeliarde and red Friesian cows.

This two-year-old firm cheese melts in slo-mo on the tongue, its texture crumbling like a fine sand of flavor crystals, turning to creaminess that evokes nuts and oaked whiskey, then an herbal brightness that pays homage to the name: wilde weide is Dutch for "wild meadow."

Farmhouse goudas aren't well-known because they're rare. Di Bruno's, though, is one of America's few cheesemongers with a steady supply.

Wilde Weide Gouda, $29.99 a pound, Di Bruno Bros. (all locations.)

- Craig LaBan