Say Cheese!

Yep, we have cheese in the States, but the choice is rather limited. How so?? Ok, here is why, hehe.

Gouda, Edammer, Leerdammer, Zaanlander, Limburger, Maaslander, Kernhem, Cummin cheese, smoked cheeses, cheese spreads and goat cheeses are SOME of the cheeses made and sold in the Netherlands. Add to that the imported French, Swiss and Italian cheeses and you have a rich assortment to choose from.

And if that is not enough, there is a choice of what age of cheese you would like. The cheeses are stored in warehouses until they are ready to be sold. You can have the following choices:

Young cheese: sold after aging for about 4-5 weeks
Young aged cheese: aged for 2 months
Aged cheese: 4 months old
Extra aged cheese: 7-8 months old
Old cheese: over 1 year old

The difference is in texture and taste. Young cheese has a very mild taste. The older the cheese, the sharper and saltier the taste and the color varies from light yellow for young to even light orange for old. You can get it in slices, shredded, in cubes or pieces in all kinds of seizes.
No wonder the Dutch are also referred to as "Cheeseheads", haha.

With so much diversity it's highly unlikely you won't find one to tickle your taste-buds and/or to develop a preference for.