Gouda Cheese

The name Gouda is world famous and synonymous with cheese. The first mention of Gouda cheese dates from 1184, making it the oldest recorded cheese that is still presently produced.


The cheese named after the city of Gouda, not for its local production, but for the town where it has traded since the Middle Ages. Gouda acquired the sole right to trade in the cheeses produced by the Hollandic farmers. It was at Gouda city market square that the cheeses would be laid out and displayed.

On Thursday mornings, the dairy farmers from the surrounding area gather at the market square to have their cheese weighed, tasted and priced.

They dress for the part and lay out their cheeses. The young milkmaids are there as well, dressed red-white-and-blue outfits wearing white lace caps, handing out cheese samples for tasting.

The term "Gouda" is not protected and therefore is used around the world for cheese made in Gouda-style. "Noord-Hollandse Gouda" and "Boerenkaas" are registered in the EU as a Protected Geographical Status and can be made only in the Netherlands and only from milk produced by Dutch cows. Some 300 Dutch farmers still produce cheese and "Boerenkaas", Farmers Cheese, is made in the traditional manner using unpasteurized milk.

As I left the cheese market, the simplicity of the street names caught my eye. They are called Achter de Vismarkt, behind the fish market, Achter de Kerk, behind the church, Achter de Waag, behind the weigh house. I guess they had no mail delivery in those days and everyone knew their neighbours.

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