Beemster cheeses, a Dutch treat

When I'm Not Cooking, I'm Blogging

A Mama's Rant
Rants, raves and reviews from a mother's perspective.
Mom Central Blogger University
Helping mom bloggers become more professional and take their blogging to the next level.
Mom Central Food
Food and healthy living for moms and their families. From the Mom Central kitchen to yours.
Mom Central Goes Green
Helping moms and families become more environmentally conscientious.
Mom Central Technology
Technology for moms and families.
My Readable Feast
Bringing families closer with children's books and a pinch of cooking.
The Write Spot
Promoting your business through social media and marketing communications. Anne-Marie Nichols, professional blogger, freelance copywriter, and social media consultant.
This Mama Cooks! On a Diet
Watch this mama lose it...one pound at a time. Diet, weight loss and fitness tips, and healthy recipes the whole family can enjoy!
This Mama Cooks! Reviews
This Mama Cooks! reviews food, diet and health products.

My husband, Paul and I are slowly becoming cheese connoisseurs. We feel that if we’re going to indulge, every calorie better be worth it. Last year for Christmas I got him The Cheese Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide and a notebook to record our finds. We’ve discovered English cheese like Wenslaydale and Spanish cheeses like Drunken Goat. Of course, there are all the fabulous French and Swiss cheeses you can find at Costco or even our local grocery store. And after attending the Colorado Cheese Festival, we’ve discovered some terrific Colorado and US made cheeses as well.

But Dutch cheese? It wasn’t even on our radar let alone mentioned in The Cheese Companion.Thank goodness that the PR person for Beemster contacted me and offered to send some samples, because otherwise I would have never discovered their cheeses and opened my mind to the possibility that the Dutch make heavenly cheeses.

For more than a century, Beemster has been hand-making cheese on its sustainable farm in the Netherlands. The cheese is matured for a minimum of 18 months and hand-produced by master cheese makers with love and care. I was sent to wedges to sample – Beemster Classic and Beemster XO (Xtra Old).

Beemster Classic is matured for no less than 18 months and is caramel colored. If I saw a wedge of this at my local cheese shop, I probably wouldn’t have considered buying it. It’s rather unassuming looking. However, it’s delicious. Beemster Classic was the first cheese from Beemster introduced to the United States and remains the best selling Beemster cheese – no surprise there.

Beemster X-O- (Xtra Old) is matured for 26 months making it Beemster's oldest cheese. As a cheese matures, the cheese expands, dries and crystallizes, which makes it crumbly and granular. It’s a normal part of the aging process and doesn’t mean that the cheese has gone bad. Paul and I thought Beemster X-O- was one of the best cheeses we ever tried and it has now gone to the top of our favorite cheese list.