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
![Gouda](https://www.inquirer.com/resizer/Pctql9MD1oVS2GPBepzv9IEYMOY=/760x507/smart/filters:format(webp)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/Z2OYCKD4S5HRRMHXHE2IFA2UNQ.jpg)
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