Many people know Gouda as a mild, bendable white cheese with a red wax coating. Aged Gouda is radically different from young Gouda. Made in Holland, Gouda can be aged from 6 months to several years. Greater age means denser, drier texture, the development of crunchy crystals in the cheese and an increasingly intense flavor of roasted nuts, butterscotch and bourbon. 'Reypenaer' means 'ripening' in Dutch. V.S.O.P. stands for Very Superior Old Product. This means that Reypenaer VSOP is a world away from the soft, rubbery Gouda. It sheds about a quarter of its original weight during the maturing process - changing from a semi-hard to a hard cheese - but what it loses in weight it more than makes up for in flavor. Produced by the van den Wijngaard family, Reypenaer Gouda is made from the milk of cows fed on summer grass; the soil in the area is especially fertile due to the periodic flooding of the plains. The cheese is kept in a 100-year-old cheese ripening warehouse on the banks of the Old Rhine River in the green heart of Holland. Whereas factory cheese is ripened by artificially altering the temperature and humidity in which they're stored, Reypenaer is naturally ripened over a longer period of time. There are shutters and hatches in the building which can be opened and closed and in the winter they the cheese is exposed a bit of heat but otherwise it's up to nature as to how hot or humid it is. Biting into Reypenaer is like the cheese equivalent of fudge; yielding and creamy but you need to use your teeth. Like fudge, it tastes of caramel and is sweet with a slight grittiness. But best of all it has tiny white pockets of sweet crystal-crunchiness that you occasionally bite into. In addition to eating the cheese straight, this aged Gouda can be shaved or chunked over salads or grilled or roasted vegetables. It's an excellent cheese for red wine lovers. Reypenaer VSOP is made with animal (not vegetarian) rennet and is gluten-free.
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