Cheese Tasting in Amsterdam

I met up with a very old friend (we go back 15-20 years) last Sunday—let’s call her Lens, she is visiting Amsterdam together with her hubs. Amsterdam is their last stop after their Mediterranean cruise before flying back to Manila. MadamE and her hubs were there as well because they are also mutual friends—hey, we live in a small world after all, so naturally, us the local residents of this very flat land did the mandatory Amsterdam tour.



Midway through our itinerary, we came upon the ‘De Kaaskelder’ (The Cheese Cellar) on the Flower Market offering cheese tasting. If you are visiting Amsterdam, this is one of the best and easiest places to do some cheese tasting before buying. We’ve probably tried every cheese on display and we’ve decided to buy the rookkaas (smoked cheese) to eat while walking. The friendly guy in the shop sliced the cheese for us so we can eat them right away. Lens bought a couple cheeses as well.



It is not hard to miss the De Kaaskelder (The Cheese Cellar) on the Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market) in Amsterdam. The cheese shop is housed in a historical building, the VOC Pakhuis (warehouse) circa 1625 of the trading company VOC-Dutch East India Company, the first multinational company in the world.



Cheese ladies at work.



Cheese tasting - aged cow cheese, with herbs, with tomato, goat version and more.



Yummy smoked cheese (rookkaas) in three varieties: cow, goat and with herbs and garlic



More cheeses!



Cheeses are usually eaten together with jam, honey and mustard. Northern Europeans normally eat it with mustard while Southern Europeans eat it with jam or honey. I’m not much of a sweet tooth type so naturally I prefer mustard to go with it and of course with a nice glass of dry red wine. Heerlijk.



Tip: Check out Limburg’s spicy mustard with grains, they are soooo yummy and you can buy them at any Dutch supermarket (I normally buy mine at Plus).



Here we are near the hip Jordaan district along the famous Amsterdam canal belt (soon to be UNESCO world heritage site).



Lovely canal in Jordaan.



Visit Period: September