Located just outside of Amsterdam, L’Amuse began back in 1989 when cheese store owners Betty Koster and husband Martin began collaborating with several Dutch cheese producers in the Beemster and Schermer region. 

Like many of the world’s greatest cheeses, this gouda is a collaboration between cheese maker and affineur – or oplegger as they are called in Dutch.

Milk is collected from North Holland, a region which is renowned for its sea-clay fields 20ft below sea-level, rich in naturally occurring seal salt that impart a distinctive flavour to the milk of the animals that graze there. Betty Koster hand selects the wheels and transfers them to her unusually warm cellars for maturation. 

Betty ages each wheel for a minimum of 24 months in her warm maturation rooms (+14°C.) In terms of gouda maturation, her method is unique. The higher temperature and humidity encourage complex flavours of roasted hazelnuts and dark caramel to develop whilst maintaining the moisture in the cheese. Tyrosine crystals emerge and fleck the paste, providing a satisfying crunch.