The Dutchman − the cheese head should really know everything about cheese. After all, we love it. Three quarters (74%) eat Dutch cheese at least three to four times a week, preferably on a sandwich (64%). This gives us a neat average of 17 kilos of cheese per person per year. Cheese is therefore very popular, according to research by Maaslander. Half (50%) of the Dutch consider cheese an important part of the meal and during a stay abroad they crave a simple cheese sandwich (55%). You would expect that the general knowledge about our number one export product would be fine, but this is disappointing. Only 1 in 5 Dutch (17%) knows what + designation of cheese (30+, 48+, 50+, etc.) means. It is also believed that a 30+ cheese consists of at least 30 percent fat, a 50+ cheese 50 percent, et cetera. The ripening times of cheeses are also unknown to the Dutch. According to 1 in 3 (36%) grass cheese is cheese from cows that only eat grass. 3 percent of the respondents even think that this cheese has a light green hue. On the other hand, people do know what non-skimmed milk (66%) and meadow milk (72%).
The Dutch are cheese heads, but nobody seems to know where that nickname comes from (81%). The origin of the word 'cheese' is also something that is not taught at all. When asked what gives 'Gouda cheese' its name, 48 percent of the Dutch are in the dark.
Some cheese facts
Cheese consists of about 40% water and 60% dry matter. If a cheese is 50+, this means that 50% of the dry matter of the cheese consists of fat.
Grass cheese is cheese made from the milk of cows that have eaten grass for the first time in the year after a winter in the barn. This very young cheese has a mild and creamy taste.
Gouda cheese owes its name to the fact that it has been traded in Gouda for centuries.
-The word cheese comes from the Latin word 'caseus'.
-The nickname 'cheese heads' dates from the time of Napoleon. French soldiers wanted to steal Gouda cheeses, but the cheese farmers did not just let this happen. To defend themselves, they made helmets from the barrels in which the cheeses matured, and thus the epithet 'cheese heads' arose.
