Cooking and Baking

We’re Obsessed With These Creamy, Unique Cheeses (Chalav Yisrael!)

Kosher.com Staff December 8, 2020

Sponsored by Amstelvelder

Eat Happily Ever After

Time has given our legendary cheese its natural good looks.
Come of age in latent repose, it appears now, the way a true Dutchman’s cheese should, ready to bestir the appetite of adventurous cheese-lovers the world over with impeccable European flavour. Enchanting and unforgettable with wine, pasta, pizza and artisanal breads.

Try one or try them all! Here are our delicious, creamy flavors:

Traditioneel Nederlandse Amstelvelder
Amstelvelder Classic

A soft and creamy young Dutch cheese. 

Legendarische Kaas van Amstelvelder
Amstelvelder Edam

A mild and slightly nutty Dutch flavor. 

Echte Nederlandse Passie van Amstelvelder
Amstelvelder Chives

A fresh Dutch cheese, particularly rich in taste. 

 

Amstelvelder Pepper Jack

Pittige Kaas. Nederlandse Amstelvelder

Semi-soft cheese, buttery and delicate Dutch cheese with a peppery kick.

De Beste Muenster Kaas van Amstelvelder
Beste Kaas van Amstelvelder

A buttery and mild soft white Dutch cheese.

 

  • No artificial coloring
  • rBST free
  • Kosher for Pesach 
  • Resealable pouch

Echt Fijne Kaas

Amstelvelder’s fine cheese first came into being in 2016, upon the company’s founding by Dutchman Jair Junge. It bears the distinction of being the only Dutch cheese company that is both 100% Jewish and 100% dedicated to Chalav Yisrael cheese, supervised from farm to finish.

Company founder Jair Junge.

De Naamgenoot

Amstelvelder owes its name to the Amstelveld Square in the heart of downtown Amsterdam. In its heyday, it was used by a multitude of Jewish merchants hawking their wares, most notably the famed “Kokadorus,” whose real name was Meijer Linnewiel. He was a notoriously successful salesman who was in contact with the Dutch Royal family – so famous, in fact, that a statue in his likeness was placed in the square where it can be viewed by gawking tourists today. Each package of fine Amstelvelder cheese features an artistic rendering of the square and the Prinsengracht canal just beyond it.

De Oorsprong

Every bit of Amstelvelder’s cheese is derived from Dutch cows. The milk is delivered to a little factory in the Netherlands where Amstelvelder’s mashgiach guards the brine closely to ensure the highest standards of kashrut. The cheese factory is actually in a religious Christian region, so production is halted on Sunday – which ensures that the requisite 24-hour idle period is in effect before kosher production takes place.

Following production, each round of cheese is laid in kosher brine, where they rest for 2 days. After the brine bath, the cheeses are set out on wooden shelves and left to ripen traditionally – a fundamental part of the process which allows oxygen into the cheese. The cheese wheels periodically receive a layer of coating for protection. This technique makes the cheese more valuable, imparting the great taste that Amstelvelder cheeses are known for. 

Finally, the ripened cheese is transported to another factory for slicing and packaging, under the supervision of a skilled mashgiach all the while.

Een Woord Van de Grote Baas

Jair Junge, company founder, says, “Gouda and Edam are just names of cheeses. They don’t say anything about production methods. Most of them are ripened in plastic bags to avoid loss of moisture and rind, which keeps costs down… but spoils the keen taste. We could have done it that way too and made it easier to produce and to slice, but we wanted to create a quality product, a delicate and creamy cheese that could compete with the top Dutch cheese brands.

“When I founded Amstelvelder, I wanted to make fine kosher cheese without any concessions on taste, kashrut, and design. It all needed to be perfect. And I think we’ve made it.”

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