Success! I walked in and directly on my right was a small refrigerated area with some pretty nice-looking cheeses that didn't look too sweaty. A jarlsberg, some gouda, some goat cheese, Balderson cheddars, and nothing else that is particularly exciting. I wanted my first cheese to be something I'd never heard of before. And then I saw it. A $4.40 wedge of Beemster Classic XO.
What the heck is Beemster Classic XO? I took it home to find out.
According to Finica.com, "Beemster XO is matured for 26 months, making it Beemster's oldest cheese. Many people see 3-5 year-old cheeses in stores and ask us why we do not make an older product. Once you have tasted Beemster XO, you will see the answer is quite simple. As a cheese matures, the flavours one tastes in the cheese expands. As this process happens, moisture also exits the cheese, thus leaving the cheese crumbly and granular in one's mouth. Because of Beemster's unique milk, XO is able to obtain one of the widest flavour ranges possible in only 26 months and still retains a smooth and creamy taste. Beemster XO is wonderful with Port wines as well as sweet whites, such as Riesling. XO can also be grated and used as a wonderful alternative to Parmesan for pastas."
My boss, B, said that Beemster sounds like it would be a british cheese, but in fact, it is a Dutch cheese and is in the gouda family. Its flavour range has been said to contain butterscotch, whiskey, and pecans. I suppose, since its flavour range is said to contain pecans, this is a "nutty" cheese, but I don't understand what "nutty" mean when it comes to describing cheese. Sometimes when I hear people describe cheese as "nutty", I wonder if they really know what they're talking about.
To be honest, I thought it tasted a bit like orange in the beginning. Granted, my boss, C, who tried it with me was eating a clementine in the room, so that could have influenced my thoughts on the cheese's flavour. The texture is dry and gritty, but turns creamy towards the end and leaves a nice flavour on the palate. I tasted the orange again when I tried a piece at home and I taste it today, so I don't think I'm imaginging it. The only thing nutty about this cheese is that since it is so hard, you have to pick pieces of it out of your back teeth, like you would after eating nuts.
I have to say, though, that I loved this cheese. Brought it home to my roomie, SA, and she didn't like it very much because it is pretty in-your-face. I don't think it tastes like a gouda at all, but maybe that's because this is an actual gouda rather than the supermarket kind. When C tried the cheese, she said it's gritty from the aging process. That's news to me - I didn't know that you could tell the aging process from the amount of grit in a cheese (mainly because I'd never had a gritty cheese until this one), but based on the quoted description of Beemster above, she would be right. C also disagrees that Riesling is a sweet wine and so wonders if this cheese would indeed be a good pairing. I don't care about wine enough to really find out.
Don't know if I would grate this on pasta. Its flavour is too good for it to be used as a topping that no one really thinks about. People just inhale pasta, but this cheese deserves thought.
Lesson Learned: Beemster XO taught me that you don't need several years of aging to get a good cheese, even though this cheese is aged twice as long as regular goudas (and yet only for a total of 26 months). I haven't been able to track down information on the "unique milk" that allows the cheese to obtain such a flavour range in such a short period of time, but I'll take Beemster's word for it. It's a good cheese and a good first step into cheesedom.
Thanks, Harbord Bakery. Next stop: St. Lawrence Market.
