The story of our cheesemaker Marco van Erk. In 2010 Marco and his brothers took over the cheese farm from the Oskam family in Berkenwoude. This was the first step in the world of Farmstead cheese.
There are now about 300 cows on their farm. All the milk they give is used for making cheese. The Boeren Gouda cheese of 16 kg is a real hit. This cheese is very soft and creamy and is made in the same way as Mr. Oskam used to do. He taught Marco the intricacies of the trade. The quality of the cheese is very important. From the feeding and milking to the maturing of the cheese, all steps have an impact on the quality.
The milk they work with is raw or thermized. This means that it is a real natural product and that nature influences this. The weather conditions and the season, for example, have a lot of influence on the composition of the milk and ultimately also on how the cheese tastes. It is a profession in its own right to make high quality Farmstead cheese every day. You only learn this craft by doing it often. Skimming the milk requires precision. During the preparation process they use a special starter culture, which gives the cheese its sweet taste.
Cheeses that we have in our assortment from cheesemaker Van Erk’s are the Erfgoed Stelling 302 and Erfgoed Stelling 304. These are farmstead cheeses with about 38% less fat than Gouda 48+ cheese. They also make the Oudelandse Mature XL and Piquant XL, Bon Repas, the herbed cheese Villa Nutmix and the Erfgoed Stelling 101 and Erfgoed Stelling 103 for us.