New at Safeway: Marieke Gouda Cheese
If you walk into the Safeway deli, you will notice many new varieties of gourmet cheese, including Marieke Gouda Cheese. Safeway is the exclusive retailer to carry the Marieke Golden Gouda and the Marieke Belegen Gouda Cheese. Marieke Gouda is an award winning Wisconsin raw cow milk’s cheese created in the traditional Dutch style by Marieke Penterman and her husband Rolf. Each wheel of cheese is carefully hand crafted on Dutch pine planks, honoring the Old World cheese making traditions and recipes from the Netherlands. The equipment, cultures, herbs and spices they use are all imported from Holland. The Penterman Farm has 435 rBHG-free cows that graze in their barns and are milked daily for the making of the cheese.
The cheese wheels are stored in a special aging room and are aged on Dutch pine planks which absorb the moisture as these cheeses age. As the cheese ages, it develops a caramel sweetness and has a slight crunchiness from crystallization from the calcium, especially in older cheeses.
The Marieke Golden Gouda is a unique semi-soft cheese that has a vegetable based rennet, rather than an animal based rennet, which makes it vegetarian friendly. The flavor of the gouda is sharp, yet sweet at the same time. It’s incredibly creamy, buttery, with a slight nuttiness and notes of sweet fruit. It’s delicious! While I used it in a fondue, the Golden Gouda would also work perfectly on a cheese board as it pairs nicely with cured meats, crackers and olives, honey, dried apricots and spiced nuts. It pairs beautifully with a buttery Chardonnay. It can also be used in in recipes like omelets, frittatas, quiches and on top of hearty soups. See the Pinterest widget below for additional recipes from Marieke Gouda.
The Marieke Belegen Gouda is aged four to six months and has a smooth and mellow flavor with hints of toasted nuts. It pairs well with prosciutto, cornichons and Pinot Grigio.
The Marieke Gouda Cheeses are priced by the pound at Safeway. Because it’s a hand-crafted, award-winning cheese, you can expect to pay $16.99 per lb. for this gourmet cheese. For the wedge pictured above, it was $8.14, which is right in line with most of the imported and gourmet cheeses in the deli.
Fondue Recipe Using Marieke Golden Gouda Cheese
I was given a sample of the Marieke Golden Gouda to review and while I could have eaten the entire wedge in one sitting on it’s own, I decided to make a fondue with the cheese. In the Netherlands, their version of fondue is called kaaspott, “cheese pot”, and it’s prepared with Dutch cheeses.
Making fondue is about as easy as it can get. Using a fondue pot or earthenware cooking vessel, garlic is rubbed all over the interior. White wine and lemon juice is heated, shredded cheese is mixed with a little cornstarch to prevent clumping, then added to the pot and stirred until melted and smooth. That’s it. Perfect as an appetizer for a crowd, or a simple romantic dinner with your significant other. The flavor of the fondue is very strong – sharp, yet sweet and takes on a lot of the wine and brandy flavors. My kids were not convinced, but my husband devoured it and asked for seconds. The kids were disappointed I used all the delicious gouda cheese for this dip and asked me to buy more so that they could enjoy the cheese on it’s own with fig jam as we often do. Next time I buy this gouda, I will use it on a salad or even as the cheese in a spinach omelet. It had a wonderful salty creamy flavor that would work in lots of recipes.
Gouda Fondue
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound Marieke Golden Gouda cheese shredded
- 1/2 pound Swiss cheese shredded
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 garlic clove peeled
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brandy or cherry brandy
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- Pinch nutmeg
- Assorted dipping foods
Instructions
- In a small bowl, coat the shredded cheeses with cornstarch and set aside.
- Rub the interior of the pot with the garlic clove. If you want more garlic flavor, you can add to the pot and simmer with the wine.
- Over medium heat, add the wine and lemon juice and bring to a gentle simmer. Gradually stir the cheese into the simmering liquid. Melting the cheese gradually encourages a smooth fondue. Once smooth, stir in brandy, mustard and nutmeg. Remove garlic clove before serving.
- Arrange an assortment of bite-sized dipping foods around a fondue pot. Serve with chunks of French baguettes, wheat or rye bread and fruits and vegetables of your choosing.
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Safeway to introduce the new Marieke Gouda available in the Safeway deli. We appreciate you supporting the brands that make this site possible.
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Looks good!