How We Make Cheese: Washing the Gouda Curds

Now that you’ve followed the cheddar making process from pasture to your plate, it’s time to go back to the beginning.

Let’s talk about how the cheese making process is different for my other cheeses.

Have you ever wondered why gouda cheese tastes sweeter than cheddar?

The answer is in a special step called washing the curds.

And the story of how Dutch cheesemakers figured this out is pretty cool.

This happens after cutting the curds and before cooking.

What Is Curd Washing?

When we make our Galen’s Good Old gouda, we do something special after we separate the curds and whey.

We drain out about a third of the whey (that’s the liquid part).

Then we add warm water instead.

That’s it. Simple, right? But it makes a big difference.

How the Dutch Figured It Out

Here’s the real story: A long time ago in Holland, it was cold. Really cold.

The cheesemakers had a problem.

Their cheese vats wouldn’t get warm enough.

The curds needed to be heated to turn into good cheese.

So what did they do? They added hot water!

Not because they knew about science.

Just because they needed their cheese to be warmer.

And it worked! But something else happened, too.

The cheese tasted sweeter and creamier than other cheeses.

The Dutch cheese makers didn’t know why.

They just knew it made great cheese. So they kept doing it.

What Science Tells Us Now

Today, we know why washing the curds makes sweeter cheese. Here’s how it works:

The whey has milk sugar in it called lactose. Tiny bacteria eat that sugar.

When they eat the sugar, they make acid.

The more sugar they eat, the more sour the cheese gets.

When we wash the curds with water, we rinse away some of that milk sugar.

Now the bacteria have less sugar to eat.

Less sugar means less acid. Less acid means sweeter cheese!

The Dutch farmers didn’t know about bacteria or lactose.

But they figured out what worked just by trying things and paying attention.

Old Wisdom, New Understanding

This is why old cheese-making methods are so cool.

People hundreds of years ago were really smart.

They watched carefully and tried different things.

They learned what worked even without knowing exactly why.

Today, we make our Galen’s Good Old the same way those Dutch farmers did.

We wash the curds with warm water.

This makes cheese that’s smooth, mild, and a little bit sweet.

It’s cheese your whole family will love!

And now you know the secret: Sometimes the best discoveries come from just trying to solve a problem.