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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Netherlands

Gouda Holland PGI / Noord-Hollandse Gouda PDOGoudse kaas

Gouda is a semi-hard cheese from pasteurised Dutch cow milk, set with rennet and a mesophilic starter at about 30 °C. Part of the whey is replaced with warm water to wash the curd, which keeps the cheese mild; the curd is pressed in round moulds, brined for days and ripened in air on wooden boards for at least four weeks. Made in 7 steps over 34 days – 36 days. The longest step, ripen naturally on wooden boards, takes at least 28 days (Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)) and runs at at least 12 °C (Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)). Lactococcus cremoris and Lactococcus lactis from the starter, the most abundant bacteria in the core up to 75 weeks and Leuconostoc (L. pseudomesenteroides) and Lc. lactis biovar diacetylactis, which make aroma from citrate do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 28 daysSet[rvo-gouda]Ripen naturally on wooden boards
Temperatureat least 12 °CSet[rvo-gouda]Ripen naturally on wooden boards
Fully documentedCheese34 days – 36 daysGouda Holland PGI (EU); Noord-Hollandse Gouda PDO (EU, 1996)Family: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)More washed-curd cheesesMore from Netherlands

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe PGI fixes limits, not a recipe. A cheese weighs 2.5–20 kg; the export wheel is mostly the 4 kg size.
Cow milk from Dutch farms · Cooled to 6 °C or less on the farm, at the factory within 96 h, standardised to 48–52% fat in dry matter, pasteurised[rvo-gouda]
Mesophilic starter · L-type (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and/or cremoris and/or Leuconostoc) or LD-type, which adds the citrate-using biovar diacetylactis; optional Lactobacillus or Streptococcus thermophilus adjunct[rvo-gouda]
Rennet · Calf rennet, bovine pepsin or microbial rennet; no enzymes from genetically modified organisms[rvo-gouda]
Warm water · To wash the curd[rvo-gouda][decadt2024]
Salt · As brine[rvo-gouda]
Starter: mesophilic L-type or LD-type culture (Lactococcus, Leuconostoc)

Total time across the recorded steps: 34 days – 36 days

Start
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up to 6 °C

What changes: Starting material: cow milk from Dutch farms, kept cold until the factory

Step 1 of 7
Cool and collect the milk
Time
up to 4 days
Set
Temperature
up to 6 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus cremoris
Lactococcus lactis
Leuconostoc
Lc. lactis
Lactic acid bacteria
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Gouda is the model washed-curd cheese. Replacing part of the whey with water takes out lactose, so the cheese stays mild and does not turn sour. Gouda Holland must ripen in air on boards; foil-ripened Gouda, common elsewhere, cannot use the name.

Milk
Dutch farm milk cooled to 6 °C or less, at the dairy within 96 h, pasteurised at 72 °C or more for 15 s
Setting
About 30 °C with calf rennet, bovine pepsin or microbial rennet; mesophilic L or LD starter
Ripening
Natural ripening on wooden boards at 12 °C or more for at least 28 days; foil ripening is excluded
Size
2.5–20 kg; fat in dry matter 48.0–52.0%; moisture at most 42.5% at day 12; salt in dry matter at most 4.0%

Related ferments

Variants

  • Noord-Hollandse Gouda PDOMilk from the province of Noord-Holland only. The 1994 application set: thermised within 12 h, renneted at 31–34 °C, pH above 5.25 at 14 days, average 3.3% salt in dry matter, ripened 4 weeks to 18 months at 14 °C or more
  • AgesJong (young) to belegen and oud (old); the PGI sets only the minimum of 28 days

Safety

Gouda Holland is made from pasteurised milk and has at most 2 mg nitrite per kg. Store it cool. Raw-milk farmhouse Gouda is a separate cheese (Boerenkaas).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The PGI dossier ties Dutch cheese to the wet, mild coastal lowlands. A 1533 gable stone in Hoorn shows a maker of wooden cheese moulds. The PGI dossier traces the quality rules to the 1911 cheese trade mark law; factory making began around 1900.

  1. [rvo-gouda] Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Productdossier BGA Gouda Holland (PGI product specification)spec
  2. [nhg1994] Application for registration of the PDO Noord-Hollandse Gouda under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, national application 002/94, summary sheet (English), eAmbrosia attachment 73892spec
  3. [decadt2023] Decadt H., Weckx S. and De Vuyst L. 2023, The rotation of primary starter culture mixtures results in batch-to-batch variations during Gouda cheese production, Frontiers in Microbiology 14:1128394paper
  4. [decadt2024] Decadt H. et al. 2024, Decarboxylase activity of the non-starter lactic acid bacterium Loigolactobacillus rennini gives crack defects in Gouda cheese through the production of gamma-aminobutyric acid, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 90(2):e0165523paper
  5. [decadt2025] Decadt H. et al. 2025, Long-read metagenomics gives a more accurate insight into the microbiota of long-ripened gouda cheeses, Frontiers in Microbiology 16:1543079paper