What Tricolore Gouda Tastes Like
What Tricolore Gouda actually is
Tricolore Gouda is made in the Netherlands. It comes to us as a whole wheel. We cut it and pack it here in Auckland, so what you pick up is a wedge off a real wheel rather than a block sealed somewhere overseas. The retail pack is 180 g.
The milk is the part of the label worth reading. The pack lists pasteurised meadow cow milk at 65 per cent and pasteurised goat milk at 35 per cent, then salt, microbial rennet and a starter. So this is a blended Gouda, not a cow milk one.
That blend is the reason to pick this wedge up. If someone in your house likes goat cheese, or is curious about it and has not got there yet, this is the one to put in the trolley.
What it tastes like
The pack tells you a fair bit. Milk, salt, microbial rennet and a starter is the whole ingredients list. Nothing smoked, nothing added for colour, no flavouring. What you are tasting is the two milks and what the starter did with them. Expect flavour and texture in every bite.
The honest way to meet it is a thin slice on its own. No bread, nothing else on the plate. Let it come up from fridge temperature first, because cold holds any cheese back.
Do that once and you will know what you think. Then you will know whether you want it in a sandwich, on a board, or cut into cubes for a lunchbox.
How to serve it
Take the wedge out of the fridge well before you want it, and leave it wrapped while it comes up. A cold wedge straight out of the door of the fridge is hard work.
Use a sharp knife and cut thin. Thin slices are easier to eat and they go further.
For a board, put bread or plain crackers beside it, then something fresh and something sweet — apple or pear cut into slices, a few walnuts, a spoon of honey. Keep the board small so the wedge is the thing people reach for. One 180 g pack does not need much around it.
For a sandwich, slice it thin onto buttered bread with ham and a smear of mustard. On rye it holds its own.
For lunchboxes, cut it into cubes the night before and wrap them with the crackers.
This is a weeknight cheese as much as a weekend one. There is no reason to save it.
How to keep it once it is cut
Keep it refrigerated between +1°C and +5°C.
Once you have cut into it, wrap it in waxed or greaseproof paper, then sit it in a loose bag or a container. Cling film pressed hard against the cut face does it no favours — the cheese sweats and the surface goes slick.
Cut what you need each time and rewrap the rest. Try not to handle the cut face more than you have to.
There is more on all of this in How to Store & Handle Artisan Cheese, including what to do with a wedge that has dried out at the edge.
Where to buy Tricolore Gouda in New Zealand
You can order Tricolor Gouda from us directly.
We bring the wheel in, cut it in Auckland and pack it at 180 g. That is the size to start with. Buy one, eat it over a week with bread and apples, and see whether it earns a spot in the regular shop. Most cheese does not need a reason.