Answers to questions.

At Uniekaas we strive to produce as many products as possible using meadow milk. The cows that produce the milk for our cheese are free to roam outside in the meadows for at least 120 days a year, and at least 6 hours a day. All cheeses made with meadow milk bear the official Meadow Milk logo.

Uniekaas cheese is made with meadow milk produced by Dutch dairy farmers of the DOC Kaas cooperative in Hoogeveen, a town in the north east of the Netherlands.

We do everything in our power to avoid the use of preservatives. All our cheeses from young up to and including old, in slices, pieces, and in snacks, therefore, do not contain any preservatives.

Lactose is a milk sugar naturally found in milk. During the cheese making process, the majority of the lactose disappears from the cheese. The longer the cheese ripens, the lower the lactose content becomes. Older cheese therefore contains even less lactose than young cheese. Dutch cheeses do contain traces of lactose, but the amount is so low that it is mostly undetectable. In general, most people with lactose intolerance can eat cheese.

No, our Gouda cheese does not contain gluten.

Yes, our Gouda cheese contains cow's milk protein.

Two types of rennet are used for the production of cheese: animal rennet and vegetarian or microbial rennet. In most cases, animal rennet is used for the production of Gouda cheese because of legislative requirements. In addition, vegetarian or microbiological rennet gives a different taste experience to older cheeses. That’s why we use animal rennet in most of our recipes. Currently, we only use vegetarian rennet for our goats’ cheese.

Among other things, our cheese contains proteins and calcium. These are essential and therefore healthy elements in a balanced diet. One third of the fat in our cheese consists of unsaturated fat and two thirds consist of saturated fat. Indications such as 48+ and 30+ aren’t the exact percentage of fat in a cheese. If you’d like to know exactly how much fat you consume, please have a look at the nutritional information on the packaging of the cheese in question. It will tell you all you need to know, for example how much fat 100 grams of cheese contains.

Because cheese is a natural product, seasonal circumstances combined with the ripening process can cause slices to stick together from time to time. They may also stick together because we make sure our cheese is extremely smooth. This smoothness, which we strive for in order to achieve the best possible taste, also ensures that the dryer variety cheeses do not become tough.

Fungi are present in the air, everywhere. That’s why cheese may mould when it is stored in an opened package, or when it is freshly cut at the store. If you find mould on unopened, pre-packaged cheese, the package has been punctured. In such a case, please contact our customer service via email: klachten@uniekaas.nl. The fungi are usually harmless, although we recommend not to consume them.

These spots are actually salt spots, or technically speaking, calcium lactate crystals. These crystals consist of sparingly soluble salt that becomes visible as the cheese ages and contains less and less moisture. It works like this: as the cheese ages, the moisture gradually evaporates. This means that the amount of moisture present in the cheese, that can dissolve the lactate, becomes smaller, which is why the crystals appear. This is a common phenomenon, and the salty crystals can easily be consumed.

Every one of our Uniekaas cheeses starts young and mild, eventually ripening to a robust, full-bodied flavour. But how does the ripening process work? During ripening, the salt is drawn into the cheese as a part of the moisture gradually evaporates; the cheese gets a higher dry matter content and becomes firmer. So, the shorter a cheese ripens, the less salty the taste. For instance, our young cheese, which has a maturing period of 5 weeks, tastes soft and creamy. While an old cheese has a more piquant taste. Each cheese has a particular ripening period and therefor a different flavour and its own taste experience.

Taste / Ripening period
Young / 5 weeks
Young Matured / 10 weeks
Matured / 4 months
Extra Matured / 7 months
Old / 10 months

Our cheeses are made according to our own Uniekaas recipes, using Meadow Milk produced by Dutch dairy farmers belonging to the DOC Kaas cooperative. After the cheeses are made in the north-eastern town of Hoogeveen, they are transported to the Uniekaas warehouse, where they will ripen until they have developed the right age and taste.