Young Gouda, Smoked Gouda, and Aged Gouda
Flavored Varieties: Cumin & Chili
Frisian Farms Cheese is owned by two brothers, Jason and Mike Bandstra. We both grew up on a dairy farm, but our dad sold the herd while we were in high school. We missed the cows so much that after college we decided to start our own dairy and produce farmstead cheese.
On our farm we milk around 80 cows located in between Pella and Oskaloosa. The fresh milk is immediately piped from our parlor to the adjacent cheesehouse where we use traditional Dutch cheese-making techniques to produce our Frisian Farmstead Gouda.
We have a dairy farm of about 80 milking holsteins. They receive fresh air every day and pasture during the growing season. We make gouda cheese right on the farm, and sell the remaining milk to our milk co-op.
According to the state of Iowa we do have to pasteurize our milk. We vat pasteurize at 145 degrees for 30 minutes. Most commercial cheeses are flash pasteurized at 210 degrees for 1 second. Low temp pasteurizing really makes a difference in the flavor of the cheese.
