The local’s guide to the best dutch cheese amsterdam has to offer
If you want the best dutch cheese amsterdam actually eats, leave the canal boat and get onto a market street. I run the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam on Albert Cuypstraat 194, and my whole afternoon smells of caramel. Between sessions I nip out for cheese: crumbly oude Amsterdamse, wedges of raw milk boerenkaas, a slice of Beemster the vendor cuts straight off the wheel. This is the list I give visiting Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam guests who want the best dutch cheese amsterdam sells without wandering into a tourist trap.
Why Dutch cheese is worth the detour from your Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam session
The Netherlands makes over 650 million kilos of cheese a year, and two thirds is exported. What stays home is the good stuff, aged longer and cut by people who know their wheels. Cheese lives on the breakfast table, the borrel plate at 5pm, and inside almost every tosti. Any honest guide to the best dutch cheese amsterdam sells has to start there.
Age matters more than you think. Dutch cheese is graded from jong (4 weeks) to overjarig (over a year). The older it gets, the drier, saltier, and more crystalline. When Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam guests ask me for the best dutch cheese amsterdam has, I point them at anything oud or belegen. That is where the character sits.
Six Dutch cheeses to taste before you leave
1. Gouda, not the plastic supermarket kind
Gouda is the workhorse. Nine out of ten Dutch cheeses you meet are technically a Gouda, and the range is huge. Ask any cheesemonger for a young, a belegen, an oud, and an overjarig side by side. You will feel the shift from milky sweet to sharp and crystalline. The Wikipedia entry on Gouda cheese covers the history from the 12th century onwards.
2. Oude Amsterdamse
Amsterdam’s answer to a proper aged cheese. Deep amber, crumbly, packed with tyrosine crystals that crunch between your teeth. If you take home only one wheel, make it a small piece of oude Amsterdamse. It travels well and it is the easiest way to explain the best dutch cheese amsterdam produces to a friend back home. Guests at the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam almost always leave with a wedge.
3. Boerenkaas (farmhouse cheese)
Boerenkaas is legally protected: raw milk, made on the farm where the cows live, traditional methods only. Small batches, huge personality. The rind is often hand waxed and the paste has the funk you only get from unpasteurised milk. Every serious best dutch cheese amsterdam list has boerenkaas on it.
4. Beemster
Made from the milk of cows grazing the Beemster polder, a UNESCO listed reclaimed lake north of the city. The Beemster Classic is nutty and firm at 18 months. The XO, aged 26 months, is a dessert cheese in disguise. Every cheese shop near the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam stocks it, and it is one of the reliably brilliant wheels on any best dutch cheese amsterdam list.
5. Edam
The red waxed ball. Younger, milder, lower in fat than Gouda. Edam is the cheese every tourist recognises from a photo, but few actually taste in Amsterdam because the good stuff is at the small shops, not the tourist chains on Damrak. A young Edam on brown bread with mustard is a legitimately great lunch.
6. Leyden (Leidse kaas)
Cumin cheese from Leiden, studded with whole cumin seeds. Divisive: you either love the warm spice or find it soapy. Try a sliver before committing to a wedge. When it works with a beer, it really works, and it belongs in any full guide to the best dutch cheese amsterdam stocks.
Where to actually buy the best dutch cheese amsterdam sells
Albert Cuypmarkt cheese stalls
My home turf. The Albert Cuypmarkt runs six days a week down the length of Albert Cuypstraat, and the cheese stalls are the real deal. Ask for oude Amsterdamse, boerenkaas, and a young Gouda for comparison. Samples are generous, prices are fair, and the market is a 90 second walk from the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam. If you want a full snack itinerary for the same street, our Amsterdam market food guide maps every bite worth queueing for.
Reypenaer Tasting Room, Singel 182
The best sit-down cheese experience in the city. Reypenaer runs a one hour guided tasting of six farmhouse Goudas aged from young to nearly three years, paired with wine and port. About 20 euros per person, ten minutes from Centraal. One of the few tastings on any best dutch cheese amsterdam list I actually recommend, and an easy pairing with a later Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam session.
Kaashuis Tromp and De Kaaskamer
Two proper independent cheesemongers. Kaashuis Tromp has branches around the city and a fantastic Beemster selection. De Kaaskamer on Runstraat in the Nine Streets is my pick for boerenkaas. Both let you sample before you buy, both wrap the cheese for travel, and both are the kind of place a proper best dutch cheese amsterdam guide should send you.
Noordermarkt on Saturday
Saturday mornings, the Noordermarkt in the Jordaan turns into an organic market with a few outstanding cheese producers. Skip the tourist queues and go here first for raw milk cheese, wild honey, and sourdough. Details in the official Amsterdam markets overview.
How the Dutch actually eat cheese
Locals do not just nibble a cube with a toothpick. Breakfast: two thin slices of Gouda on brown bread, sometimes with honey. Lunch: a tosti or belegen on rye. Around 5pm, the borrel plate lands: aged cheese cubes, mustard, cornichons, salami, a beer or genever. Once you get this rhythm, buying the best dutch cheese amsterdam sells starts to make sense.
Pairings matter. Young Gouda with a saison. Belegen with mustard and a pilsner. Oude Amsterdamse or Beemster XO with port. Cumin Leyden with a hoppy IPA. This is the fun part of a best dutch cheese amsterdam tasting: you leave with a small notebook of combinations you will actually recreate at home.
Pair your cheese day with the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam
Here is my honest ideal Amsterdam food afternoon. Start at 11am on the Albert Cuypmarkt with a cheese crawl: buy a wedge of oude Amsterdamse, a chunk of boerenkaas, a slice of Beemster to sample as you walk. At noon, come to the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam at Albert Cuypstraat 194 for a 45 minute session where you press dough on hot irons, pour caramel, and eat your own stroopwafels warm off the plate. From €23.74 per person, groups of 8 to 60 plus, the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam is the best sweet counterweight to a morning of salty cheese I know.
After the workshop, walk your cheese haul over to the best things to do in De Pijp for a beer at Brouwerij Troost. Our Dutch food experience guide stitches cheese, stroopwafel, herring and Indonesian rijsttafel into one itinerary, and our dutch coffee culture in Amsterdam guide is the perfect between-tastings read.
Two partner ideas we send guests to constantly. Take a small canal cruise with Starboard Boats and bring your cheese wedges on board with a bottle of wine. Legal, beautiful, and one of the best-kept secrets for anyone chasing the best dutch cheese amsterdam has in the evening light. Second, sit the Tile Painting Workshop next to your Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam session for a hand painted Delft tile souvenir that pairs perfectly with a hamper of cheese. To keep the stroopwafel story going, The Stroopwafel Workshop page has session details, and stroopwafels in Amsterdam is the deepest write-up on the cookie.
Book your Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam slot
Cheese is the morning. The Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam is the finale. A 45 minute hands on session at Albert Cuypstraat 194, from €23.74 per person, groups of 8 up to 60 plus, in the middle of the market street where every wedge on this list is sold. Turn a food day in Amsterdam into a proper memory with your own warm stroopwafels at the end of it. Reserve your Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam here.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best dutch cheese amsterdam is known for?
Aged Gouda in all its forms, but especially oude Amsterdamse and boerenkaas Gouda. Both are matured for at least a year, both have the classic crystal crunch, and both are easy to find at any independent cheesemonger or Albert Cuypmarkt stall. If you can only try one wedge on your trip, ask for a small piece of oude Amsterdamse near the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam and you will taste what the city means by the best dutch cheese amsterdam has.
Where should I buy cheese to take home?
Kaashuis Tromp, De Kaaskamer, Reypenaer, or an Albert Cuypmarkt stall. Ask them to vacuum pack it for the flight; every serious shop does this for free and it is airline safe. Small wheels and wedges of boerenkaas or aged Gouda travel best. Grab a pack of stroopwafels from the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam on the way home and you have the two most Dutch souvenirs in one bag.
Are cheese tastings in Amsterdam worth it?
Yes, but pick carefully. Reypenaer at Singel 182 is the one I send friends to because the tasting is guided, seated, paired with wine and port, and focused on one producer’s line-up. Skip anything on Damrak or the Red Light District. A proper tasting is the fastest way to understand the best dutch cheese amsterdam has to offer, and it pairs beautifully with a later Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam session down in De Pijp.
Can I combine cheese and stroopwafels in one afternoon?
Absolutely. Start on the Albert Cuypmarkt at 11am for a cheese crawl, walk two minutes to the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam at number 194 for a 45 minute session, then wander De Pijp for a beer. Total budget under 60 euros per person including the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam from €23.74. Honestly the best value food day in Amsterdam.
Is Dutch cheese safe to bring back on a plane?
Yes. Vacuum packed cheese travels well, and every proper Amsterdam cheesemonger will do it for free. Hard cheeses like aged Gouda or Beemster XO handle 24 hours without refrigeration with no issue. Soft cheeses and raw milk boerenkaas are trickier; ask the shop. Pair your cheese haul with a tin of stroopwafels from the Stroopwafel Workshop Amsterdam and you have the definitive edible souvenir set.
