I finally tried aged gouda next to regular gouda and wow what a difference

I've been making snack plates for years and always just grabbed whatever gouda was on sale. Last week at the fancy grocery store in Arlington I saw a little wedge of aged gouda for like 8 bucks and figured why not. Put it next to some regular gouda on my plate with those thin sesame crackers and some dried apricots. The aged stuff had these little crunchy crystals in it and a much sharper flavor. It totally made the regular gouda taste like nothing. I had no idea aging cheese that extra year or two could change it so much. Has anyone else had that moment where you try a fancier version of something and it ruins the regular stuff for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

fox.jesse1mo ago

Oh man, the crystals are actually tyrosine clusters that form during aging, so you're basically getting little flavor bombs from the protein breaking down. Makes you wonder what other "budget" cheeses are just young versions of something way better that you've been missing out on.

maxb461mo ago

The crystals thing is wild, I always just thought those were salt or something. I used to think aged cheese was just a gimmick to charge more but man I was wrong.