Spotlight On: Treur Kaas

Treur Kaas was founded in 1955 by Evert Treur, and the family business is now guided by the second generation Daan and René Treur. By exploring how Dutch Gouda cheeses have to be matured in a natural and perfect condition, the company evolved over the years. With passion and consistently high commitment the family built their own warehouse, perfected their knowledge of maturing Goudas and developed a big network at the top of the Gouda cheese world. As a result, our family business became the specialist in sourcing and ageing premium Dutch Gouda cheeses. We supply the best of Dutch cheese to wholesalers, retailers and specialty shops around the world.

The heart of Dutch cheesemaking
The warehouse of Treur Kaas is located in Woerden, right in the heart of the Dutch cheesemaking area. The warehouse can store over 1,000,000kg cheese on more than 34km of wooden shelves. With a constant temperature, humidity and air circulation, our cheeses are naturally mature and develop a unique taste. Time is one of the most important ingredients in developing this unique taste.

A commitment to sustainability
In order to provide future generations with delicious cheese, Treur Kaas contributes to sustainability. Therefore Treur Kaas has a special basement where we store and mature around 200 tonnes of cheese. This basement is located deep in the ground, which means the temperature is more constant and that we need to cool it less in summertime. Moreover, an automatic robot takes care of the cheese in the basement which makes working physically less heavy.

Network of specialists We work together with artisanal cheesemakers and farmers with the knowledge and passion to make the finest Gouda cheeses, and all have a determination to assist high-end customers in exploring the world of cheese. Organic or non-organic, with herbs or plain, made of cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s milk, we have it all.

One of our specialities is the Jerseyhoeve Schorren. Jerseyhoeve is an organic cheese made of 100% Jersey milk. On the island of Goeree-Overflakkee the herd grazes along dikes and over salt-marshes, mud flats and shoals. This is the best natural environment, unique in its kind, therefore this organic milk cannot be found anywhere else. It is with this milk that we make our Jersey cheeses in a socially responsible way. At the Mèkkerstee farm in Ouddorp the cheese is made by traditional methods and, in accordance with a special recipe, only using natural organic ingredients. The cheese is matured for one year on wooden shelves, resulting in a unique cheese with nice ripening crystals and a great taste.

A multi award-winner
In 2016 the Jerseyhoeve Schorren was named the Supreme Champion at the International Cheese Awards, and for the 2020 edition of the awards this cheese was invited to compete with the all other Supreme Champions of the last few years. I am proud to say that the result of this year’s competition was that Jerseyhoeve Schorren was named the Best of the Best!

All at Treur Kaas are delighted that our cheese won again; this proves that Treur Kaas is the representative of high quality Dutch cheese! We will always try to select the best Dutch cheeses and bring them over to the UK in order to let British consumers experience these wonderful cheeses. Brexit will be a hurdle for all of us in the cheese business, but we are sure we will manage this challenge together with our strong partners in the UK.

At next year’s ICA, if Covid-19 is not in our way, we will be present with a small market stand to show some of our best cheeses and we will have some of our best cheeses to attend the competition – hopefully one will become Supreme Champion 2021!