Mathildes Kaas

Who's behind it

Mathilde van Otterloo started making cheese in late 2017. She learned the craft in France, on a farm in the Pyrenees, and has a background in sustainability and soil science. In the beginning she made ten cheeses at a time and gathered feedback from family and friends until the recipe was right.

Now she works from a farm and cheese dairy in Kockengen. The milk comes from Blaarkoppen, a rare old Dutch breed. A Blaarkop gives less milk than a conventional cow, and that milk is fuller and richer. Good milk for a soft cheese.

How the cheese is made

Mathilde sets the milk lactic, with very little rennet, and hand-ladles the curds into small moulds. Then comes turning, salting and aging in the climate cabinet. The whole rhythm spans four days, from fresh milk on Monday to cheeses on the racks by the end of the week.

After two to four weeks, blue mould appears on the rind. It brings earthy, mineral notes alongside the fresh, creamy core. There are two versions of the same recipe: Fransje from pasteurized milk and Hansje from raw milk. The raw milk version has more tension; the pasteurized one is more approachable and consistent, handy if you want to use it widely on your menu.

The Blaarkop milk and the long lactic set together give a light, almost goaty freshness. That makes the cheese easy to recognise next to the rest of your board.

In your kitchen

Fransje is a soft, runny cheese with a blue rind and a cheesemaker you can name. Serve it as a cheese course of its own. The minerality goes with roasted vegetables, ripe fruit or a spoon of honey. On the menu, name the origin: Blaarkop milk from Kockengen, hand-ladled.