Cheese of the week: Gouda

This week's cheese is probably a familiar one. Most people are familiar with Gouda cheese. In my view, it'll do in a pinch, but I've decided that I like a really good hard cheese, one that sort of scrapes along my taste buds as it goes through. (In that vein, next week's cheese will be a Swiss Hartkäse, which is, of course, "hard cheese.")

To me, Gouda is similar to the American version of Swiss cheese (the one with holes) but without the zing and without the texture I like. It would be good on a sampler plate with other cheeses, but it's a little bland for my tastes. Stace, of course, loves bland things (except for her men, whom she prefers to be spicy and full of personality, which should be obvious to anyone who has seen me at a party).

Thankfully, it doesn't have anywhere near the offensive smell of last week's cheese; in fact, it doesn't have much of a smell at all. So, overall, I'd call this an inoffensive and pleasant cheese, but not real exciting.