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Cheese Market · Clove Cheese

Nagelkaas

Nagelkaas — street food from Friesland, Netherlands
Photo: Takeaway / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Whole cloves are pressed right into the cheese curd, so every wedge is studded with visible little brown specks.

Cow's milk cheese is mixed with whole cumin and clove before pressing, giving it a sharp, warmly spiced bite that's distinct from plain Gouda or Edam. Frisian cheese markets sell it in wedges or whole rounds, often for sampling and slicing right at the stall.

Why it's made this way: Spicing cheese with cloves and cumin is a distinctly Frisian tradition, said to trace back to trade contacts that brought spices into the province centuries ago.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.