Editing Gouda cheese (section)

==History==
[[File:13-06-27-gouda-by-RalfR-127.jpg|thumb|upright|Rounds of Gouda cheese at a [[Dutch cheese markets|Dutch cheese market]] in Gouda, South Holland]]

The cheese is named after the city of [[Gouda, South Holland]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gouda-cheese |title=Gouda {{!}} cheese |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=2018-06-07 |language=en}}</ref> because it was traded there. In the [[Middle Ages]], Dutch cities could obtain [[City rights in the Low Countries|certain feudal rights]] which gave them primacy or a total [[monopoly]] on certain goods. Within the [[County of Holland]], Gouda acquired [[Market town|market rights]] on cheese, the sole right to have a market in which the county's farmers could sell their cheese.{{cn|date=March 2024}} All the cheeses would be taken to the market square in Gouda to be sold. Teams consisting of the guild of cheese-porters, identified by distinct differently coloured straw hats, carried the farmers' cheeses, which typically weighed about {{cvt|16|kg}}, in [[Wheelbarrow|barrows]]. Buyers then sampled the cheeses and negotiated a price using a ritual [[bargaining]] system called {{wikt-lang|nl|handjeklap}} in which buyers and sellers clap each other's hands and shout out various prices. Once a price was agreed upon, the porters would carry the cheese to the weighing house and complete the sale.<ref>[http://www.kaasmarkt.nl/content/content.asp?lang=0&menu=2&submenu=21 Alkmaar cheese market - Cheese Bargaining]. ''kaasmarkt.nl''; [[Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer]] (VVV), NL.</ref><ref name="CMA">{{cite web |url=http://www.cma.de/genuss_3480.php |title=Geschichte des Käses |publisher=[[:de:Centrale Marketing-Gesellschaft der deutschen Agrarwirtschaft mbH]] (CMA) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613202946/http://www.cma.de/genuss_3480.php |archive-date=2006-06-13}}</ref> Modern Gouda had evolved by the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gouda Holland PGI / Noord-Hollandse Gouda PDO |url=https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/farming/geographical-indications-and-quality-schemes/geographical-indications-food-and-drink/gouda-holland-pgi-noord-hollandse-gouda-pdo_en |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=agriculture.ec.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref>

Cheesemaking traditionally was a woman's task in Dutch culture, with farmers' wives passing their cheesemaking skills onto their daughters. Most Dutch Gouda is now produced industrially. However, some 300 Dutch farmers still produce ''boerenkaas'' ("farmer's cheese"), which is a [[Geographical indications and traditional specialities in the European Union|protected form]] of Gouda made in the traditional manner, using unpasteurised milk.