Betuwse Boerderijkaas

Betuwse Boerderijkaas is a cheese dairy on the Distelheuvel farm in Elst, in the Betuwe, where cheese has been made since August 2023 from the milk of the family's own cows.

The cows graze outside as much as possible, and the cheese carries the Weidemelk (pasture milk) logo, which means the herd is in the meadow for at least 120 days a year and at least six hours a day, from spring into autumn. Grass and maize come from the farm's own land and the manure goes back onto it. The milk is pasteurised on the farm before cheesemaking, so this is pasteurised farm cheese rather than raw-milk boerenkaas, naturally ripened and without added colouring; cheese from the spring and early-summer grazing comes out yellower and creamier, which is sold as grass cheese (graskaas). The range runs from young to old, with small cheeses and herb cheeses such as fenugreek, nettle and cumin. They also sell goat's cheese; their website does not say whose goats the milk comes from.

The shop at the cheese dairy, Grote Molenstraat 165, is open Tuesday to Friday from 13:00 to 17:30 and on Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00, and takes cash and card.

The cheese is made during the day so that the farm's own solar panels power the process.