Today started off a little later than usual; however, we needed the time to pack up our belongings because we left our hotel in Sloterdijk for a hostel in Rotterdam. Before heading to Rotterdam, we spent the day in Zaanse Schans, which is where the famous windmills are. Zaanse Schans is a neighborhood in the Dutch town, Zaandam. Historic windmills and green houses were relocated here to mimic the look of an 18th century village. The windmills were used for multiple things, such as pumping water to drain the land, grinding grain, sawing wood, making paint, and making paper. There is still one functioning windmill, and people are allowed to go into one of the windmills for 6 eruos. It was really cool to see Zaanse Schans in person because I’ve always seen pictures and wanted to see it in real life. The village contains places to eat, interactive exhibits on chocolate and cheese making, and little shops. One of the shops being Henri Willig Cheese, which is the company we visited today.
Henri Willig was founded in 1974, so they are celebrating 50 years this year. To this day, they still use the same cheese making methods except for one thing. The one difference is that they use an alternative to Rennet, which is an enzyme that requires the killing of calves’ since it comes from their stomach lining. Rennet is necessary to produce cheese. It causes the proteins in the milk to thicken and start coagulating. Henri Willig found an alternative to Rennet because it’s not good to kill more cows for this enzyme. When I heard this I thought about sustainability and how this contributes to the sustainability of the cow population. Going into the cheese making process, we got a presentation from one of the cheese factory workers, and she told us that the process begins with filling up a tub with milk at 29 degrees celsius. Next, they add the ingredients and stir the milk with rotating knives. At this point, it is 90% liquid and 10% curd. They give this liquid back to the cattle, further contributing to sustainability, and then press the cheese for 2 to 3 hours. Then, they put the cheese in a saltwater bath for the natural crust, dry the cheese for a couple days, and put a layer of plastic around the cheese to preserve it. They can make cow cheese, goat cheese, and sheep milk through this process. After the informative presentation, we went into the shop where there were samples and cheese for sale. I didn’t buy any, but it was delicious.
After Henri Willig, we had 3 hours to ourselves to explore Zaanse Schanse. We used this time to grab a bite to eat, explore the shops and windmills, and hangout with the goats. I ate at Dutch Pancake Co. with some friends and actually didn’t even get pancakes. I ordered a pulled chicken BBQ sandwich and Dutch Apple Pie. Both were amazing.
