Leerdammer

Leerdammer is a Dutch semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk. It has an aging time of around 3–12 months. It has a creamy white texture and was made to be similar in appearance and flavor to Emmental, but it is rounder in taste. It has a sweet and somewhat nutty flavour that becomes more pronounced with age. It also has distinct holes in it. In a past advertisement campaign this was made use in claiming jokingly that "the taste is around the holes".

The cheese is produced exclusively by le. The Leerdammer name is a trade mark of Bel Leerdammer B.V.

Leerdammer cheese is produced in in the municipality of, the city which gave Leerdammer its name. Generic Leerdammer-style cheese is sold as Maasdam cheese.

The cheese was developed by Cees Boterkooper, who owned a small dairy in Schoonrewoerd since 1914, and Bastiaan Baars, who ran a cheese shop in a nearby village. The two met in 1970, and soon afterward decided to collaborate. They worked on a cheese that could compete with Gouda and Edam. Leerdammer was launched in 1977.