by Jenny Hodges, cheese specialist at Byerly's St. Louis Park
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Our days were action packed with education, tours and tastings lead by Kees and Saskia, who were our fabulous hosts from Beemster Cheese. They took us all over the Beemster Polder area which was truly breathtaking! For those of you not familiar with Polders, they are areas of land that have been reclaimed from the sea using a series of windmills and canals to pump and keep the water out. The Beemster Polder which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site was reclaimed from the sea in 1612 and lies 20 feet below sea level. The Beemster Polder is about 15x15 miles of land and the Beemster Co-Op consists of about 450 farmers. We have been talking to our customers about this unique land for so many years it was great to finally see for ourselves what it really looks like.