Masdaam is a traditional, semi-hard Dutch cheese made from cow’s milk. The most characteristic feature is its ‘eyes’ (holes) that make up most of the cheese. The cheese was created in the early 1990s as an alternative to more expensive Swiss Emmental cheese. It is a high-fat cheese with a minimum of 45% fat. Although similar to Emmental, the moisture content in Masdaam is more, making it suppler. Nearly 15% of Dutch cheese production is made up of Masdaam.