I spent my holidays on the Yucatan Peninsula and, as on all of my travels, food was a focus. There was one regional specialty though that might come as a surprise to you. It’s a locally celebrated cheese called queso de bola, a cheese that you might better know as Edam.

Edam, you may be thinking, isn’t that a Dutch cheese? How did that become a specialty of the east coast of Mexico? I’ll share my favorite tale about how it all came about:

It was around the end of the 17th Century, a time when European nations were busy conquering…sorry, colonizing…the new world. It often took many months to cross the Atlantic and, because Edam cheese had the ability to never spoil during the journey, it was an important way to keep the crew happy and healthy on the Dutch ships that sailed the ocean.

On one journey, a storm forced a vessel from the Netherlands into the rocky shore of Cozumel, smashing it to pieces. Most of the cargo was sunk but, thanks to its coating of paraffin wax, the balls of Edam bobbed to the surface and floated to the shore of what is now the Riviera Maya. The locals gathered them, sliced them open and thus discovered the pleasures of Edam cheese.

Fact or fiction? Who knows? But I do like it better than the story that the Dutch ships used Edam and Gouda cheeses when they ran out of cannonballs.

In case you’ve never savored Edam cheese, first I should tell you what it tastes like, which is easier than describing the taste of most cheeses. Imagine an aged Parmesan mating with a young Cheddar and producing an offspring. It’s name would be Edam.

It works wonderfully with apples and pears, particularly when accompanied by an off-dry Riesling. But what do they do with Edam cheese in the Yucatan? Well the most celebrated dish is called queso relleno, where a queso de bola is partially hollowed-out, then stuffed with ground beef and pork, onions, chiles, tomatoes, olives, capers, almonds, raisins and cinnamon. As soon as I arrived in Playa del Carmen where I was to be based, I began searching for a restaurant that offered queso relleno. Five days later, zero luck. The Riviera Maya specializes in cocina turistica not cocina Yucatecan.

What to do? The usual tactic would be to persuade Don Day’s Wife to make queso relleno but it’s a very, very complicated dish to make (there are two separate sauces as well as the stuffed cheese) and since her Jimmy Choo fascination ended, the promise of a DSW gift certificate has little effect.

I did have an idea. I’d seen queso de bola staring down at me from a shelf in our local Playa del Carmen fruit and veg shop. I’d buy one and leave it on the kitchen counter of our friends’ condo where we were staying. If Don Day’s Wife wasn’t lured into removing the red cellophane, I’d use it to practice my shot put technique…no, I’d present it to our hosts as a thank you gift.

It didn’t take long to catch her eye. There was leftover pork gyozo filling from two nights before; there was leftover lobster in butter and garlic from one night before. 

“How does everyone feel about enchiladas verdes from leftovers, tonight?”, said Don Day’s Wife. “I can bake them with an Edam cheese sauce.”

A few minutes later, out came the grater.

Now enchiladas verdes with cheese is not Mexico’s most sophisticated or most special dish and, apart from adding a little more cilantro than most chefs, Don Day’s Wife’s recipe isn’t that much different from the norm. Until queso de bola is used as the cheese.

A traditional enchiladas with cheese has a creamy sauce. Switch your usual favorite cheese to Edam and you’ll have a crusty sauce, a wonderfully nutty and salty crust that can only be compared to that crust you get from topping a lasagna with grated Parmesan.

If I might have convinced you to purchase queso de bola, a word of caution. Not all Edam is created equal. The older it gets, the better it gets, but, unfortunately, there is no way to determine the age by looking at the packaging.

There is one brand though that I’ve had success with. It’s called El Gallo Azul and it’s available in San Miguel de Allende at Los Rehiletes at Ancha de San Antonio 28C and at their location in Mercado Sano at Ancha de San Antonio 123.

And if you decide to make a queso relleno with your ball of Edam, I think I’m available that evening.