In 1995, the local Cheese Factory de Jong opened its doors. The company’s growth was (and is) accelerating, both nationally and internationally. To reinforce this growth, the name was changed to DeJong Cheese and in 2013 they developed their own Alphenaer label.
Since then, this family business from Alphen has grown into an international player with more than 50 enthusiastic employees and the cheese is sold worldwide.
The village of Alphen, North Brabant
Alphen is a small village in the province of North Brabant, close to the Belgian border. The name Alphen comes from the Germanic alf-heim meaning dwelling place for elves. Alf is also watercourse. Alf-heim can be traced to a place on a watercourse. At Alphen the ‘village watercourse’ that flows into De Leij originates. Finally, Alv stands for calcareous sandy soil. Alv-heim is a place on calcareous sandy soil. Alphen lies on a cover sand ridge.
Alphen was once the village with the most goat farmers (6 in total) and goats in the Netherlands. Hence, DeJong Cheese operates here.
Alphenaer: DeJong Cheese’s own label
In 2013, DeJong Cheese developed its own label “Alphenaer. The name Alphenaer is derived from the place name Alphen. An Alphenaer is an Alphen-born or someone or something that comes from the village of Alphen. And so does the cheese, hence the name Alphenaer. DeJong Cheese also sounds very international and perhaps even a bit litigious. This does not fit with artisanal cheeses made with passion. Besides, goat’s milk is a delicious, pure and wonderful product.
“Because we were missing a truly authentic and traditional own brand, we developed our own Alphenaer brand in 2013. And in our Alphenaer cheese you can taste the passion and love from start to finish,” said Arjan de Jong, owner of DeJong Cheese – Alphenaer.
A nice assortment of soft (goat) cheese specialties
It starts with selecting the highest quality milk collected from farms in the area. The milk is acidified, curdled and cut, stirred and further processed into exceptional cheeses in the cheese dairy using traditional methods.
The range of soft (goat) cheese specialties includes Brie, Camembert, fresh and aged cheeses, Cheese Crumbles, spreadable fresh cheese and Cheese Schnitzels with which they serve various (inter)national markets. Mainly based on goat’s milk or cow’s milk and available in various flavors. You can find the cheeses in retail, foodservice, cheese specialty stores, (catering) wholesale and in B2B under our own Alphenaer brand, but also as private label.
Enjoy life!
As Burgundian Brabanters, we not only love our beautiful forests, vast farmlands and expansive views, but we also love to dine long. Within this tradition, Alphenaer cheese fits like no other: “Enjoy life!”.
