Edam is a pressed cow's-milk cheese from the Netherlands, named for the town of Edam. Export balls are often coated in red wax.
It is milder than Gouda, and it is traditionally made from milk with some of the cream removed, so it is leaner. Young Edam slices and melts. It does not become the caramel-like cheese that a very old Gouda does.
History
Edam is a harbor town north of Amsterdam. Its cheeses were made to be shipped. A firm, relatively lean ball survived a sea voyage better than a rich soft cheese, and the red wax that now signals Edam in a shop began as protection for export. At home, the cheese was not always a red ball. The ball and the wax are the travel costume.
Dutch trade carried Edam widely, including to the Caribbean and to Latin America, where the red ball became a familiar imported cheese. The name, like Gouda, is also used for cheeses made outside the Netherlands. The town and the old export trade are Dutch. A red wax coating in another country is an allusion to that trade, not proof of a Dutch wheel.
How it is made
The make is a pressed cow's-milk cheese in the Dutch family. Traditionally, some cream is removed from the milk first, which keeps the cheese leaner and milder than a Gouda made from fuller milk. The curd is pressed into the characteristic ball, salted, and, for export, coated in red wax. A natural rind exists on cheeses that are not waxed for travel.
Most Edam is eaten young. It can be aged, and an older Edam becomes firmer and more savory, but the style does not run toward the very sweet, crystalline extremes associated with a long-aged Gouda. The wax is not a rind. Cut it off. It is there to keep the cheese clean and moist, not to be eaten.
Taste
Young Edam tastes mild, salty, and slightly nutty, with a smooth, springy paste. It is a quiet cheese. The red wax has no flavor once it is removed. An older Edam is drier and a little sharper, still in a restrained range.
A good young cheese smells of fresh dairy and salt. Sourness, a wet slimy surface under the wax, or a rancid note means the ball was damaged or kept too long. Because the flavor is mild, there is nowhere for a fault to hide. If it tastes off, it is off. It will not pass as a complex funk.
In the kitchen
Slice it for bread, especially at breakfast or for a plain lunch. Cube it for a salad or a lunchbox. Melt it in a sandwich or a simple sauce when the other ingredients should stay audible. It is a useful cheese next to louder foods, such as mustard, pickles, or ham, because it does not fight them.
Do not buy Edam when the recipe wants the sweetness of an old Gouda or the bite of a cheddar. Do not leave the wax on in a melted dish. A young Gouda is the closest substitute, richer and a little softer in flavor. A mild cheddar or a young Asiago can cover a sandwich if Edam is what you like and the shop has none.
Around the world
The Netherlands is the home. The red ball is one of the most recognized cheese shapes in the world, which is a result of shipping, not of a flavor that shouts. In Dutch eating it is a daily cheese. In other countries it is often the mild cheese people buy for children or for a buffet, sometimes without knowing the town.
Where Dutch cheese became part of local food through trade, Edam is not an exotic board cheese. It is the familiar imported ball. Elsewhere it competes with every other mild cow's-milk cheese. The name is broadly used. A cheese from Edam's tradition is Dutch, relatively lean, and young unless the label insists on age. The red wax is a hint, not a certificate.