Gouda affiné

Komijnekaas. The seed lands exactly where the caramel would get cloying.

Roast malt against caramel crystals. The same browning reaction, twice.

Dutch bar standard. Mustard cubes the cheese into something you keep eating.

Acid against a sweet cheese, stopping it turning into confectionery.

Rye especially. Sour crumb under sweet crystal.

Both go butterscotch when ripe. One is fruit, one is broken protein.

Tannin against toffee. The bitterness is what keeps you chewing.

Tyrosine crystals and caramel oxidation; the cheese tastes like the wine dried out.

Molasses on molasses, and the salt crystals stop it being only sweet.

Same Maillard family. Beside espresso it reads as caramel said twice.

Vanillin and oak against tyrosine crunch. The sweetness is already shared.

Sweet crystal, sulfurous fungus. Dutch purists hate it; it works.

Sotolon in both. The syrup finds the cheese's butterscotch and doubles it.

Aged crystals and dried apricot both run on caramelised sugar. Salt does the rest.

Both are protein broken to amino acids and sugar. Whisk one into the other.

Caramelised milk twice. One took three years, one took an hour.