Green goddess began as a salad dressing. Wait, back up. As the story goes, a hotel chef in San Francisco (circa 1923) wanted to pay tribute to his actor friend who was appearing in a play by William Archer called “The Green Goddess.” He concocted a creamy, green-tinted dressing that was to be the inspiration for many dressings to come.

Of course, Trader Joe’s picked up on this with our Green Goddess Dressing and extended that line into the dip category with our Green Goddess Dip. Then we wanted to stretch the concept a bit, so we partnered with a cheese maker in New York to create a cheese that would be exclusive to Trader Joe’s and would include a distinct, green-herby character that could justify its name: Green Goddess Gouda.

This Gouda is actually a blend of two goudas; one milder, and one that’s aged and a bit sharper. The smooth, flavorful cheese base is blended with a pesto (created separately) that includes olive oil, avocado oil, onion powder—and several dried alliums and herbs, such as minced garlic, scallions, chives, basil, and parsley. The result is a herbalicious, smooth & nutty cheese that very tasty on its own. It also melts quite well, so you can put our Green Goddess Gouda on your panini, your burger, or even in your mac and cheese!