During the last decades, since the land has been drained, a number of large farms have been established in the “polder”. The land was drained with the help of Fransiscus Hermensz’s father’s windmill. Now hundreds of cows graze in this “polder” and while the farmers work on the land, their wives make cheese, which is hard work. The curds are made from the evening milk mixed with the still warm morning milk, this is then cut and pressed and placed in salt-brine and put away to dry for many days. The first cheeses are ripe enough to be sold after about six or eight weeks. If the waterways are not frozen, as they are now, the farmers and their wives push their flatboats to the town where they carry their cheeses on hand barrows with shoulder straps to Jacobus van Cromvoirt’s weighhouse to be weighed.

Most cheeses are bought directly by traders from other towns, but Molendam itself is also a substantial market for the farmers from the polder, because many cheese-lovers live here. And Rob van Roosmalen sells this cheese. There’s a huge cellar underneath the stately canal house with the characteristic step gable, which has perfect air humidity and the cheeses can be left to rest until they reach the exact stage of ripeness required by the customer. Baker Aad van Brakenhoff likes young cheese; he even likes it still to be slightly white. But Hieronymus Scherff van Andel from the Mint prefers his cheese so mature that it crumbles apart. Rob has put aside a few cheeses in the back of the cellar, where it’s dark and cold, just for him because then it acquires the most taste. His wife, Antine, skilfully cuts the cheese to the exact size requested by the customers.  She is a true artist in this. Once a week she cuts various types of cheese into cubes and delivers them on a large dish to mayor Wolkers van Avezaath’s town hall. He passes this round during the town council meeting. During the special Christmas council meeting sweets delivered by Froukje van Tilborgh from her grocer’s shop are also passed round. This is how the mayor keeps his council members happy and smoothes away all opposition. And in this way Rob and Antine van Roosmalen contribute to the political peace in Molendam with their cheese shop.