Brunost: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 12:54, 16 April 2010

Brunost is usually sliced very thinly using a metal cheese slicer.

Brunost (Norwegian), mesost (Swedish), mysuostur (Icelandic) or myseost (Danish) is a brown Scandinavian whey cheese. The Norwegian name brunost means 'brown cheese'. In North America it is referred to and sold as gjetost, which is an older spelling of geitost that is no longer frequently used elsewhere.

Varieties

The three most popular varieties in Norway are Gudbrandsdalsost, which means 'cheese from Gudbrandsdalen', from the Gudbrands valley (made from 24 % goat's milk and cow's milk), Fløtemysost which is made entirely from cow's milk, and the more traditional version Ekte Gjetost, which simply means 'real goat cheese', and which is wholly made from goat's milk. There are also regional varieties, which vary both in colour and taste, depending on the ratio of cow's milk to goat's milk and cream.

Annual production is approximately 12 million kilograms, or almost 4 kg per Norwegian. Of this amount, 50% is Gudbrandsdalsost, 30% is Fløtemysost, and 8 - 10% is Ekte Gjetost ^[1].

Geitost has a strong, sweet, yet somewhat sharp flavor with notes of caramel and goat's milk, while Fløtemysost is similar but more mellow in taste. Gudbrandsdalsost's flavour lies between the two. The various varieties are often used as an open sandwich topping, on bread, malt loaf, or together with lefse, a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread. Brunost and lefse are used in some areas as a side dish to lutefisk, a traditional dish made from stockfish.

Geitost is also used in game sauces, often together with juniper berries. It lends such sauces a more subtle, caramel taste.

Production

Brunost is made by boiling a mixture of milk, cream and whey carefully for several hours so that the water evaporates. The heat turns the milk sugar into caramel which gives the cheese its characteristic taste. It is ready for consumption as soon as it is packed in suitable sized blocks. A low-fat variant is made by increasing the proportion of whey to milk and cream.

The original Brunost is made with goat whey only, using the same technique.

Cheese spread

If boiled for a shorter time than usual, one gets the spreadable version called prim in Norwegian (or messmör in Swedish and 'mysingur' in Icelandic). Prim had been made in Norway for a long time when Anne Hov, a farmer's wife got the idea of putting cream into the cheese. She got a good price for her new fatty cheese, and this merchandise is said to have saved the Gudbrands valley financially in the 1880s.

In different countries

Primarily a Norwegian product, the cheeses are also produced and sold in Sweden. They are also sold in the Upper Midwest, and by specialty cheesemongers and some larger supermarkets all over Europe,^{[citation needed]} North America (http://www.cheeseimporters.com/) and Australia.^{[citation needed]} Today several types of brunost are offered in most shops in Norway and Sweden. In Sweden, brunost called Fjällbrynt Mesost is produced by Fjällbrynt in the city of Östersund. TINE meierier produce most of the brunost in Norway, while Fjällbrynt is the biggest producer in Sweden. In Iceland, the company Mjólkursamsalan produces brunost. Several local dairies in Norway produce their own versions. Experimental versions with nuts and honey or chocolate have been tried, without very much success.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ BBC website

External links

[1] BBC website

[1]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ==Varieties==
-The three most popular varieties in Norway are '''Gudbrandsdalsost''', which means 'cheese from [[Gudbrandsdal|Gudbrandsdalen]]', from the Gudbrands valley (made from 24 % goat's milk and cow's [[milk]]), '''[[Fløtemysost]]''' which is made entirely from cow's milk, and the more traditional version '''Ekte Gjetost''', which simply means 'real goat cheese', and which is wholly made from goat's milk. There are also regional varieties, which vary both in colour and taste, depending on how much caramel they contain and the ratio of cow's milk to goat's milk.
+The three most popular varieties in Norway are '''Gudbrandsdalsost''', which means 'cheese from [[Gudbrandsdal|Gudbrandsdalen]]', from the Gudbrands valley (made from 24 % goat's milk and cow's [[milk]]), '''[[Fløtemysost]]''' which is made entirely from cow's milk, and the more traditional version '''Ekte Gjetost''', which simply means 'real goat cheese', and which is wholly made from goat's milk. There are also regional varieties, which vary both in colour and taste, depending on the ratio of cow's milk to goat's milk and cream.
 Annual production is approximately 12 million kilograms, or almost 4&nbsp;kg per Norwegian. Of this amount, 50% is Gudbrandsdalsost, 30% is Fløtemysost, and 8 - 10% is Ekte Gjetost  <ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A876800 BBC website]</ref>.