Nøkkelost is a traditional Norwegian semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk. Also known as Kuminost, the cheese matures for 3 months and it's flavored with cumin, cloves, and caraway. It has a natural rind and a creamy texture, while the flavors are spicy, tangy, and nutty.
It is recommended to melt Nøkkelost over meat or potatoes and pair it with a glass of red wine on the side.
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Ädelost is a Swedish blue cheese that was originally created as an alternative to the imported French blue cheeses. The cheese is made from cow's milk and it ages for 8-12 weeks. It has a thin, pale rind that's dusted with specks of grey, white, and blue mold.
The interior is creamy in texture and pale in color, scattered with blue-grey pockets and broken veins. The flavors are sharp, spicy, salty, and tangy. Ädelost is usually crumbled over salads or used as a table cheese, but it can also be combined with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to create a piquant salad dressing.
Ridder is a traditional Norwegian cheese made from cow's milk. It was invented by a Swedish cheesemaker, Sven Fenelius. The cheese has a pliable and creamy texture and its rind is washed and sticky. Ridder matures for almost 3 months, during which it develops sweet, buttery, and slightly nutty flavors.
It's recommended to pair it with light and fruity wines and serve it with fruit or crackers. Interestingly, the name Ridder means knight in Norwegian.
Brunost is a Norwegian and Scandinavian brown processed cheese made from cow's and goat's milk whey. Technically it's not a cheese at all because it's made from a secondary product. The whey is boiled down to a caramelized sugar. Depending on the length of the boiling, the cheese can be less or more dark and rich in color.
The blend is placed into bags and left to cool so that the sugars crystallise. Once chilled, it is packaged into a block and it's then ready to be enjoyed. Brunost has a dense texture, while the flavors are sweet and caramel-like. It is recommended to serve it on rye toast with strawberry jam.
VARIATIONS OF Brunost
Hushållsost is a cylindrical, creamy, semi-hard, traditional cheese made from cows' whole milk on Swedish farms, literally translated as 'household cheese'. Consistent to its name, it is the most popular cheese in Sweden, with 15,000 tons of it consumed every year.
It has small holes dispersed throughout its body, slices easily and has great melting properties. Hushållsost cheese weighs between one and two kilograms, gets wrapped in a plastic casing and is then matured for sixty days and develops a mild, yet sour flavor.
Esrom is a semi-hard to hard drained cheese produced from cow's milk in Denmark. Depending on the minimum fat content (20+, 30+, 45+ and 60+), it is available in four varieties. Esrom is named after an abbey where monks first started making it in the 12th century, and it became popular after the recipe was rediscovered in the 1930s.
Although it is quite mild when young, as it matures for 10 to 12 weeks it develops a pungent aroma. The rind is washed, hard, thin and greasy on the exterior, while on the interior Esrom is pale yellow with small holes dispersed throughout its body.
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Produced on Norwegian mountain farms for 500 years, Geitost is a processed brown cheese made with whey and cream (goat's milk) that are slowly cooked for 8 to 10 hours. Technically, geitost is a type of brunost and it's not a cheese at all because it's made from a secondary product.
Geitost is pressed into square molds and turns brown because of the lactose sugar. Its flavor is sweet with hints of burnt caramel, which is the reason why Norwegian children often eat it for breakfast. Geitost is traditionally sliced extra-thin, and it is typically served on Norwegian flatbread.
Norzola is Norway's answer to Gorgonzola. This Norwegian blue cheese is produced by TINE (a cooperative owned by milk producers). The cheese is made from pasteurized cow's milk, cream, salt, and rennet. Underneath its natural rind, the texture is buttery, smooth, and supple.
The aromas are intense, while the flavors are rich and full-bodied. There's also a blue-green marbling running throughout the body. The cheese was launched in 1974.
Jarlsberg is a Norwegian cheese made with cow's milk. It has a semi-soft texture, while the flavors are mild, buttery, and slightly nutty. The cheese was invented by Anders Larsen Bakke in the village of Vale, not far away from Oslo. Jarlsberg has characteristical irregular holes dispersed throughout its body, which is why it's often marketed as a Swiss cheese.
The cheese melts exceptionally well, and as a result it is used in fondues, quiches, and sandwiches. It is recommended to pair Jarlsberg with a glass of Merlot.
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Bla Castello (also known as Blue Castello) is a traditional Danish cheese made from cow's milk. It was developed in the 1960s to meet the demand for creamy and mild blue cheeses. This soft cheese has a rich, buttery, Brie-like texture underneath its unique rind that can develop a combination of blue-green and red molds.
The aroma has hints of mushrooms, while the flavor is buttery, tangy, and mildly spicy due to blue veins in the body. The cheese ages from 8 to 10 weeks. It's recommended to serve it with Danish crispbread and Danish beer, but it's also often added to salads.
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