Cheese, gjetost

Fun Facts

1. Gjetost is an artless cheese. It has no crystals, no shards, no holes, no rind, no mold. It is not smudged with ash nor washed with Cognac.
2. Gjetost is more like fudge than cheese. A product of Norway, it is made by boiling the whey left over from traditional cheese production. It is stirred and condensed over heat until reduced to one-quarter its original volume. The sugars in the lactose caramelize, and the cheese becomes thick enough to pour into rectangular molds. The finished gjetost emerges from its supermarket wrap squeaky clean, with an all-body tan and shiny creases on its face. Its semifirm compact texture, which bears a trace of peanut butter’s sullen mouth feel, has a rich salty-sweet caramel finish.
3. Gjetost made with a combination of goat and cow milk and the odd drop of cream (sold in this country under the brand name Ski Queen) is milder than Ekte gjetost, which is produced from 100 percent goat’s milk whey.
4. Gjetost is eaten for breakfast on rye crisps, secreted into lunch boxes and served for dessert with fruit.
5. To earn the classification gjetost, this cheese must contain at least 10 percent goat’s milk whey (in Norwegian, gje means goat). The remaining milk may come from cows.