Ski Queen Gjetost - Brunost - A Norwegian Staple - Three fun recipes!

 

Ever see this at the supermarket and wonder what it is?  Ever read the package.  Neither had I until I came into the specialty foods business.  

Ski Queen carries a line of 'Brunost Cheeses' which means commonly made from whey, milk or cream.  The most consumed from the Gudbrandsdalsost type out of Gudbrandsdal Valley in Norway.  Story has it these were created by the ambition of a young woman named Anne born in 1846.  She grew to help out her father on his dairy farm.  Churning butter, preserving milk, making cheese, boiling whey.   Her father disliked goats so they only worked with cow's milk.  

She later grew to marry in her early twenties to Tor Hov and had four daughters.  In 1863 Anne obtained some brunost from a neighboring mountain farm and got permission from her father to try to make the same.  It was the summer was known that Anne created her first Gudbrandsdalen cheese.  

In 1870 poverty spread in Norway and conditions were bad.  Farmer's joined together to form a dairy cooperative in 1877.  Anne started making cheese at home but this time she added goat milk to the cow milk then sold the cheese in nearby villages.  It was in such great demand Anne was thanked for her efforts in having helped save Gudbransdalen from financial ruin in the 1880's for developing what would become Norway's national cheese.  (skiqueen.com)

THANK YOU ANNE for creating one of the most unique tasting cheese's have tried.  Having done some research how this cheese is eaten, took a stab at Kjottkaker med Gjetost aka Norwegian Brown Cheese Meatballs via a recipe by 'North Wild Kitchen'   .  

 

The cheese subbed for the peanut butter in a 'Elvis Sandwich'.  Toasted bread, gjetost cheese, bacon and bananas grilled!  ELVIS WOULD APPROVE!!

This was my favorite of the three.  A wheat flatbread toasted in the oven with slices of gjetost cheese to a melty stage.  Grilled nectarines and topped with arugula.  

This one was the easiest and my fave!!   Next time see that lil square block of cheese that does not seem like a cheese, BUY IT!  Try it, and bet you will come up with combinations of your own!