Brown Cheese Is Not Cheese

It is boiled-down whey with cream added, and whey is what is left over after cheesemaking rather than cheese itself. Technically that puts brunost outside the category it is sold under, which is a pleasant thing to know and not at all a reason to skip it. The other thing worth knowing: it is not from Bergen. It was created in 1863 in Gudbrandsdalen, roughly four hundred kilometres east over the mountains.

What it isWhey, boiled down with cream

Invented1863

ByAnne Hov, dairymaid

WhereNear Gålå, Gudbrandsdalen

Her medalKing’s Medal of Merit, 1933

Main typesGudbrandsdalsost, fløtemysost, geitost

Anne Hov

Anne Hov, who lived from around 1846 to around 1935, worked at a mountain farm near Gålå in Gudbrandsdalen. In 1863 she added cream to cow-milk whey and boiled it down, and called the result feitost. Adding goat’s milk later produced gudbrandsdalsost, the version most people mean when they say brown cheese. A trader named Ole Kongsli carried it to Oslo, and it is credited with helping the valley out of a recession. In 1933, aged 87, she received the King’s Medal of Merit in silver.

Why it is not cheese

Cheese is made from curds. Brunost is made from whey, the liquid left behind when the curds are taken out, cooked down until the milk sugars caramelise and it turns brown and sweet. That is where the colour and the fudge-like flavour come from, and it is why people expecting something savoury are so reliably startled by the first slice.

The varieties

Four names cover most of what you will be handed: gudbrandsdalsost, fløtemysost, geitost and ekte geitost. The goat-milk versions read sharper; the cream ones read sweeter. All of them are cut in thin ribbons with a cheese slicer onto bread, which is how Norwegians eat it at breakfast and in a packed lunch. The Norwegian breakfast.

Where you will meet it in Bergen

Constantly, despite it not being local. The main food walk includes a brown-cheese cheesecake among its thirteen tastings, and that is usually how brown cheese converts people: not on bread, but in a dessert. What is actually Bergen’s.

Insider tip

Slice it thin. The cheese slicer is not decoration — a thick slab of brunost is a punishing mouthful and a thin ribbon is a good one.

The tasting with the brown-cheese cheesecake

Three and a half hours, thirteen tastings across five cafés and restaurants, including award-winning local chocolate and the brown-cheese cheesecake, ending at Fløirestauranten on Mount Fløyen. Capped at eight people, wheelchair accessible, return Fløibanen tickets included. The listing is marked not suitable for vegans or vegetarians, and vegetarian and vegan options are available with 24 hours’ notice on an adjusted offering. Both halves of that are true and you need the second one before you book.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Norwegian brown cheese actually cheese?

Technically no. It is made from whey, the by-product left after cheesemaking, boiled down with cream until the milk sugars caramelise. Cheese is made from curds. Brunost is sold and eaten as cheese but it does not meet the definition.

Who invented brown cheese?

Anne Hov, a dairymaid at a mountain farm near Gålå in Gudbrandsdalen, in 1863. She added cream to cow-milk whey and boiled it down, and called it feitost. She received the King’s Medal of Merit in silver in 1933, aged 87.

Is brown cheese from Bergen?

No. It comes from Gudbrandsdalen, about four hundred kilometres away over the mountains, and reached the wider country after a trader took it to Oslo. You will still be offered it constantly in Bergen, including as a brown-cheese cheesecake on the main food walk.