Norwegian Cheese on its way up, up and beyond!

Norwegian cheese was for so many years so, so boring. You had Norwegia and Jarlsberg, two of the most boring cheeses in the world in my opinion, Nøkkelost – a yellow cheese flawoured with cumin, Gamalost – a smelly cheese that I used to hate when I was young, but now actually appreciate as it has character and stands out and of course the famous Brown Cheese which isn’t a cheese at all. 

But what was lacking was local variants, something to be proud of, something that shows of the great milk and terroir that we have in Norway and says something about it. Luckily the las ten-fifteen years have changed that and given us some great, great cheeses and a lot to be proud of.

So, when I went down to Colonialen to get some Norwegian Chevre cheese the other day I had high hopes and I wasn’t disappointed. I have had the great cheeses from Bo Jensen before, but this was the first time I was going to taste Fjelltopp and Lille Aske. I eagerly took two of each and brought them home.

​I first tasted the Fjelltopp and it is just such a great cheese! Creamy, round and mild it is just everything you want from Chevre-like goats cheese. I could eat this every day and not grow tired of the taste. So, so elegant.

Next up was Lille Aske. It was given the award Super Gold during last years World Cheese awards so this is a cheese already on it’s way to world fame. It is covered with a small layer of ash and has a firmer and more characteristic flavour that the milder Fjelltopp. It is easy to see why this cheese has gotten such rave reviews. It is a cheese where the flavour last and lasts. Creamy, but frim, great structure but still so, so soft. Wow, Bo is really getting everything right with this cheese.
I kept the last two cheeses in my fridge for a week before eating them to see if they developed further. The week gave the cheeses a stronger sense of what they already had. The edges got more creamy and ran a bit, but the centre was still firm. The flavour was much the same, so I don’t know if it gave me anything more to be honest. Next time my will power will not let them sit in my fridge for a week that’s for sure!

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