A cheesy tale of passion, innovation and tradition Strong, sweet or a little nutty – like with people, the individual characteristics of a cheese determine how to optimally handle and promote its best features. However, just as with its human counterpart, there is no exact science that will promise the right result – the secret is human passion, tradition, and innovation. Having had almost 90 years to perfect this art, Wernersson is today responsible for the ennobling and ripening of a number of Scandinavia’s most famous cheeses.
Despite this, the most popular brands ripened by Wernersson are still consumed in staggering amounts. For instance, more than 1,600 tonnes of Wernersson’s biggest brand, Jarlsberg, is consumed in Scandinavia each year.
By Signe Hansen | Photos: Wernersson Ost
The perfect time for enjoying
Jarlsberg, Kolibrie, Gudbrandsdalen and Danablu – unbeknown to most, many of Scandinavia’s most loved cheeses are ripened, waxed, hand-turned and ennobled at a huge 7,000-square-metre facility in Ulricehamn, Sweden. The facility is owned and managed by Wernersson, a company that dates back to 1930. Today, the company ships off approximately 18,000 tonnes of cheese every year. But, according to Jesper Jakobsen, general manager of Wernersson Ost Danmark, despite the huge amounts, it 28 | Issue 124 | May 2019
is not about quantity, but quality. “There’s a growing demand for cheese that’s been ripened for longer, seven to eight months,” he says. “In general, there’s a tendency for people to want to eat a little less, and that often means going for something with a better taste. We all know how it is – if there’s no taste, we just add an extra slice, but actually that doesn’t give you more taste, just more calories. I think that’s why quality is on the way up; people don’t mind spending a bit more money on something that’s better quality and then eating a bit less of it.”
Ripening cheese from approximately 70 cheese producers across Scandinavia