A show of female strength and innovation Brown cheese is one of Norway’s most iconic foodstuffs. The cheese is an important part of the country’s gastronomical and cultural identity and heritage, and Gudbrandsdalsost is the most popular variety. It has a fascinating story, and it all started with farm wife Anne Hov, a pioneer of her time. By Malin Norman | Photos: Solbråsetra
ing the whey, the liquid left over when milk is curdled and strained to make cheese. Traditionally, brown cheese was made by boiling whey without the addition of cream, resulting in a sugar-rich and lean product.
There is nothing like Norway’s Gudbrandsdalsost, the famous ‘brunost’ (brown cheese), anywhere else in the world. The tan-coloured cheese with a sweet caramel-savoury flavour is unique – and it has an interesting history, first developed by Anne Hov back in 1863. Her story is one of female strength and innovation in a traditional, maledominated farming society.
the seasonal farm, where she was looking after dairy cows. Norway has a long tradition of this type of summer pasture farming, where families moved cattle, sheep and goats to higher elevations to graze and fatten up, ultimately to produce more milk. In the 1800s and early 1900s, this is where women looked after the animals and made butter and cheese from the milk.
Anne Hov’s father disliked goats, so she only had cow’s milk on hand at the farm. In the summer of 1863, only 17 years old, she came up with the idea of adding cream to milk whey and boiling it down until the fluid content was reduced, creating a firmer, fattier, more cheese-like product, originally called fat cheese and later cream whey cheese. This proved to be a flavoursome cheese.
But let us start from the beginning: Anne Hov was raised on Solbrå farm, located in Gudbrandsdalen, not far from the mountains. She spent the summer months on
Creating the famous cheese
At this time, farming in Norway was undergoing a transformation. The railway network expanded and cheaper products were imported from abroad, which led to
104 | Issue 127 | August 2019
The key element of summer farming was treating and preserving the milk, churning the butter, making cheese and boil-