It’s not that often that cheese hits the headlines, but this week was one of those times when millions like me switched on the computer in the morning to read a headline that claimed a lorry load of cheese had caught fire in Norway. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21141244
I didn’t even know cheese could catch fire! But catch fire it did, all 27 tonnes of it, and was still burning five DAYS later. “It’s burns like petrol” remarked one bystander. What cheese could reek such mayhem? Where can I get some? Could I run my car on the stuff? It’s All About Cheese had to find out…
Brunost, or ‘brown cheese’ in Norwegian is the fiery character at the centre of this particular story. Traditionally made from goats milk, the brown colour comes from boiling the whey until the natural sugars in the milk caramelise. Once most of the water has boiled away, the cheese is packed into blocks and sold, no maturing whatsoever. The Norwegians LOVE it. Luckily in London, you can usually find a shop selling ‘food from home’ for any nationality you can think of, such is the diversity of the city’s burgeoning population. Scandinavian Kitchen is one such venue, combining a small shop area with a great little cafe cum restaurant. All manner of weird and wonderful foods to be found here, including a small chocolate bar called “Plopp”, which caused almost as much amusement to my immature mind as finding a washing powder called “Toss” in Tanzania recently. My custom received a very friendly welcome here I think. I say ‘think’ as it didn’t make any sense, so I concluded it must have been made in Norwegian. Apparently they don’t sell much Brunost to the English here… I took it home to find out why.
As you can see, it’s not much to look at. It doesn’t really look like cheese does it, and being frank, it certainly doesn’t taste like any cheese I know. I’ve looked at a few descriptions as to what Brunost tastes like and non really fit the bill for me. For texture think fudge. It certainly melts like cheese, but taste wise it’s more like a Caramac gone wrong. If you don’t know what a Caramac is then I’m stuck. It’s very sweet, yet somehow still savoury with a slightly sickly finish. You only need a little, and I actually thought I was enjoying it to start with, but I think I might have pushed my luck a bit and had one nibble too many as suddenly
found myself not wanting any more at all. I have a 250g block of this (the smallest I could find), I have to admit I don’t think it will all get eaten. One article I read said that Brunost is like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, but until you give it a try you’ll never know.
So really there was only one think left to discover – does Brunost really burn like petrol? Well I didn’t have 27 tonnes of it and a tank of fuel to get it going, so instead I gave a small wedge a good minute over a disposable lighter but a headline making inferno was not forthcoming.
So I must conclude that for a number of reasons for Brunost and I, there was just no spark.
It's All About Cheese 