Foodists

This is a new one

I’ve made it no secret that one of my favorite things about living in Denmark is the cheese; I’m a sucker for Danish Blue and I’ve come into an affinity for something called Danbo—which is phenomenal in the morning on fresh Danish bread. Those aside, today I found myself at the market, in wonder, staring at an enormous wall of cheese. With every label written in Danish I didn’t exactly know what they were or what was in them and I haven’t the patience to bug teenage store clerks with my questions, in English, because that’s plain annoying. So it came to a case of eeny-meeny-miny-mo and I ended up with a new one called Myseost. While this particular cheese may exist elsewhere, I’ve never found it and nothing prepared me for how it would taste.

I rushed home, unpacked all of my groceries, cut it out of its wrapper and examined my new purchase. At first glance, it reminded me of the tiny Kraft caramel cubes that my mom used to hide on the top shelf of our pantry.

“What the hell is this?” I said out loud to an empty apartment.

I shaved off a slice and in doing so saw a very un-cheesy quality. The block stayed firm, but a single slice rolled off, folding like warm fudge. I was really confused. I took a bite. Not only did it look like caramel, it tasted like caramel, but strangely cheesy. Did someone play a trick on me, does this actually exist? In my wildest dreams I would never assume that two of my favorite foods could come together that well, I mean, the lat pair this magical was, well, when caramel met pecans.

So what is Myseost?

The whey cheese which goes by Myseost in Denmark and Sweden is originally known as Brunost, from Norway. A big surprise will be that Brunost translates quite literally to “Brown Cheese.” The type I purchased is Gudbrandsdalsost, for those as challenged in Scandinavian languages as I, that means cheese made with cow’s milk—the more traditional variety of which is made with Goat’s milk.

The taste of Myseost is rich, sharp, and unlike anything I’ve eaten before. On a second bite, the caramel is backed up with a subtle, underlying smoke/cedar-like taste. It’s buttery and creamy, it’s smooth and it’s sinfully addicting. It is absolutely mouthwatering. Go out, find some, and enjoy. I certainly did.