Gjetost and Mysost cheese

   / Gjetost and Mysost cheese #1  

etpm

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These two related cheeses are not really cheeses but are made from whey. Gjetost is made from primarily goat whey, Mysost from cow whey. A popular brand of the stuff is called Ski Queen. It is a brown, kinda sweet cheese. I really like it. So does my wife. They are called Norwegian Brown Cheeses. Looking online and on YouTube it was hard to find good recipes for making the stuff. Videos of failures though.
Two days ago a friend brought over a couple quarts of goat whey and I tried making the stuff. It turned out very well. Not much yield though. Now I am excited to make more.
In the coming weeks my wife is going to be getting more goat whey from her friend. I also ordered some powdered sweet cow's milk whey, AKA sweet dairy whey. Sweet whey is not the same whey sold for body building and may not be the same as the whey sold as a dietary supplement and for adding to sausage. Sweet whey still has all the lactose, while dietary whey may not.
When I have 2 gallons or so of goat whey I will be making another batch of Gjetost. When the powdered sweet dairy whey arrives I will attempt to make Mysost. I will post on TBN how my efforts turn out and my recipes. It does take hours of simmering to make and must be watched carefully near the end.
The Gjetost has subtle flavors as well as strong flavors. It leaves a nice aftertaste. I can't quite describe it. The flavor grows on you. My wife thinks it would go good on top of a steak and I agree. Though sweet it is also savory. I think some of the flavors come from the same chemical reactions that give browned foods their good taste. The Maillard Reaction. See the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction
Anyway, I look forward in the near future to posting about my great successes (I hope!) making these Norwegian Brown Cheeses.
Cheers,
Eric
 
   / Gjetost and Mysost cheese #3  
Friend of my father was married to a Norwegian, and sometimes for dinner she would serve roasted meats with slivers of geitost on the side. She pronounced it as "Yeh-Tost." Fell in love with this stuff. But 30 years ago, you just couldn't buy it in the US. She was having 5 pound wheels sent from her family in Norway. It was a special honor to be served geitost. I see that geitost is one of several types of Norwegian Brown Cheeses. Think I'll seek out some of the others, like brunost and compare the tastes. :)
 
   / Gjetost and Mysost cheese
  • Thread Starter
#4  
UPDATE:
Being impatient when I have the time to do something I ordered some Sweet Dairy Whey. Powdered. From a company called Olive Nation. There are lots of other folks selling the same stuff online, for more and less money. Their price for the two pounds I bought seemed good. They shipped fast too. I got the whey in 5 days. I have nothing to do with Olive Nation other than I bought two pounds of powdered whey from them.
So, while waiting for more goat whey I tried making Mysost today from powdered sweet whey from dairy cows. Tried and succeeded. My second try making this type of "cheese". Even though not technically cheese I will from now on call it cheese. No quotation marks. The quotation marks get tiresome and everybody knows what I mean. And if they don't, well they can eat...cheese.
My recipe that worked today is below.
1.5 quarts of water
3 cups powdered Sweet Dairy Whey
1.5 cups 30% heavy cream
Yield is about 2/34 cups cheese.
THIS RECIPE WILL TAKE ABOUT 7 HOURS.
Start off by using a large, high sided pot filled with the water. Get the water heating over medium heat and add the whey. Don't add it all at once, but instead about 1/2 cup at a time. It will probably clump up some. Just smash the clumps against the side of the pot. After all the whey is added keep stirring until the whey is dissolved. Now heat until the pot starts to boil, stirring now and then to keep the whey from sticking to the bottom of the pot and then subsequently burning. The heat can be high when getting the pot to boil, just make sure to keep stirring.
Once the pot is boiling reduce the heat to a simmer. You will need to stir now and then. You can judge how often by noting how much whey is sticking to the bottom of the pot. It is unwise to let a lot of the whey stick to the bottom of the pot because it will burn. The mixture must be simmered until the liquid is reduced to just a few cups. It will be a light brown color. Remember to stir. And to scrape the sides down often. The sides will need to be scraped down a lot near the end of the cooking.
When reduced to a few cups the stirring must be very frequent, almost constant. Keep cooking until, when a spoon is scraped across the bottom, a path is left that closes slowly. When scraping the spoon across the bottom you will notice that there is a very thick layer of syrupy stuff right on the bottom of the pot. This is where the magic is happening. This is where the temperature is getting high enough to caramelize the lactose in the whey. This layer is going to burn easily so it must be constantly scraped off of the bottom during cooking. The whey must be cooked until quite dark brown. I know, this is quite subjective, but these are the best directions I can offer.
While cooking to get that brown color the whey may get too thick. If this happens add hot or at least very warm water to the mixture in the pot. Cold water would work too but it takes forever to mix thoroughly with the whey mixture, while hot water mixes fast. After adding the water continue to cook to get that dark brown color.
NOTE: The dark color is an indication of how the cheese will taste. Darker color will result in a cheese with stronger flavors. So this color and flavor is subjective and the good cook will experiment to get the flavor they want.
So, once the stuff in the pot is dark enough add the cream. The cheese will now not be so dark. OH NO! Actually, not a big deal. You will just need to continue to cook the mixture just the way you did before. The cheese will need to be dark brown and thick.
How thick, or hard, the cheese will be after it is done is another thing that is up to the cook's tastes. To help judge this final texture a small amount of the hot mixture can be on a cold plate and then put in the freezer until it is about 40 degrees F. The cheese will be almost as hard as it would be after sitting overnight in the fridge. Yeah, I know, not very exact. But I have only made this cheese twice. With not much guidance, so I am winging it a bit here. And both efforts have worked out well so I must be doing something right.
If anyone decides to spend day making this cheese please let us know. I really like the stuff. I like the goat version better, but both are good. Maybe i can find powdered goat whey on line. I guess I had better look. And hey, if anyone living near Whidbey Island has or knows of a good source of goat whey please let me know.
Thanks,
Eric
 
   / Gjetost and Mysost cheese #6  
My grandfather worked at a dairy plant producing this cheese for over 30 years until the early 1990's, it was in a large stainless steel cooker running on steam, slow churned for 4-5h, then it turned golden dark from the natural sugar in the whey and cream. When it came hot out of the cooker, it was like charamel. Eventually they moved the production to another facility and my grandpa started running the machine that packaged milk, buttermilk and heavy cream for sale to the local grocery stores. When he retired I took over his job doing this, I did this until I got laid off in 1994. I moved to the US in 1998. There are several types of brown cheese, the "snowqueen" is strick goatmilk G35, then there is half cow/goat FG33 and cow F33. All high fat and silky smooth cheese. The number reflected the dairy fat percentage.
 
 
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