Jeg skal ikke filosofere for mye rundt temaet jul, men for de fleste av oss er det forbundet med glede. Gaver og god mat. Og ikke minst at når julefreden senker seg så har solen akkurat snudd. Jeg er ikke så glad i denne mørke kalde tiden, må jeg innrømme og derfor synes jeg alle lysene før jul er stas. Og at etter jul blir dagene bitte litt lenger for hver dag. Nå hørtes dette depressivt ut og slik er det ikke, trivselen er bare bedre i det lyse halvåret. Derfor var det også fantastisk å ha knappe to uker i Sør-Afrika i november. Neste tur blir jo i mars 2026, så akkurat tidpunktet på året har ikke samme effekt, men en fin tid uansett. Har vært i Sør-Afrika i mars så det vet jeg. Men nok om det. I nyhetsbrevet for desember har jeg skrevet litt om juleoster og hva som blir å finne på bordet her i huset. Imidlertid er det flere som er innom her enn som abonnerer på nyhetsbrevet fra OSTEPERLER. Bare å melde seg på, det kommer ca ett per måned så ikke noe jamming av mailboksen din.
I am the first to admit that the title was inspired by the title of this blog post. I was so fascinated by the title when I first came across it doing research for the OSTEPERLER tour to the Cape, South Africa. So just to clarify, the name of the establishment is Ate. It’s not a restaurant, not even a café. You have to know about it, and you have to book. “I thought I have to go there some day”. That some day was a Tuesday in November. In Cape Town, South Africa. And what a treat it was.
An exciting new culinary experience for our OSTEPERLER tour group: a Karoo immersion in the heart of Cape Town! This was made possible by the talented Tania Olivier @what.i.ate.at.ate , who shared with us not only three generations of Karoo-style cooking but also fueled the experience with her childhood stories. It was a unique opportunity for us to gain a deeper understanding of what it’s like to grow up and live in the heart of the Karoo, while tasting incredible, authentic food enhanced with a touch of flair—no detail was spared. We left with full stomachs and heads full of stories. She even made us like Rooibos tea! I highly recommend this experience for both locals and visitors alike!
Mozzarella is a fresh cheese, a very fresh cheese. As with bread, today’s bread is fresh, yesterday’s, old. This is also the case with mozzarella. It’s just that for the most part at least we Norwegians are not used to it. We mostly eat old grocery-bought mozzarella. If you have been to the south of Italy where they really have a culture for mozzarella, there is no question of eating day-old cheese. After a day it is used, for example, on pizza, but never eaten as is.
In October I was on a trip in Campania and we visited a small winery outside Naples which is actually located in an archaeological excavation area. We had to be approved in advance to be allowed in: number, name and position. There we got fresh Mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP. It has a protected designation of origin. We also got pizza, it was yesterday’s cheese. If you’ve ever tasted fresh mozzarella, you know what I’m talking about. Then it has something to do with lifestyle and tradition. Have just spent a week in Italy, in Rome and the surrounding areas. Had the pleasure of queuing up in Ostia, outside a cheese shop where most people bought fresh mozzarella. Bought a piece of Caciocavallo with me as well after a lot of haggling in English and Italian where we found out it was made from raw milk. Enough about that. There was a queue every morning before the shop opened at half past nine. If you happen to have mozzarella that is not quite fresh, you can click HERE and get some inspiration. A small point I got on my way out from the mozzarella shop in Ostia, they understood I was a foreigner. “No fridge”. I got my cheeses in a thick bag with lots of brine in it. And there they were supposed to be, at room temperature. Done talking.
What is Mozzarella?
The title is a quote from the consortium that governs the regulations for Mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP and may be descriptive. They are of course concerned that real mozzarella is made from buffalo milk, raw or pasteurized for the record. The word mozzarella itself is generic and can be made from any milk, anywhere in the world. And so it is. In short, it can be any kind of fresh cheese as long as it is made according to the pasta filata method. Pasta filata is a production method for cheese that is characterized by the fact that the curd, after it has been cut open and the whey drained off, is allowed to grow together into “cakes” and then left. These cakes are then split and placed in boiling water, kneaded and stretched into long strands. After this process, the curd is shaped in the tradition of the cheese being made, in our case traditional mozzarella balls.
Mozzarella – beautiful
Mozzarella di bufala must be from buffalo milk, naturally enough, and if you throw in Campana, it must come from defined areas. As always, this area is larger today than it was initially. So in addition to Campania where it is said that it all started, today the cheese can be made in parts of Lazio; i.e. the provinces of Latina, Frosinone and Rome, as well as parts of Puglia and Molise, more specifically parts of the province of Foggia and the municipality of Venafro. That’s how it is. One would think that the cheese I bought came from one of the areas in Lazio, but no, a good two hours away from Campania. Handmade in a cheese factory not so old, La Baronia, in Castel di Sasso. Established in 1990.
The cheese often comes in slightly different shapes. A bit like chèvre. Treccia is braided, it appears slightly firmer in texture; Bocconcini are the size of fish balls, Ciliegine is a little smaller and nice to use in, for example, salads. Sometimes it is also called Ciliegine ovolina. Even smaller than Ciliegine is Perlina. Nodini is simply nodular. In addition, of course, Burrata and the perhaps somewhat more unknown stracciatella. Stracciatella is great on its own, but also makes up the filling in a Burrata. It should also be mentioned that mozzarella can be smoked as well, affumicata.
What about Fior di latte?
This is a much less known cheese, at least in this country. However, it is a mozzarella, but unlike the generic variety, it calls for a Fior di latte. It must be made from cow’s milk, and it must be whole milk to use that expression, i.e. full fat milk. No adjustment of the fat content. With maturation of just a few hours, it is fresher than, for example, Mozzarella di bufala, Fior di latte probably appears creamier than the buffalo milk variety.
Last week I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of cheese makers from Ukraine on a study tour to Norway to learn about our cheese traditions in general, but more specifically learn about brown cheese. This previously very Norwegian “cheese” regarded as a curiosity by the rest of the world is about to gain world wide reputation. There are two aspects to that, how great a Norwegian product has caught the interest of the cheese world meaning a lot of cheese makers both see the value of the product but not least see the economy of utilising the whey. On the other hand, the Norwegians need to hold on to the tradition that this is originally a Norwegian product. Some see this interest from abroad as a danger. I don’t. We just have to focus on our wide array of traditional brown cheeses. The thing is brown cheese is not one thing, there are many of them using various combinations of cow’s and goat’s whey added milk and cream in any combination you may think of. Brown cheese is a generic designation of a cheese that is as different as the areas they come from and the cheese makers making them. So can we deny the rest of the world to boil whey until it thickens and turns brown? Think not. But we can of course deny the world to call it Brunost.
The thing is, I have checked and there is hardly any of the brown cheeses in Norway that have any mention of brunost on their packaging. Heidalsost does, though, but rather discreet. They are branded with their individual names, such as for instance Gudbrandsdalsost. So brunost is something we use colloquially but not something producers use to identify their product.
Cheesemaking in Ukraine
What kind of cheese do they make in Ukraine? All sorts actually, just like anywhere else. From cow’s, goat’s and ewe’s milk with the two former being dominant. And as might be obvious from the above, brown cheese. And, look at the top image, they make beautiful cheese art. Made from pasta filata style cheese.
The reason though, why this delegation came all the way from Ukraine to Norway was of course to learn more about brown cheese, but also to learn how to organise the cheese makers, how we sell our cheese and so on. Just as important. After our day at Avdem they sat up till 3 am to discuss organisational matters. So when they have been to Aurland, Undredal, Hol and also as far as I know met with the leader of the board of Norsk Gardsost, I think they have a pretty good view of how we are doing things, and hopefully can utilise this knowledge to develop their trade. I am sure someone is willing to go there to do some consulting as well. Could bring back home some valuable know-how as well as a bonus.
Big and small
Of those attending there were small cheesemakers with a few goats or buying milk from neighbours, and there were big players with 1700 milking goats and 500 cows, describing themselves as small, making 600 tonnes of cheese a year. Ukraine is a huge farming country as we have learned through the news regarding export of grain. But obviously not just grain. They are undoubtedly a major global food supplier. It’s a big country and more than half of the area is arable land. Farming gives employment to about 14 per cent of the country’s population and farm products are by far the biggest export commodity. The current situation is particularly strainfull for the small farmers, the type of farmer that just visited Norway to learn more. It’s impressive in this situation how they travel to learn how to develop their trade to secure incomes and employment. These farmers and cheese makees are true stayers. They deserve our support.
