As it happens i cross the mountains from east to the west of Norway. Sort of in the middle there is a roadside small grocery specializing in all local and edible. A usual stop, as it was about a week ago when I passed. I bought a couple of Norwegian farmstead cheeses, one of which was Trolltind from Derinngarden dairy on the north west coast of Norway. This is an area where they are clever making cheese, and where also Kraftkar comes from. Quite a while since I tasted this as it is not well distributed, at least not in the Oslo area where I live. Derinngarden dairy makes cheese from organic raw cow’s milk provided by the 10 to 14 cows they have on the farm.
Washed rind
When the cheese is so firm as this it is not necessarily obvious that the rind is washed, as it is dry as compared to the more famous softer washed rind cheeses as for instance Epoisses with a very sticky rind. But washed it is. They say it is somewhat stinky, but in my opinion it is not. If you are more sensible to cheese smells than I am, you may think so. Somewhat mature, small, irregular holes spread around. Light yellow paste and the rind naturally leaning towards orange.
Taste is good, mouthfilling and balanced. Not pungent, but with a clear identity. A like it very much and wonderful on some country bread with farmstead butter.
Derinngarden
Derinngarden is on the north west coast, not too far away from the coastal towns of Molde and Kristiansund. Been run organically since 2007, and they spent eight years transforming the farm from conventional farming to organic. Been herding milking cows for a couple of hundred years on the is farm, but history goes way further back than that. They only make cheese from their own milk.
A few varieties
Trolltind is not the only cheese they make. There is a camembert style, a semifirm, bloomy rind cheese called Snøtind, Derinngarden Spesial which is a mature firm cheese, Lille gule (The Small yellow) is a combination of washed rind and bloomy rind. Then there is a morbier style with a line of ash in the middle. Well, and a couple more. Worth trying out.