Fjelldronning
This is four kilo wheel matured for at least four months. Light red-yellowish washed rind and pale yellow paste with only a very few scattered small holes. A well made cheese with a fine mild taste and gentle aroma. Raw cows’ milk from their own herd. Rather well distributed market wise but of course also available from their farm shop/cafeteria called Avdemsbue well worth a pit stop and with a wide range of artisan food and drink.
Mor Åse
Mor Åse is a smaller and younger cousin of Fjelldronning, matured for one and a half months. Washed rind. Gentle taste and likeable. Slightly more fruity than Fjelldronning.
To drink: Mor Åse and Fjelldronning pairs well with Cabernet Franc based reds or a Jura chardonnay.
Grotteost
Traditional semi firm cow’s milk cheese, cellar aged at the farm. Farmstead raw milk cheese aged from 8 to 12 months. Sweetish and nutty taste with a juicy texture.
To drink: This cheese has no problems negotiating a full bodied red wine. But I would prefer the elegance of a red Burgundy or a white from the same area.
Gaivo
Exotic this dairy, almost as far north east as you can get i Norway, right on the Russian border.
A Gouda style summer fresh semi firm cheese from raw cow’s milk. Matured for three months. Pale yellow paste, compact texture. Somewhat dry in the mouth but very tasteful in spite of just three months maturing.
Tomé Pasvik
Another semi firm cheese from the same farm dairy. Recipe from southern Europe made from arctic milk. Fine character with hints of spice. Pale yellow, compact paste without any holes. A thin, but hard rind, grey but with a multitude of other colours. Non edible, but very decorative. Both these cheeses will do well with some freshly baked bread, country butter and a glass of wine.
To drink: A fruity red from the Beaujolais, Loire, Veneto or, as always, a Chardonnay of European origin. I’ve even had Riesling, and it was a delight.
Lord Garvagh
A raw cow’s milk cheese from partly Jerseys and partly the very Norwegian breeds Telemark and Norwegian Red Cattle (NRF). Mountain cheese coming in wheels of 2.2 kilos. Semi firm texture. Lord Garvagh was one these British Lords that came to Norway every summer for salmon fishing in the rivers, hunting or just rambling the mountains. Originally from the Londonderry county. Built his own stone chalet that is still there in the Hallingdal mountain range. Washed rind cheese as most mountain cheeses. Matured for minimum eight weeks. A very delicate cheese that is at its best if matured a little longer than the minimum two months. Rueslåtten ysteri.
To drink: A fruity red wine, or as always; a dry white from the chardonnay grape.
Jærosten
Voll was the first farmstead cheese maker in Norway to be authorised for making cheese of raw milk. Milk supplied by their own herd of Brown Swiss. Raclette style cheese, one rather young, matured three to seven months, with a very fruity flavour and an other variety, aged for eight to twelve months more mature and complex. Very agreeable cheeses, both. Jæren, Rogaland.
To drink: A good white wine – Chardonnay.