Cheese Database

Brunost vs Fløtemysost

Brunost, field guide plate
Brunost, photographed

Brunost

Facts

Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Whey
Rind
No rind
Country
Norway

Brunost is the brown whey cheese of Norway. Cooks make it by reducing whey until the milk sugar browns and the paste turns sweet. The finished food is a firm block without a rind, closer to caramel fudge than to a salty table cheese. Norwegian dairies sell several styles under the same name, and the sweetness and tang change with the recipe. Breakfast tables across the country treat a few thin slices as an ordinary food.

Fløtemysost

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Whey
Rind
No rind
Country
Norway

Fløtemysost is a Norwegian brown whey cheese made from cow's milk. The name points to cream and whey, and that is the heart of the recipe. Whey is boiled with milk and cream until the milk sugar darkens and the mass turns brown and sweet. The result is a firm block, not a wheel with a rind. It belongs with brunost, but it contains no goat's milk, so the taste stays milder than goat brown cheeses.