Have you heard of Gjetost? Pronounced “Yay Toast,” this brown, goat’s milk cheese is so creamy, caramel-y, and fudge-like that it’s pretty much the cheese all other cheeses wish they could be. Gjetost is Norwegian for “goat cheese” and when I was in Norway this summer, my relatives gave me and my husband a wheel of gjetost to nibble on during our travels. I’d eaten gjetost before- my grandmother used to love it, and there’s a brand that my local supermarket SOMEtimes carries- but that cheese we ate in Norway was unreal; so fresh, so smooth, so hard to pry out of my hands!
We ate it for days while traveling around Norway and I insisted on packing it in my luggage when we flew to England for a week-long road-trip along the coast. As pictured above, I was the dutiful co-pilot ready with our map, diminishing wheel of gjetost and package of rye crisps.
But I digress. Any back-story I have about this cheese is only to underscore my deep affection for it. So, I decided to look into making my own. And aside from one small detail, I pretty much nailed the recipe.
I read through several recipes, all of which said to simply boil down whey for hours and hours until it caramelizes and turns magically into gjetost. The only problem is that I have no idea where a person GETS whey. I’m not talking about whey powder, I mean the watery leftover stuff from cheese production. Curds and whey style… Since I couldn’t find it at any of my local haunts, I boiled down 2 pints of full-fat goats milk instead of whey. You know what? It WORKED.
Yes, it took almost three hours of monitoring, scraping and stirring over medium-high heat, but as the milk grew more and more thick and golden in color, the smell became sweeter and sweeter! I left the lid OFF the pot, so that the liquid would reduce- but aside from that, there wasn’t much to it!
When the milk was sufficiently golden, I lined the lid of a butter dish with greased wax paper, and then poured the cheese mixture into it. I immediately cooled the butter dish in a bowl of ice water. I’d read that this would prevent the cheese from getting too grainy.
To be honest though, I don’t mind a little grain. I’ve made two batches of this cheese now, and the little golden bits that scrape off the bottom of the pan, coupled with a touch of grain (in the batch I didn’t quick-cool) just feel rustic to me. The taste is there. The aroma is there. And fresh off the stove-top, I couldn’t resist slathering a rye cracker with my still-warm gjetost.
HEAVENLY.
If I ever run across whey, I’ll pick some up and make another batch of gjetost to see if there’s much of a difference in taste or texture, but in the meantime I am so happy to know that I can have a pot of milk on the stove in the morning, and be enjoying sweet, homemade goat cheese- as fresh as the stuff we gobbled up in Norway- by lunchtime!
Oh and if you have never tasted gjetost before and are going to give it a try, I recommend it on rye crisp crackers or with apple slices.
how interesting i want some
This sounds quite heavenly. The local Trader Joe’s sells goat’s milk; maybe I’ll give it a try later this week. Also, I’m assuming that you wouldn’t just need whey; you’d need goat’s milk whey? No?
Thanks for sharing this. My husband and I have tried making mozzarella, but I think we’ll have to give this one a shot next!
Thanks Rebecca! I hope you find or make some!
Maria you are correct- to make true gjetost you would need goat’s milk whey- if you used cow’s milk, you would make what’s called “mysost”
Mel- Mozzarella is next on my list! How did yours turn out?
xoxo
radmegan
Wow, I am so impressed. It looks delicious!
Awesome! I love gjetost, but it’s so expensive to buy here in Canada.
To get whey you can buy goats milk yoghurt and pour it in a cheesecloth and let it hang over a bowl to strain out the whey.
Megan
You can make your own goat whey. Just heat your goats milk to about 180-190 degrees and add an acid, lemon juice, vinegar, wine vinegar etc. Stir, let sit a minute and put in a cheese cloth lined sieve over a bowl. A goat cheese will remaine in the sieve and the whey will collect in bowl.
Mimi
This looks amazing! I love gjetost. Will definitely look for Goat’s milk to make this at home. Great photos, too!
Speaking of milky things, you might like my recipe for Padam Payasam — Indian almond milk:
http://angela-hemming.blogspot.com/2010/11/diwali-recipes-badam-payasam-and.html
This looks delicious! I’ll have to try this sometime
I tried to make it using whey I strained from goat kiefr. It looked like it was the right color but when I tasted the caramel liquid whey it was the most sour substance. I have no idea where I went wrong. I am going to try it your way. Thanks!
Actually, goat kefir is made when the kefir grains consume all the lactose (which is the sweetness or sugar in milk) – which is why it was so sour! I think it would be best to NOT use kefir whey for this recipe…
I used regular whey from goat cheese making and have the same sour flavor
I made it your way and it is delicious!!! I will post pics to my blog soon and send you the link. I also talked to a goat farmer at the farmers market this weekend and she suggested making a mild cheese in order to get the whey. I am ordering the culture this week and will hopefully have traditional gjtost soon!
If you make Mozzarella cheese from the milk, the left over whey can be used to make gjetost (or mysost). We do this frequently at my home
I am going to make some today! I have some evaporated Meyenberg milk, so wonder if that will cut down the time (since cooking will only be for the caramelizing and not the evaporating of water).
also, I love Gjetost on really thing ginger crisps, Anna’s ginger thins to be exact! Also, I love to just gnaw the block, but hey.. that might not be considered classy. :}
I am so thankful for your recipe!!
bah… THIN ginger crisps, with what my salivating brain meant to say!
Interesting blog, thanks for your insight into this interesting concoction
Just finished making my first attempt at this ‘cheese’ with the leftover whey from my days cheesemaking (from my own goats).
On;y thing I’m not sure about is what the consistency should be, I’ve gone for a thick syrupy gloop that I could only pour into my setting bowl with the aid of a spatula, maybe I’ve gone a bit too far with it, and the taste…. an intense sharp cheese, sort of like parmesan fudge on overdrive.
I’ll leave it overnight to see if it will set, then see how it goes with coffee in the morning
I am quite interested in trying this. My Norwegian mother used to make it. However, my family loves the Gubransdal Ost a little better, not quite so strong, but still the brown goat cheese. Any ideas how to do this?
Oooo, thank you for sharing this! This is one of my favorite cheeses, and a very rare treat. I’ve looked into buying it, but it’s ridiculously pricey to have it shipped. I only this morning considered just making my own, and happily stumbled across this post. Can’t *wait* to try your method.
If you ever get into making your own greek-style yogurt, you will have more whey than you know what to do with. approximately 1/2 gallon from every gallon of whole milk…
I had about 3 gallons saved from the last few batches of yogurt, and have been freezing it in storage bags to make ricotta cheese. I came across your article, and am instead making ‘mysost’ or gjetost from it, and looking forward to the final product, as unlike Ricotta cheese, there will be no waste left over. Thank you!
Thanks for this recipe. I just tried it with our own whole goat milk. Within an hour this was completely boiled dry and still pretty white. Not sure if I did something wrong….. Anybody know if this is normal? It tastes good, just dry. Thanks
How much milk becomes how much cheese, please?
Thanks!
There are two main kinds of goat milk whey, sweet whey and sour whey. Sweet whey comes from making cheese with rennet, sour comes from making it with an acid (like lemon juice or vinegar). You can also get whey from leaving milk out to sour until it clabbers and separates, which is how you get cream cheese.
I imagine you’d need either sweet whey or clabbered whey to get they whey you want for Gjetost.
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I just made a batch of gjeitost from your recipe. I really enjoyed doing that,
Except I did not have much left to put in the form. It evaporated a lot…
Do you use a lid on the pan? I will try it again.
I tried this with whey made after draining cream cheese. It was sour. Then I tried it this way with whole milk, only I didn’t have goat’s milk so I used cows milk.
I lived in Sweden for 4 years and this cheese is one of the favorite things I ate there, but it’s so expensive here I only had it for a treat.
I put a quart of whole, raw milk into the pan and got probably 6 ounces out of the batch.
It doesn’t taste like the gjetost that I am used to, but it’s pretty good on a Wasa cracker. As I said, I used cows milk but will try it with goat’s cheese when I find some.