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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Norway

Brunost (brown cheese) / mysost / geitostbrunost

Whey left from cheesemaking is mixed with milk and cream and boiled down until most of the water is gone and the milk sugar browns into a sweet, caramel-tasting paste. It is cooled while stirred and set in blocks. It is a boundary entry, not a ferment; heat, not microbes, makes it. Made in 5 steps over 15 min. The longest step, boil down until it browns, takes 15 min (Ottesen P.S 2025) and runs at 100 °C (Ottesen P.S 2025).

Key numbers
Main step15 minReported[snl-brunost]Boil down until it browns
Temperature100 °CReported[snl-brunost]Boil down until it browns
Fully documentedCheese15 minMore brown whey cheesesMore from Norway

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed batch. Codex sets what may go in, not amounts; the fat class depends on how much milk and cream is added.
Whey · Cow whey, goat whey, or both[snl-brunost][codex-whey]
Milk and cream · Added to raise fat and protein; the amount sets the fat class[snl-brunost]
Sugars (optional) · Codex allows sugars in whey cheese made by concentration[codex-whey]
Starter: none; not fermented

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 min

Start
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What changes: Fresh milk and cream are stirred into the whey

Step 1 of 5
Mix whey with milk and cream
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: enriched whey.

Flavour
sweet, milky
Texture
liquid
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

none

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Brunost is a whey cheese made by boiling whey down, not by curdling it. Ricotta-type whey cheeses instead heat the whey until its proteins flocculate, so they are white and low in lactose. No microbes take part in brunost.

Related ferments

Variants

  • GudbrandsdalsostCow whey with milk, cream and some goat milk; up to 35 % fat in dry matter.
  • Geitost (ekte geitost)Goat whey with goat milk and cream.
  • FløtemysostCow whey, cow milk and cream.
  • Mager mysostLittle milk or cream; about 7 % fat in dry matter.
  • PrimBoiling is stopped earlier, so it keeps over 30 % water and spreads.

Made the brunost way

Safety

Not a ferment. The paste is boiled close to 100 °C and packed hot at about 70 °C. Sliceable brunost holds under 25 % water.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Brunost products appear in sources from the 1400s. In the 1860s Anne Solbrå (later Hov) of Gudbrandsdalen made a richer primost with added cream; from 1908 the Tretten dairy made it to her recipe, the origin of Gudbrandsdalsost. Added iron was banned from 2001.

  1. [codex-whey] Codex Alimentarius, Standard for Whey Cheeses (CODEX STAN 284-1971), in Milk and Milk Products, 2nd edition, FAO/WHO, Rome, 2011spec
  2. [snl-brunost] Ottesen P.S., Høberg E.N., Brunost, Store norske leksikon (updated 3 October 2025)book