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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Vik, Sogn, Norway

GamalostGamalost frå Vik

Skim milk is soured with lactic bacteria for one to two days, heated, and the curd is milled, moulded and cooked again in hot whey for 2–3 hours. The cheeses are sprayed with Mucor mucedo mould, which is stroked down into them as it grows, and ripen 2–3 weeks into a hard, brown, almost fat-free and unsalted cheese. Made in 6 steps over 15 days – 23 days. The longest step, ripen and stroke the mould inward, takes 14–21 days (Mattilsynet 2006) and runs at 10–13 °C (Sanders G.P. 1953). Lactic acid bacteria and Mucor mucedo do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14–21 daysSet[gamalost-forskrift]Ripen and stroke the mould inward
Temperature10–13 °CReported[usda-hb54]Ripen and stroke the mould inward
Fully documentedCheese15 days – 23 daysProtected geographical designation in Norway (Gamalost frå Vik, 2006)Family: Ripened acid-curd cheese family (Harzer, Olomoucké tvarůžky, Gamalost)More ripened sour-milk cheesesMore from Norway

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe regulation fixes the steps but no amounts. A 1953 account gives a yield of 4–5.5 pounds of cured cheese per 100 pounds of skim milk.
Skimmed cow milk[gamalost-forskrift]
Culture of lactic acid bacteria[gamalost-forskrift]
Mould culture (Mucor mucedo) · Sprayed on as a suspension[gamalost-forskrift]
No salt and no additives[gamalost-forskrift]
Starter: lactic acid bacteria culture; Mucor mucedo mould

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 23 days

Start
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Milk sugarLactic acid22–24 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Lactic bacteria sour the skimmed milk over one to two days

Step 1 of 6
Skim and sour the milk
Time
24 h – 2 days
Set
Temperature
22–24 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Moulds

Output: sour skim milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria sour the skim milk

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

Gamalost is an acid-curd cheese cooked twice, first as soured milk and then in its moulds in hot whey. It is ripened by Mucor mould that is stroked down into the cheese by hand, and it has no salt.

Milk
Skimmed cow milk
Ripening
2–3 weeks in the ripening store
Composition
Less than 1 % fat, about 50 % protein, no salt

Related ferments

Variants

  • Hardanger method (historical)Skim milk soured at 66 °F, warmed to 145 °F, pressed in bags, cooked in forms in boiling whey for 3½ hours and pierced with needles carrying Penicillium (1953 USDA account).

Safety

The curd is heated twice, once before separation and again for 2–3 hours in hot whey, before the mould is applied.

History and sources

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

The regulation names Bishop J.E. Gunnerus, who described gamalost in 1774 and already knew a Sogn and a Hardanger method. Summer farms made most of it, and butter and gamalost were their main goods for sale. The Vik dairy opened in 1897 and has been the only Norwegian maker since 1991; a decanter method was developed in the 1970s.

  1. [gamalost-forskrift] Mattilsynet 2006, Forskrift om vern av produktnemninga Gamalost frå Vik som beskytta geografisk nemning, FOR-2006-11-14-1235, as amended 19 December 2013 (FAOLEX copy)spec
  2. [usda-hb54] Sanders G.P. 1953, Cheese varieties and descriptions, USDA Agriculture Handbook 54 (Gammelost)archive