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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Norway

Jarlsberg

Jarlsberg is a Norwegian semi-hard cow cheese with large round holes, developed from a 1956 recipe at the Agricultural University of Norway. Lactococcus bacteria sour the curd and Propionibacterium freudenreichii turns the lactic acid into propionic acid and carbon dioxide in a warm room, which opens the eyes. The exact recipe is not published. Made in 4 steps over 11 months. The longest step, mature cold, takes 11 months (Aryana K.J 2001) and runs at 4 °C (Aryana K.J 2001). Lactococcus and Propionibacterium freudenreichii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step11 monthsReported[aryana2001]Mature cold
Temperature4 °CReported[aryana2001]Mature cold
DocumentedCheese11 monthstrademark; the recipe is a trade secretFamily: Washed-curd cheese family (Gouda as template)More washed-curd cheesesMore from Norway

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe commercial recipe is a trade secret; no amounts are published.
Cow milk[lundberg2026]
Lactococcus starter[lundberg2026]
Propionibacterium freudenreichii culture[lundberg2026]
Starter: Lactococcus lactic starter with Propionibacterium freudenreichii

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus

What changes: Lactic and propionic cultures and rennet go into the milk and it sets

Step 1 of 4
Set the milk with lactic and propionic cultures
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus
Lactococcus lactic
P. freudenreichii

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Lactococcus starts to sour the milk; propionic bacteria wait in the curd

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

Jarlsberg gets its large round eyes from Propionibacterium freudenreichii, the same propionic bacterium as Emmental, working alongside a Lactococcus starter. Its exact recipe is a trade secret, so only the cultures and the warm-room stage are publicly described.

Milk
Cow milk
Cultures
Lactococcus and Propionibacterium freudenreichii; the propionic bacteria also make vitamin K2
Origin
Developed from 1956 at the Agricultural University of Norway under Professor Ystgaard

Related ferments

History and sources

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

The producer says Jarlsberg is based on a secret Norwegian recipe from 1956, developed by a team under Professor Ystgaard at the Agricultural University of Norway.

  1. [lundberg2026] Lundberg H.E., Borgen T.T. et al. 2026, Jarlsberg cheese consumption is associated with favourable changes in bone turnover markers and BMD in postmenopausal women and older men, a randomised clinical trial, BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2025-001436paper
  2. [aryana2001] Aryana K.J., Haque Z.U. 2001, Microstructure of Jarlsberg type and Edam cheeses as influenced by maturation, Journal of Food Quality 24:337–350, doi:10.1111/j.1745-4557.2001.tb00613.xpaper
  3. [kure2000] Kure C.F., Skaar I. 2000, Mould growth on the Norwegian semi-hard cheeses Norvegia and Jarlsberg, International Journal of Food Microbiology 62:133–137, doi:10.1016/S0168-1605(00)00384-6paper
  4. [cheesescientist-jarlsberg] Kincaid J. 2025, Why does Jarlsberg cheese have holes? The science behind those perfect eyes, Cheese Scientistweb
  5. [tine-jarlsberg] Tine, Jarlsberg® product pageweb