"Jarlsberg Smoke" (aka Smoked Jarlsberg), $11.79/lb - maker and provenance unknown
So I am not proving to be much of a cheese snob. Turns out the "mystery cheese" I picked out of the dollar bin a couple days ago is "one of Norway's greatest export successes in the world market" and "America's number 1 brand of Speciality cheese." It's not cheddar but in terms of exoticness, Jarlsberg seems to be a close cousin of Havarti and Feta. Oh well, I'd never tried it before and that's one of my big goals for this project: to taste different kinds and types of cheese.
But enough preamble, you're probably curious what I thought it tasted like. Well, being a smoked variety, it tasted, uh, smoky. Kind of like bacon, actually (though since I'm a vegetarian, I haven't eaten bacon in years...). It reminded me a bit of Gouda or Swiss (not surprisingly considering the cheese's history - more on that below). It wasn't overly creamy and the texture was a little bit rubbery. Also, what I thought was rind (and cut off last night when I sneaked some into my dinner) was actually just a layer of brown. I did some poking around on Jarlsberg.com and it turns out that the cheese "Acquires its characteristic taste by being dipped in a special smoky liquid. It gives the cheese a brown-coloured surface and a piquant, smoky taste." Okay, that's kind of gross. I'm curious if that's how other smoked varieties are made or if it's just a mass-production cheese-making technique.
The same website had lots of interesting info on the history of Jarlsberg. Here's an excerpt:
In 1830, the Swiss came to Norway’s Jarlsberg and Laurvig County (known as Vestfold County today) to teach the Norwegians to make cheese. These foreign master cheese makers were famous for making cheese with holes. There was active production in Norway until 1832. The cheese disappeared but the tale of its delicious taste was still in memory. In 1956, the academic community at the Agricultural University of Norway at Ås undertook the task of reviving the cheese recipe from 1830. Professor Ole Martin Ystgaard and his team developed during his research a semi-hard, medium-fat cheese with holes, successfully combining the cheese-making traditions with modern technologies. The new cheese was named Jarlsberg after the county, where the earlier version had been made at the beginning of the 19th century. A new cheese category was established.So, to summarize today's history lesson: Jarlsberg is Swiss cheese made by Norwegians trying to approximate the taste of Swiss cheese from memory.
Please send me cheese recommendations otherwise I may just be tempted to write about the Tre Stella mozzarella cheese ball I bought for pizza... (fortunately, I did have the forethought to pick up something a little more unusual as well).
Class dismissed!
5 comments:
I just came upon your blog and have to say: this is fabulous.
I heart cheese.
Jarlsberg is the best of the standard cheeses. That or Gouda. But you must must must track down this:
http://www.norwaymall.com/brand.asp?lang=44&id=127
It's more than a little nasty.
My dad is currently working his way through a block of "Ski Queen," which he has been describing (accurately, I must say) as "brown cheese." It's sold in a cute, red plastic wrapper so you don't know it's brown until you open it up. Nasty is right...
what the hell is smoky liquid?
i've never had smoked jarlsberg before...i'll have to look around for it. jarlsberg is one of my favourites, my dad LOVES the stuff. too bad it is so expensive around these parts. i've always likened it to a sharper tasting swiss emmental, so i was interested to read the history of jarlsberg. this entry also made me think of the ski queen, but i'll add that to the recommendations now instead of making this comment even longer.
leanne
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