Easy recipe for homemade gjetost cheese, a traditional food of Norway, that tastes like mild cheddar but is made in a fraction of the time.
A friend of mine recently mentioned to me that she was drowning in whey.
She had a gallon or two of raw milk that had naturally soured into clabber, and she wisely decided to use it in a traditional manner. She then separated the clabber into cream cheese and fresh liquid whey.
Hint: The raw cream cheese can be blended with a bit of maple syrup (or raw honey) and strawberries to make a lovely raw spread for a morning bagel.
But what about all that fresh whey?
I suggested that some of the whey could be used for fermenting probiotic vegetables and fruits, such as beet kvass or sauerkraut. But,
Even after culturing several dishes, however, there was still a lot to use up!
Help!
In situations like this, use the extra whey to make traditional Norwegian gjetost cheese (pronounced “yay-toast”).
This simple, healthy cheese is made by boiling down whey on a low temperature for a number of hours until it is reduced to a quarter or less of its original volume.
When the gjetost cheese is almost ready (the whey is almost completely boiled down), you remove it from the heat and add some cream to enhance the smoothness and flavor.
The color as it boils down gets darker and darker.
The resulting cheese tastes like a mild cheddar, but is softer to slice and made in a fraction of the time (normal cheddar takes 2-12 months to age depending on how sharp you want the flavor).
Believe it or not, that is all there is to it!
Gjetost cheese can be served as a sauce for pasta, similar to a creamy alfredo sauce.
You can also use gjetost, aka “homemade” cheddar cheese, to flavor vegetables or enhance the flavor of soups.
The idea is to boil it down to the desired consistency for the appropriate culinary use.
You may use the whey from either cow or goat milk to make your simple and easy “cheddar” as well.
Homemade Gjetost “Cheddar” Cheese
Easy recipe for homemade gjetost cheese, traditional to Norway, that tastes like mild cheddar but is made in a fraction of the time.
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon fresh whey
- 1/2 cup cream preferably organic and grassfed
Instructions
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Pour the whey into a large pan and bring to a low boil. Simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours stirring frequently until the whey has been reduced to the texture of thick gravy and is about 1 pint in volume.
* This is a great task to start right after breakfast and it will be done by lunchtime.
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Stir in cream and continue to simmer stirring often until desired consistency is reached.
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Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Blend the gjetost cheese with a stick blender to enhance creaminess and serve warm immediately as a pasta sauce or pour into containers to refrigerate for later use.
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Gjetost cheese will solidify a bit in the refrigerator and will last for about 1 month. It is delicious cold as a spread on crackers.
More Recipes for Homemade Cheese
How to Make Ricotta Cheese
Homemade Quark recipe
How to Make Whey and Cream Cheese
Cheesemaking: Common Problems and Solutions
How to Make Yogurt Cheese
Perfect Cottage Cheese
Be sure to use a cheese slicer for this, as we do with our cheese in scandinavia, the civilised way.
I’m Swedish and I enjoyed eating Tine Gudbrandsdalen getost(goat cheese). Which contains goat whey and cow cream. There’s the pure one containing goat whey and goat cream. My mum used to say it’s good for eczema. I don’t know if it’s entirely healthy as it contains cooked whey.
I had a BFF that was from Sweden <3 She came to the United States when she was 15 years old <3 Anyway she introduced me to Gjetost <3 One of the best cheeses I have ever eaten <3 She also introduced me to Salted Licorice <3 That is a great snack too <3 Unfortunately, she passed away a year ago February <3 we were friends for almost 50 years <3 Great lady she was <3
Anyway about 3 weeks ago, The Gjetost cheese is very expensive online, so I found your recipe and made it <3 It came out excellent <3 Preparing to make the whole recipe today with 1 gallon of goats milk, oppose to making only half the recipe the last time <3 The first time was my test sample <3 And now that I know I can make it, I will have twice as much <3 Thank you Sarah for the recipe, it is really, really amazingly awesome <3 No more expensive online cheese for me <3 BIG HUGS <3
How fresh does the whey need to be? I made cream cheese last week. Will this whey be ok to use or is it too old?
Whey lasts several weeks refrigerated.
Hi Sarah,
I just discovered they created a new variety of Gjetost using 70% cow whey & 30% goat whey and call it Caramore cheese, which is sweeter than Gjetost. Can you provide any guidance in how I can make homemade Caramore cheese?
I agree with Matt. There is no fermentation necessary for making gjetost. Unless you can get your hands on some raw whey, the whey leftover from cheese making is definitely the way to go (despite what the recipe says) and tastes most like the gjetost that you find in stores. The whey from yogurt makes the cheese far too sour tasting and bitter.
I use the whey that is left over from making homemade ricotta as it is only as salty as you make the ricotta.
Despite this one ingredient, however, the rest of this recipe is spot-on.
I agree Andy, though mine wasn’t bitter, but it was too sour. I’m investigating making mozarella or ricotta and using the whey from that.
I must disagree. Gjetost requires no fermentation and is technically not even considered cheese. I’d imagine they recommend not using leftover cheese whey is because of the high added salt content.
This recipe looks great. Im excited to make some for the scandinavian resaurant i work at but i wanted to kbow why i should not use whey leftover from cheese making? What makes it different from raw whey?
Because the whey leftover from cheesemaking is cooked and will no longer ferment. In other words, it is not raw.