Brown Whey Cheese

Brown whey cheese (“Brunost” in Norwegian) is a solid cheese obtained by heat evaporation of whey mixed with milk and cream. The cheese is hard, and has a brown color with a sweet, cooked, and caramel-like flavor. It comes in several varieties differing in the degree of browning, fat content, and milk source (cows’ or goats’ milk), and there is also a spreadable variety. The cheese is mainly produced in Norway and Sweden. The cheese was traditionally produced in kettles, but it is now highly industrialized and most of the cheese is produced in continuous production lines, where the kettle is replaced by scraped surface heat exchangers in several steps. The crystallization of lactose during cooling of the product is detrimental for the quality of the cheese. The crystals need to be <30 μm, otherwise the cheese will have a sandy and unpleasant mouthfeel.