Farmer's Cheese and Brunost, Mostly in Pictures

Farmer’s cheese is a type of fresh cheese generally made with an acid like vinegar or lemon instead of with rennet. This is one of my favorite cheeses, and I tend to strain it to different levels for different applications. Some I keep a good amount of whey in, because then Child Tester can have bowls of curds and whey with honey mixed in for breakfast and snacks, and some I prefer drier to crumble onto bread and drizzle with oil.

Brunost is a type of Scandinavian cheese made from caramelized whey. Brunost represents the larger collection of these cheeses, and different names are used to specify whether cow or goat. Within that larger collection, different names (and variations of them based on which language is being used for them) are used for individual types of brunost. My family tell me this is an acquired taste, which is probably true for most people (I didn’t grow up eating this, but I also liked it my first time). I like it with toast and jam, but there are plenty of other options.

Most of the time, brunost is made from the whey of cheese, but it’s also fairly common to see it made with skyr or other yogurt cultures, particularly within historical reenactment groups. Whatever whey you’ve got is just fine, so don’t worry about whether you have the “right” kind of whey. It all cooks down into sweet goodness, in the end!

We’re making both of these today!

Here’s what you’ll need

1 gallon of milk (I use regular grocery store milk; y’all use what you want)

1/4 cup lemon juice, vinegar, or lime juice

1/2 cup cream (optional)

Here’s what you’ll do (farmer’s cheese)

Put the milk in a large pot, of in the insert for your Instant Pot or similar. You can also do this in a crock pot. I used the instant pot so I could set it to sautê and not need to be in the kitchen. Heat the milk until it’s scalded. I heated mine a bit more than I intended, but no matter! It all works the same. I’ve done this from scalded to omgitsboilingohnoes! Still comes out fine. Add your juice or vinegar and stir for a bit, then let it rest. This won’t take long, but I generally let it sit for 15 minutes to ensure all the curd has separated. It looks like this while it’s in process:

Once it’s fully separated, it can look a bit vomit-y. Vomit-y appearances are something you just have to get used to for these sorts of things.

I forgot to take a picture of it fully separated while still in the whey, but you’ll be able to tell. It basically will look like cottage cheese floating in whey. Then, grab a big bowl, add a colander, and either line it with a straining bag (this is easiest), several layers of cheesecloth, or a couple of layers of muslin.

Pour the whole mix into the colander/fabric combo, and do try to be more careful than I was. I had to strain mine twice because I wasn’t careful and a bunch of cheese went right over the colander into the strained whey! Hang it in some fashion, whether to a cabinet knob or… well, whatever your system is or will become.

How long you strain it depends on you. Do you want something more like grocery store cottage cheese? Less time, so it comes out pretty wet. More like ricotta because you’re itching to make lasagna? Bit longer. You really can do this for as long as you want, and I often will strain for up to 24 hours if I think I might like to press the cheese into a block later.

This is what I opted for. It’s still moist enough that it can be smashed and spread, but it’s dry enough that it has a bit of crumble to it. I went with this amount because I do want to make lasagne, because I knew Child Tester would need a bowl of curds and whey, and because I knew I was going to make brunost and so I wanted the whey faster in hopes it wouldn’t take as long as it really does to make brunost. This is the stage in which you’ll salt your cheese, whatever texture it has when you pull it. You should have about a quart of cheese and the remainder of the gallon of milk in whey. I meant to save some whey for other things, but I forgot. As always.

We had some of this for dinner with fresh flat bread. I used the Icelandic starter for this, because it’s what I had on the counter right then. Into this small portion of the cheese, I added fresh garlic chives, basil, and lemon verbena, then drizzled with oil.

Here’s what you’ll do (brunost)

The first thing you’re really going to do is steady yourself. It’s going to take a really long time, because you’re taking roughly 3 quarts of milk and condensing it down to around a cup of brunost. Seriously. The cream part of this is optional, but if you use it, it’ll be later in the process.

Whey into another large pot. I do low heat and accept that this may take a couple of days. Y’all may wish to use higher heat at first. Just know that if you do, you have to babysit it so it doesn’t burn on the bottom. I do it super low because I really can’t babysit it since it’s a circus around here.

You still have to stir it even with low heat. Just a lot less often! It will begin to caramelize. At this stage, you’ll start to get excited. Don’t yet. It’s just the beginning still. Actually, do, but only in small doses of excitement so you don’t run out by the time this jazz is done.

After a couple of millennia, it starts to look vomit-y again. This will become more pronounced as you go. I’ve swapped to a smaller pot at this point, due to my continued inability to babysit. The reduced surface area gives more space to stir intermittently instead of constantly like you really should be doing at this point.

When it’s halfway between this color and the color below, add your cream if using. Then keep on stir, stir, stirring!

This is a nice color. It goes in the blender at this point. You can add it at a lighter color if you want, but this is the color I like. If, when you’re stirring it, it takes a bit to “fill the gaps” of where your spoon was, this is a good stopping point. Once it’s hit that point, it’s all personal preference from there

Traditionally you don’t put this in the blender. But brunost can be gritty, and I didn’t want that. Blending fixes it.

WARNING: do not use your blender without putting a towel over the top first. If this expels some, it’s going to burn. Brunost burns have a fair bit sugar involved in them and sugar burns hurt a lot more than other burns. I’m being serious, y’all. If you’re going to disregard instructions, don’t let it be this instruction.

Post blender. You can see how pretty and glossy it is. It doesn’t taste like the candy it looks like. It is sweet, but like a sweet, musky cheese, not sweet like caramel. I put this in a 1 cup buttered ramekin after I ate some straight from the blender (dumb; burned my mouth despite emphatically blowing on it), then set it in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes before it went in the fridge. If you’re so inclined, you can turn the cheese out of its mold. I don’t do this because my cheese slicer disappeared years ago, so I just scrape some off the top to add to my toast instead of having pretty slices. Technically, brunost does not need to be stored in the fridge. But know that it will not last as long.

This last picture obviously has exactly nothing to do with the cheeses. Child Tester made pasta for dinner, and she said it was important to her that you guys could see both what she made and the crumb of the flat bread, so she staged it while we were eating for y’all. So here you go! Dinner à la Child Tester!