An awesome cheese that makes the French Roquefort appear mild and kind.
Grainy like sandpaper and with the aroma of Viking toilets, it is used as a punishment method in the Norwegian military.
On the positive side, gamalost has a reputation for doing wonders for one’s potency.
Gamalost is made by heating skimmed milk in order to separate the curds. You add mould which quickly start to grow. After a few days, the cheese looks hairy. The hairs are rubbed into the cheese by hand so that the mould grows inward.
Gamalost is awarded with a Bronze Medal. Norwegians are very proud of that!
Very few will like gamalost the first time they try it. You may need to spend several years getting used to the taste and even more years before you actually start liking it. But once you do start liking it, you may well become addicted. If one is to have hopes of reaching the top of the social hierarchy in Western Norway, loving gamalost is a prerequisite.
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This article was then from our new book on the Norwegian food culture which can be ordered online here
Read more about our amazing Norwegian friends in our Norwegian Toolkit
