Herrgårdsost

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Herrgårdsost (Manorhouse cheese) is a semi-hard Swedish cheese made from cow's milk. Made since the 1890s, it is still popular in Sweden today. The aged cheese has a mild, sweet, nutty flavor and small round holes. The cheese is usually manufactured in wheels about 40 centimetres in diameter and 12 centimetres wide, weighing around 14 kilograms.

Herrgårdsost starts as part-skim milk, usually pasteurized. Bacterial starters are introduced to the milk, including lactic acid bacteria, which acidify the milk, and propionic bacteria, which are responsible for producing the carbon dioxide that creates the holes. The soured milk is curdled with rennet and heated to no higher than 43°C. The whey is drained and the curd is pressed, forming a wheel, which is then salted in brine. Around two weeks later the cheese wheels are coated in wax. They are aged in this state for another three or four months.

The finished product is 39.5% water, 29% fat, 27% protein, and 1.5% salt.

[edit] References

Doane, C.F.; Hargrove, Robert C.; Lawson, H.W.; Matheson, K.J.; Sanders, G.P; Walter, Homer E. (1969). Cheese Varieties and Descriptions. U.S. Department of Agriculture.  p. 58