There is no conclusive evidence indicating where or when cheesemaking originated.
Dairy products formed an important part of the diet in Viking Age Scandinavia. This is described in the Norse Creation Myth, and also the Icelandic sagas recount of cheesemaking. Archeaologists have found particular ceramics, which is likely to have been used in the process of cheesemaking.
Curd cheese
1 jug cultured milk/Acidophilus
0.5 jug soured cream
A little salt
Chopped chives or garlic mustard
Chopped garlic
Cultured milk: Mix 1 jug cow's milk with 1 cup of buttermilk. Leave the mixture to sour in an earthenware dish covered with a flax clothwith somewhere warm, or slowly heat it up without stirring. Let it set for a few days depending on air temperature. Then it will become cultured milk.
Mix an equal amount of homemade cultured milk and soured cream. Place it in a cheese strainer lined with a flax cloth overnight. The extracted whey may be used for baking or making mustard.
After the draining, add chopped garlic, chives or garlic mustard. Season to taste.
Sour-curd cheese
1 jug buttermilk
A little salt
Cumin to your liking
Slowly heat the buttermilk without stirring until the cheese starts to separate from the whey. It is important that it does not boil.
Pour it all into a cheese strainer lined with a flax cloth. Leave it to drain for a while and then add cumin and season with salt to taste.
This cheese is a little dry and crumbly. It is somewhat similar to modern cottage cheese. If you would like it more smooth, you can stir in some cream.
Cumin holds strong anti-bacterial properties.
Smoked cheese
1 jug cow's milk
1 cup buttermilk
A little salt
A little cumin
Cultured milk: Mix 1 jug cow's milk with 1 cup of buttermilk. Leave the mixture to sour in an earthenware dish covered with a flax clothwith somewhere warm, or slowly heat it up without stirring. Let it set for a few days depending on air temperature. Then it will become cultured milk.
Pour the cultured milk into a cheese strainer lined with a flax cloth and placed on top of a pot. Leave to drain until the cheese is very dry.
Add salt to the cheese and form a round cheese. Place it on a wooden grating or grill and now it is time to smoke the cheese. This may be done over a smoke oven or over a fire of rye straws or oat straws. Light the straws, and when there is a fire, quench it by putting a bunch of fresh stinging nettles on top. You need to avoid flames completely. A thick yellow smoke now develops and it is time to place the cheese on the grill over the smoke for 3-10 minutes. Depends on how smoky you like it.
When the cheese has become a little brown in colour, turn it over onto a wooden plate. Sprinkel with cumin.
Hard cheese
8 litres milk
66 ml rennet
140 g salt
Pour the milk into an earthenware pot and heat it to reach 32 degrees centigrade. Stir in the rennet. Cover with a flax cloth and leave to sour for 1 hour. Then the milk will have set to form cheese.
Dice the cheese into thumb-sized pieces. This will simplify the draining process. The smaller pieces you cut the cheese into, the faster the draining will happen. Carefully stir the cheese to avoid sticking lumps of cheese. Once again cover the cheese with the cloth. After a while the cheese will be at the bottom of the pot, and you can remove most of the whey to use in another recipe.
Mix a brine of 250 ml water and 15 g salt. Put the cheese into the brine and stir.
Slowly heat the cheese to reach 36 degrees centrigrade by adding small portions of warm water over 15 minutes. When the temperature has been reached, stir the cheese for another 10 minutes.
Check if the cheese is ready as you slightly press a little cheese to see if the 'grains' stick to one another. If not, you must stir a little longer.
Make another brine of 1.5 litres water and 140 g salt and chill it. You will need this for salting of the cheese the following day.
Remove the cheese from the whey and put it into a cheese strainer lined with a flax cloth. Put yet another cloth on top of the cheese and place a lid on top to create pressure. Leave the cheese to set overnight. When the cheese is firm you may remove it from the strainer and place in in the new brine. Leave it at 12 degrees centrigrade for 2 days.
Take the cheese out of the brine to dry. Leave the cheese to mature for 4-5 weeks at 16 degrees centigrade, and then 1-2 weeks at 12 degrees centrigrade.
Salty cheese
6-8 litres milk
A drop of rennet
Saltwater made of 1 jug boiled, chilled water and 0.5 cup salt
Slowly heat the milk in an earthenware pot to reach 32 degrees centigrade. Add the rennet and stir well. Then leave it to rest for 1 hour as the milk will form a cheese.
Cut the cheese into dice of 3 cm. The whey will begin to separate from the cheese. Cover it with a flax cloth to keep it warm a little longer.
Later, remove the cheese from the whey and put it into a cheese strainer lined with a flax cloth. This is to drain the whey.
On the next day, place the cheese in the saltwater and leave it to rest somewhere chilly. The saltwater will add to the flavour of the cheese and preserve it, too.
1 jug = 1 liter approx.
1 cup = 150 ml approx.
Ribe VikingeCenter's 2012 project 'Nordic food is Viking food' is supported by Region Syddanmark.