What may you ask is brown cheese? Well it is a Norwegian specialty made from the whey of cow, goat and sheep milk. They don't like to waste anything in Norway (stems from livng in a harsh climate I guess!), so the pigs didn't get the whey, cheese was made from it.
It isn't quite cheese as we know it though. The whey is boiled until it thickens and caremelizes, and you end up with a brown, toffee coloured goo, which when it cools down solidifies into brown cheese! It tastes quite sweet, and you eat it thinly sliced on a slice of bread.
Apparently though there is a bit of a problem with brown cheese - it is highly combustive. 6 days ago a truck going through the Brattli tunnel in Nordland, which is 3.6km long, suddenly had a problem with its trailer which had caught fire. So the driver ditched the trailer 300 m from the end and drove out leaving it to burn. What he didn't think through though was the fact that the cheese is full of fat, and he was leaving it - all 27 tons in fact - in an enclosed space with a through draft provided by the fans which keep the air clean in the tunnel.
The fire, after 6 days is just going out. The main problem was that the heat generated by the burning cheese set the tunnel insulation foam alight, causing toxic fumes to be released so firemen couldn't put the fire out!
Wonder whose insurance is going to pick up the bill for that one?!
A blog about daily life in Bergen, Norway. We moved here in 2010 due to work commitments (my husband's). Now having survived the first winter I feel able to write about the place without too much negativity! it is amazing how a lack of light, freezing temperatures and general horrid weather drain creativity!! I've learnt Norwegian, and work part time - so this really is living in Bergen!
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