The Mysterious Case of the Burning Norwegian Cheese

As I have written about before on my blog, my grandfather Hjalmar ate a Norwegian brown goat cheese called ekte gjetost nearly everyday. He would slice the cheese very thinly, then place it on rye bread or crackers, with a slab of butter. If he ate it plain he would place a slice on the roof of his mouth, and slowly suck. He claimed it was delicious, but it was a most unappealing looking cheese.

None of my other family members joined him in consuming this delicacy. In fact, to us the cheese resembled a hunk of brown soap that you'd scrub a goat with, rather than eat.

When I visited Norway in my twenties in the spirit of acquiring family culture, I decided to try ekte gjetost (pronounced yed-oost). It has a very pungent taste and smell, and I quickly understood why my grandfather sliced the cheese very thinly. The Scandinavians also call it Brunost, because it is caramelized and loaded with sugar. I acquired a taste for this cheese. 

Indeed it is very delicious with rye bread and honey and jam especially.

In the United States Brunost is usually only available in specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods, or now online I'm sure. In the 1990s I used to find it at a specialty store in Harvard Square. Afterwards I did not see the cheese for awhile, until I went to the Norwegian Cultural Festival. I thought I better stock up, so I bought a huge block of gjetost. It had a dark blue and yellow plastic wrapping, with happy, dancing goats all over it.

This cheese lasted an eternity in my refrigerator. (there's no such thing as mold on Norwegian cheese, unlike those delicate French cheeses!!)

On NPR this week I heard that there was a freaky truck accident in Norway involving a truck load of brunost. The truck crashed and got stuck in a tunnel, caught on fire, and then burned for six days, blocking all the traffic for two miles. No one would ever expect 54,000 pounds of cheese to burn so long.

This event occurred in Knarvik Norway, which happens to be the area of Norway where my grandfather was born. In fact my great grandmother Henrikka Hansdatter was from Knarvik, Lindas Norway. 

Isn't it good, Norwegian brunost?

While I suppose the blocked traffic was an inconvenience, including the toxic flames, I can imagine the local Norwegians must have also had a good laugh. The smell alone must have been quite noticeable for miles. 

I know my grandfather would be cracking up right now, if he heard the story.

Eat Your Veggies

Because of the long, hot summer days and the short, cool nights in Alaska, apparently farmers can grow gigantic vegetables and fruits there. Every year the competition is keen at the Alaska State Fair in August. Since 1993 the Alaskans have achieved eight world records. I just saw an article about an enormous 126 pound cabbage. I guess it was just a pound shy of the world record. 

Of course everyone's heard about the enormous pumpkin, but a cabbage? There was also a 35 pound broccoli, and a 64.8 pound cantaloupe. Hopefully these colossal vegetables and fruits made very large stews, smoothies, pies or salads eventually.

The DNA of Chocolate Has Been Sequenced

Forget about humans and sheep, now the genome of chocolate has nearly been sequenced by scientists. News like this makes chocolate lovers very happy. Apparently botanists hope the DNA information will help devise 'super' cacao trees, capable of producing more cocoa beans, and resisting disease better. Seventy percent of the world's chocolate is grown in West Africa, by small farmers! Here's an article from the Washington Post below, with more detail.


Scientists have painstakingly mapped the DNA of human beings, corn, turkeys - and now chocolate.
A group of researchers led by McLean candy company Mars is nearly done sequencing the genome of the cacao tree, which produces the seeds used to make cocoa. The information will speed up the process for creating a stronger tree that is more resistant to disease and easier to grow for millions of farmers.

And a better tree, they hope, means more chocolate for everyone for years to come.

Rather than keep the delicious secrets to itself, the company behind M&M's and Snickers has decided to share the information with the world.
"The information is so rich and so accurate we felt there was no reason to hold back," said Howard-Yana Shapiro, a Santa-bearded chocolate scientist whose technical title is global staff officer of plant science and research at Mars.

The goal of the genome project is not to genetically engineer chocolate. Rather it's to improve the traditional method of breeding trees, a laborious, trial-and-error process in which researchers try to isolate the sweetest traits and replicate them. That can take as long as 15 years to complete.

With a map of the cacao tree's genetic makeup, scientists could cut that process down to two or three years. For instance, they could extract the DNA of a young tree and see whether it has the right genes for resisting diseases instead of waiting years for the tree to mature.

But enough about the science. Bottom line: Will the new information result in better-tasting chocolate?
Perhaps, Shapiro said. He noted that some discerning eaters have complained that the quality of cocoa has fallen in recent years, but no one knows whether that is because of soil, weather or genetics. At least one of the keys to flavor is the fatty acid content of the cocoa. "Now finally, we have insight on how to stabilize it and raise it over time," Shapiro said.

The world's cocoa supply is grown mostly by small farmers because the process is so laborious.
It begins with picking a pod off a cacao tree. The farmer then splits open the pod and scrapes the seeds out. Then the beans are fermented for a number of days, which is when they get their tasty chocolate flavor. Lastly the beans have to be dried. The cacao plant is especially hard to grow because it is highly vulnerable to pests and disease. According to Mars, farmers suffer $700 million to $800 million worth of damage every year.

More than 70 percent of the world's cocoa supply comes from West Africa, where the biggest source is Cote d'Ivoire, followed by Ghana. Indonesia is the world's third-largest producer.
Brazil used to be one of the top producers of cacao, until a fungus called witches'-broom struck the crop in the late 1980s and devastated the country's industry. "It was a wake-up call," Shapiro said. "Imagine what would happen if something hit Africa."

The United States does not produce much cocoa, only a small amount in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. But because domestic companies such as Mars and Hershey's rely so much on the ingredient, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been trying to breed a better cacao tree since 1999.
In 2008, Mars, in partnership with IBM and the USDA, began sequencing the cacao genome. Mars committed $10 million to the project and decided to share preliminary results with the public three years ahead of schedule. During their work sequencing the cocoa genome, researchers learned a few things about the raw makeup of chocolate. Its DNA is much easier to read compared with other crops, allowing scientists to yield more information about the cacao tree's characteristics, said David Kuhn, a USDA research molecular biologist based in Miami.
So eating too much chocolate may be an indulgence that expands the waist. But, as it turns out, Kuhn said, "it's a very well-behaved genome."

© 2010 The Washington Post. All rights reserved.

Family Recipes

Thanksgiving is often the time to drag old family recipes off the dusty shelves. Every year, my grandmother made Waldorf Salad on Thanksgiving. This year I decided to make it. I made a variation of her recipe, and also searched online to discover there are many versions of this dish---- tropical, New York style, curry.....

Here's my concoction:

Waldorf Salad

Serves about 6

4 cups peeled diced apples

3/4 cup orange juice

1 cup diced celery

2/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 mayo

2/3 cup dried cranberries

Cut up the apples and place them in a mixing bowl with the orange juice. Stir until the apples are coated with juice. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain the apples very well. Add the remaining ingredients to the apples. Chill the salad for 1 hour before serving.

Ta Dah! Everybody liked it.....

Sweet Dreams

Lyndell's Bakery in Ball Square, Somerville, MA., is celebrating its 120th year in business. Monday, they were giving out free cupcakes, which I missed.

Anyone who grew up in Somerville, or Medford, knows Lyndell's. At some point, everybody's mom, grandfather, uncle, aunt, or dad would "stop off at Lyndell's" to pick up sweets for the family. Lyndell's signature jelly donuts, birthday cakes, half moons, macaroons, whoopie pies, and mocha cakes were not to be missed.

All through the years, the best thing about Lyndell's is that it never changed. The interior always had the same decor, old cash register, tile floor, busy high school girls behind the counter, & that machine that magically tied the boxes with white string. It's was like walking into a 50's diner, owned by Mom & Pop.

Saturday mornings were the busiest at Lyndell's. Since all the pastries were made on the premises, you had to get there early, take your ticket, & stand around. Many times my Dad came home with a box of boring old, plain krullers because the jellies were all gone. We were disappointed.

Still, I think over the years we got our fair share of Lyndell's sweets.

What the Fluff?

In late September several of my friends participated in the "What the Fluff?" fest in Somerville, Massachusetts.
In case you didn't know, fluff--- that all American 'food product'--- was invented in Somerville. Archibald Query (certainly the name of a man who would dream up fluff) began selling marshmallow fluff in 1917. After WWI, he sold the recipe to Durkee and Mower, from Lynn, MA. Then fluff became the fluff we all know and love.
If you watch this silly video carefully, my friends Molly & Chris are at the beginning, with blue & red T-shirts on, respectively. Gail & Sue are at the end, participating in a fluff hairdo contest. They're in the middle of the stage.

The Worse Gum, Ever I Chewed Before

This past weekend I went to PTown. Along the way through the afternoon I had a hankering for fresh gum. I ambled into the local Mom and Pop pharmacy. Instead of buying breath freshening Dentyne I got all nostalgic and bought Fruit Stripes. ((After all the pack came with nifty lick-on zebra tattoos))
It should be have been advertised as: Fruit Cardboard Strips, because I think dear Old Pop probably last stocked the gum in 1972.
My 'fruit' gum was dry, tasteless, & hard as a rock. Oh well.
That got me thinking about gum. Take my dumb-ass poll!

Opinion Polls & Market Research

I Know, It's Brown

I Know: It’s Brown

After reading Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” I realized my Norwegian ancestors weren’t the most civilized peoples on the planet (you know, blood thirsty Vikings), but they made the best of it for centuries in their scarcely farmable, windy, dark, Arctic country.

In these unfavorable circumstances, no great operas, ground shaking philosophy, or great wines were likely to evolve. Still, these hearty souls tilled the land, stoked their fires, fished, and tended their goats. Out of this labor arose the great Norwegian goat cheese. In Norwegian, it’s Ekte Geitost.

Wait. Don’t be turned off so quickly, just because this cheese resembles brown soap. I learned after watching my grandfather calmly consume this product over many years, that there must be something to it.

In 1992, when I finally visited my long lost relatives in Norway, Ekte Geitost entered my life as a matter of survival. Here I was, stranded on a farm in the middle of rural Norway with two elderly, somewhat senile Norwegian farmers, with nothing more than goat cheese, fish, potatoes, and coffee to survive. With a smile, I quickly discovered the charms of “Ekte Geitost.”

How To Eat Norwegian Goat Cheese

1. Ignore Brownness

2. Slice very, very, very thin

3. Put on crackers, with jam or honey

4. Place on top of palate and suck

5. It has a very rich flavor which you acquire gradually

6. Take note of the happy, dancing goats