Kaffeost

Kaffeost is a Swedish fresh PDO cheese with a dry crust from the far north of the country. It is made from whole cow, goat or reindeer milk and eaten cut into small pieces in hot coffee.

The crust, produced by drying, smoking or baking, makes the cheese easy to handle, long-lasting and breakable. It is flat, 1–5 cm thick, usually 150–500 g, unsalted (at most 1 % salt), with 25–50 % fat. The milk is not homogenised, and milking, curdling, smoking or baking all happen in the area: Lapland, Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland, Härjedalen and Ångermanland.

The tradition grew from a cold climate where food was boiled in broth; later pieces of cheese went into boiled coffee instead. It was once made only from May to September; the reindeer and goat versions are still seasonal, the cow's milk one runs all year.

The taste is mild and round, like boiled milk; the texture is rubbery, softer and melting in warm coffee. Smoked versions have smoky notes, baked ones caramel.

Why it matters to you: Kaffeost is made to be cut into small pieces and served in coffee. Look for the name and the PDO mark: it is a cheese from northern Sweden.