🇸🇪 Swedish cheeses

Swedish cheeses carry four protected EU names: two PDO and two PGI. Three are cow's-milk cheeses, and one is unusual, made in the north to go with coffee.

Kaffeost (PDO, 2025) is a fresh cheese with a dry crust made from reindeer, goat or cow's milk; the crust comes from drying, smoking or baking. The cheese is cut into small pieces and dropped into a cup of coffee, where it turns warm and soft. It comes from northern Sweden, from Lapland to Jämtland; the cheese itself is almost unsalted (up to 1%), rubbery, with the taste of boiled milk.

Svecia (PGI, 1997) is a semi-hard cylinder of about 35 cm and 12–15 kg with a waxed surface; it ripens for at least two months, and the taste is slightly sour, mild and full. The name comes from the Latin Suecia and has been used since the 1920s.

Sörmlands Ädel (PGI, 2023) is a soft blue-veined cheese from organic milk, ripened for 5 to 12 months. It smells of sour-cream butter, damp cellar, mushroom and truffle, and tastes round, creamy and umami, without bitterness.

Wrångebäcksost (PDO, 2022) comes from the western shore of Lake Vättern; its history goes back to the late Middle Ages, when it was made for the monasteries of Alvastra and Vadstena. Commercial production stopped in the 1960s and resumed in 2008. The cows graze from 15 April to 15 October; the cheese ripens for at least nine months, weighs 8–13 kg, and its rind is washed daily with 5% brine for three weeks.

All four belong to the section "Protected cheese names".