There is a small village in northern Sweden named Burträsk. In the village is a dairy called Norrmejerier that makes a hard, light-yellow cheese with tiny eyes or holes. The cheese has an excellent flavor and has been on the menu at royal weddings, Nobel Prize dinners, and famed Copenhagen restaurant Noma. The cheese is called Västerbottensost after the region of Sweden where it is produced.
Demand for the cheese is greater than the dairy can satisfy, so the dairy tried to expand production by opening a cheese-making facility in the nearby city of Umeå where the dairy is headquartered. However, the cheese produced at that facility tastes different. The dairy’s owners found that Västerbottensost cheese can only be produced in Burträsk.
The cheese has been analyzed using forensic DNA techniques, but no one has been able to explain why it can only be produced in Burträsk. Theories have been suggested: it could be the spruce shelves the cheese is left to mature on, or the microflora in the dairy building, or the length of the summer days affecting the mood of the cows, or minerals in the soil that get into the grass the cows eat and then into the milk from which the cheese is made. In fact, it might be all of those things and more.
Parenthetically, the Norrmejerier dairy in Burträsk where Västerbottensost is made was formed in 1971 when the Västerbottens Södra Mejeriförening, Skellefteortens mejeriförening and Lappmarkens mejeriförening were combined. This is one reason I love the Swedes: not only do they happily create words that are patently unpronounceable, but they also manage to squeeze in alphabet letters that don’t even exist. I can only say, “Bra gjort, svenskar!” On second thought, I’m not really sure I can say that.
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