In the middle of the morning, the mist still rests on Krokom and its surroundings. You can hardly make out the cows of Karin and Anders, which graze around their old typical farmhouse of northern Europe. The farm has been in the family for 200 years. Anders took over the business 50 years ago and turned to organic farming. Karin later joined him on the farm business, while retaining an outside job. She has developed a small activity of traditional blue cheese making from the region.
In the pasture, 13 cows of two breeds share the space, not without a few nods that show a good dose of character and energy! The Jersey cow, a small fawn cow with doe eyes, was imported from Denmark to Sweden and is well established in the country. Beside her, another naturally hornless little cow from the mountains of Sweden, the Fjäll. Its white coat more or less spotted with black reminds us of our Vosgienne and for good reason, the Fjäll is its ancestor!
Photo. Jersiaise cows of Karin and Anders
Photo. Fjäll of Karin and Anders
Here as in Norway, the breeding has adapted to the long winters, so that the cow calendar is divided into two periods of six months. From April, the cows roam the rich pastures until October, before the first snowfall. While snow covers the pastures for the other 6 months, the herd lives in the warm wooden barn. Cows have access to the outdoors all winter long, giving them the opportunity to frolic in the snow ... if they wish! During these 6 white months, the cows are given farm-produced barley and concentrate, as well as excellent quality hay produced from the rich grass that grows here in the spring. Indeed, the territory produces a large quantity of dense grass as soon as the snow melts and the sun comes out. Next to the stable, a large wooden tower is dedicated to drying and storing hay. The tower, hollow in its center, sends air out, which scours the fresh hay to extract its moisture.
Photo. Under the mist, the stable and its wooden tower for drying and storing hay
A few dozen meters from the stable, on the other side of the road, three bearded goats are watching us. They are of the Svensk Lantrasget breed, a native breed adapted to life in cold countries. Today there are 2,500 individuals in Sweden. Karin explains that she previously owned a herd of 15 goats, which she milked by hand. She made cellar-matured goat's milk blue cheese, a traditional Swedish cheese from Jämtland County. Now at the end of their careers, Anders and Karin have eased off. Karin still makes goat's milk blue cheese, but now she buys the milk to make it. In her cheese factory, she produces blue cheese with cow's milk and a small quantity of blue cheese with goat's milk. She also produces hard cheese of different formats and Feta. The blue ones are molded in traditional wooden molds, then matured in the cellar. The whey from the production of cheese is preserved to produce the Swedish “Mese”, a product of the same lineage as the Norwegian Brunöst (brown cheese)! Karin lets the whey reduce for 12 hours before obtaining a caramelized whey: the Mese. It will need 10 liters of whey to produce a kilo of Mese!
Photos from left to right: 1. Karin's Svensk Lantrasget goats. 2. Wooden molds for making cheese. 3. Through the window of the cheese factory, you can see the cows in the pasture.
We go down to the cellar where Karin stores her cheeses. Traditionally, the region's blues were produced in caves dug underground. Before he arrived on the farm, we did not produce cheese, so there was no cellar dedicated to making blueberries. Karin therefore dug the cellar for her cheeses in the basement of the oldest house of the farm. By opening the door, you enter the cellar as in a cave. The temperature and hydrometry are naturally favorable to the maturation of the cheeses (as well as to the life of spiders, a good sign!). Several sizes of cheese are stored here but above all several colors! The result of random maturation, depending on the climate, the location of the cheese in the cellar, the milk used ... So many variables naturally present, which give each cheese a unique taste. Far from standardized cheeses, here each tasted cheese leads to a different experience. Imagine that this diversity is revealed beyond Karin's farm, since each cellar has its own atmosphere, so that no farm produces the same cheese.
Pictures. Scroll from left to right to admire the variety of cheeses in the cellar
In Karin's cellar, cheese ripening lasts a minimum of two months, but it can also take much longer! In a region where negative temperatures are as frequent as positive temperatures, the maturation of cheeses in the cellar varies with the seasons. In the middle of winter, the bacteria go to rest and the ripening takes a break. So, depending on the ripening season, the actual maturation time sometimes differs by several months for an equivalent degree of maturation. You will understand, it is difficult to assess a cheese from Karin's cellar by its maturation time! The best is yet to taste it!
Did you know ?
- Viking Cow !
The Fjäll was introduced by the armies of the King of Sweden in Germany in the 17th century and gave by crossing the Vosgienne breed in France. But the Nordic branch from which the Fjäll comes brought its blood to France long before that! The Fjäll is also the supposed ancestor of the beautiful Normande, resulting from crossbreeding of local Celtic breeds and the Vikings race, who conquered Normandy in the 9th century!
- Anthropocentric
The specifications for organic breeding require cows to have outdoor access all year round. Regulations which ensure that the well-being of the animal is taken into account by guaranteeing physical activity. European regulations which, on the other hand, lack adaptation to the variety of its breeding areas. Indeed, for breeders living in regions with heavy snowfall in winter, the compulsory exit of animals is an aberration. For Karin: “On paper it's nice, but a lot of cows refuse to go out because they do prefer to stay warm in the barn. On the other hand, it is a dangerous practice for the breeder and his animals, which can lead to accidents."
- Hay for winter
From the farm, you can see several small wooden huts, scattered in the fields. These huts are remnants of the days when pastoralists stored their hay there for the winter. Today, they are no longer useful, except to remind everyone of the agricultural history of the region.
Photo. Huts historically used for hay storage.