In the last days of winter I headed north to the sleepy mining town of Skellefteå in Swedish Norrland. I must admit that primarily I was in search of the Northern lights. What I found instead was cheese. In the nearby town of Burträsk, about half an hour drive along winding, icy roads is the House of Cheese, a museum dedicated to Västerbotten cheese. If you haven’t heard of Västerbotten you’re missing out.
This tangy cow’s milk cheese is reminiscent of Parmesan but with a slightly sharper taste. In fact, this spring it has been impossible to buy at the shops since the Italians have just “discovered” it. What better place to try it for the first time than the farming village where Ulrika Eleonora Lindström stumbled across the secret recipe for dry, crumbly goodness by churning and heating a little too long. Roquefort style accident? Nobody knows. Perhaps she was the ultimate gourmand. She is immortalised in sculpture, a wrinkled, red-faced dairy maid complete with an accusatory scowl. The line-up is there, 2ft tall sculptures of all those who had a hand in making Västerbotten the most popular cheese in Sweden. Not only is it popular, but the Swedes are very proud of their cheese. The King himself opened the tiny museum and pictures of the happy event hang in a place of honour by the door.
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