The saga of the Jarlsberg cheese starts in the 1830s, when a group of Swiss milk farmers and master cheese-makers went to Norway to teach villagers the art of cheese-making. Their wise teachings resulted in a mild, nutty cheese with large, shiny holes. After a few years, however, production ceased in 1832, leaving the villagers with little else than the good memories.
However, tales of the mild, tasty cheese from the Jarlsberg county (known as Vestfold today) survived. In fact, they survived for more than a century – long even for the most vintage of cheeses – until one day in 1956, when a team from the Agricultural University of Norway at Ås decided to undertake the task of bringing it back. Dairy-farming student Per Sakshaug wrote his thesis on the history of the cheese from Vestfold, which caught the imagination of his Professor Ole Martin Ystgaard.
Combining the production of Emmenthaler and Gouda and modern technology with old Norwegian cheese-making traditions, they successfully created a semi-hard, medium-fat cheese with holes. The new cheese was named Jarlsberg after the county where production had once started.
From there, Jarlsberg has become one of the most traditional and sought-after Norwegian food items, enjoyed by cheese-lovers all around the world.
The export of Jarlsberg from Norway started cautiously in 1961, but has since risen to be the flagship export of Norwegian dairy company Tine. Tine now exports 12,500 tons of the golden delicacy every year, 60 percent of total exports from the company. Seven thousand tons go to the U.S. In addition, Norseland – the importer of Jarls-berg in the U.S. – also produces Jarlsberg stateside, under license with Alpine Cheese in Ohio. Worldwide, 25,000 tons are consumed every year.
Jarlsberg has even become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon in the U.S., and has been featured both in the “Sopranos” HBO series, on “Jeopardy!” and most recently in the high-class environment of Hollywood movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” starring Meryl Streep.
“This is not a cheap cheese, and in many supermarkets, sales of Jarlsberg is the reason they have a cheese section at all,” says John Sullivan, president of Norseland, which imports and produces Jarlsberg for the American market.
“Jarlsberg is already the no. 1 brand of all specialty cheeses in the U.S.,” Sullivan stated.
“The consumption of Jarlsberg here in the U.S. has been growing steadily every year, so every year has been a record year for us, and we have a dominant leadership position. And we expect this trend to continue,” he said about the cheese that just turned 50.