It all started in 1863. At the farm Solbråsetra in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway, Anne Hov invented what was to become Norway's most iconic cheese; the creamy, caramel cheese, which today is known as TINE® Brunost™ Original. In Norway it’s known as TINE® Gudbrandsdalsost, named after the valley of its origin.
Back in 1863, there was a lack of goat's milk at the farm Solbråsetra, and Anne Hov, who was the daughter at Solbråsetra farm, decided to try making cheese by adding cream to the whey, instead of using goat's milk. The result was a sweet and smooth cheese with caramel taste.
As Anne Hov grew up and married, she moved to her own farm, where she optimized the recipe using whey, cow’s cream, and goat’s milk. The caramel cheese recipe was a success and it spread fast to neighbor farms which loved this sweet and smooth caramel cheese. Within few years, the whole country was talking about this delicious caramel cheese, TINE® Brunost™.
A fun fact is that even today, Oppislått, which is a Norwegian word Anne Hov used to describe the process of adding cream to whey in 1863, is still used to describe the production process of caramel cheese.