Esrom

Appearance & taste

Esrom is rectangular. Smaller cheeses are about twice as long as they are wide, either 3.5 to 4.5 cm high at 0.2 to 0.5 kg or 4 to 7 cm high at 1.3 to 2 kg; there are also cheeses 4 to 7 cm high weighing at least 2 kg. The edible rind is thin, elastic and yellowish to orange-yellow, with a clean, almost dry, thin smear of a uniform yellowish-brown to reddish-brown colour. Older cheeses have a slightly greasy surface because the smear forms again.

The paste is uniformly yellowish to white, soft but sliceable, with evenly distributed, irregularly shaped holes the size of a grain of rice. The smell and taste are mild, slightly sour and aromatic, with the note of surface ripening, which becomes dominant with age. Esrom is made in four fat levels, with at least 20, 30, 45 or 60 % fat in dry matter.

Production

Esrom is made only from milk produced in Denmark. The raw cow’s milk is standardised to the desired fat content and pasteurised at a low temperature; starter cultures and rennet make it coagulate. The curd is cut, stirred, the whey drained off and the curd heated. A curd pump transfers the curd grains into moulds, where the mass is lightly pressed.

The young cheese is cooled, salted and treated with cultures that form the smear on the surface. It ripens at high humidity for at least two weeks and is then washed, dried and packed. All production steps take place in Denmark.

Origin & history

According to the specification, the monks of Esrom Abbey developed the cheese in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the mid-1930s the State Experimental Dairy (Statens Forsøgsmejeri) developed it further. The dairy Midtsjællands Herregårdsmejeri was the first to take up production, later followed by other dairies. The specification attributes its reputation as a Danish cheese speciality, both inside and outside the EU, to legal regulations and forty years of quality work by the producers’ association.