Brunost: Norway's caramel cheese

With its steep mountains, dense forests and dramatic fjords, Norway has captured the imagination for eons – but the country also has a lot of meadows and pastures. Since time immemorial, locals have grazed animals there, especially cattle and goats. As the long winters and short summers up north cause significantly lower crop yields, the Norse have supplemented their diet with dairy products for ages. Summers were the perfect time for dairy production –cows and goats could eat their fill, sheltering in so-called "Seters", mountain farms surrounded by lush pastures in remote areas. This would pay off during the long, hard winters, when animals were kept in stables, fed on hay and giving very little milk.