When Professor Ole Martin Ystgaard tasted the new cheese for the first time in 1956, he realized it could be a success. Since then, 800,000 tons of the cheese, known as Jarlsberg, have been produced and enjoyed worldwide.
The secret behind both the characteristic holes and the taste is the addition of propionic acid bacteria to the cheese milk.
Better Holes
Graduate student Per Sakshaug used these bacteria under Ystgaard's guidance to research how to create better holes in Gouda cheese. The result was a new cheese: Jarlsberg.
"Already the following year, in 1957, Jarlsberg cheese was produced on an industrial scale and offered to consumers," says Professor Roger K. Abrahamsen.
In this way, close collaboration between the then Dairy Institute at Agricultural University of Norway(NLH, now NMBU) and the Norwegian Dairy Sales Centre ensured that Jarlsberg cheese quickly became a commercial success.
Innovation
At the same time, Ystgaard led the further development of Jarlsberg cheese for ten years. The new cheese was more demanding to produce than others. The work involved interdisciplinary innovation in dairy technology, experimental design, innovative use of statistical methods, and electronic data processing.
Better Taste
Until 1994, the Dairy Institute managed the rights to the "secret" behind Jarlsberg cheese—the culture of propionic acid bacteria—and ensured that dairies were allowed to purchase it.
Today, this is managed by the TINE Group, a full-scale supplier of dairy products and one of Norway’s largest food companies. So far, it seems that no one has been able to replicate the high-quality cheese.
Abrahamsen finds this surprising:
"Any dairy student or microbiologist would be able to isolate propionic acid bacteria from Jarlsberg cheese," he says.