What is brunost and where do I buy it in Oslo?

Brunost (brown cheese) is a sweet, caramelised whey cheese unique to Norway. The best varieties are Gudbrandsdalsost (mild, buttery), Geitost (goat's milk, more intense), and premium aged versions from small Norwegian producers. Buy it at any Norwegian supermarket (Kiwi, Rema 1000, Meny) for NOK 45–80 ($4.84–8.60) per 500g. For artisanal versions, Gutta på Haugen at Mathallen food hall has the widest selection in Oslo.

What does brunost taste like?

Sweet, slightly salty, and caramel-like, with a dense, slightly grainy texture. It's sweeter than any regular cheese and unlike anything else in the cheese world. The closest analogue is dulce de leche or a very mild toffee with a gentle savoury undercurrent. Goat's milk versions (geitost) have more tang and complexity.

What is the best brunost to buy?

Gudbrandsdalsost is the classic and best starting point — a cow-and-goat milk blend with a balanced sweet-savoury flavour. Ekte Geitost (genuine goat's milk) is more intense and the choice of Norwegian connoisseurs. Fløtemysost is milder and creamier. For a premium experience, look for small-producer versions at Mathallen — they differ significantly from the supermarket standard.

Can I take brunost home in my luggage?

Yes. Brunost is a hard cheese and travels well in a cool bag or wrapped in paper. Check customs regulations for your destination — EU and UK rules allow up to 2.5kg of cheese from Norway for personal use. US rules are more restrictive; check USDA guidelines before buying significant quantities.

What other Norwegian food specialties are worth buying in Oslo?

Spekemat (dried and cured meats, especially fenalår — cured leg of lamb), rakfisk (fermented trout — adventurous), cloudberry jam (multesyltetøy), Norwegian smoked salmon, aquavit (spiced spirit), and Norwegian chocolate (particularly Freia varieties). All are available at supermarkets; Mathallen has better quality versions.

Fenalår is a Norwegian cured leg of lamb — heavily salted then air-dried for months, similar in concept to Spanish jamón but from lamb and with a more intense, gamey flavour. It's eaten thinly sliced like charcuterie, typically with flatbread and sour cream. One of Norway's most distinctive foods and excellent as a take-home gift if you can get it through customs.

Brunost and Norwegian food specialties: Oslo shopping guide

Why brunost is Norway’s greatest food export you’ve never tried

There’s a jar of Nutella in most European cupboards. There’s a block of brunost in virtually every Norwegian fridge. The brown cheese that Norwegians eat on crispbread for breakfast, on waffles as an afternoon snack, and occasionally melted into a cream sauce for moose meat is one of the world’s most distinctive national foods — and one of its least known outside its country of origin.

This guide covers brunost in depth, along with the other Norwegian food specialties worth seeking out, buying, and potentially taking home from Oslo.

Brunost: the complete guide

What it is and how it’s made

Brunost is the product of a happy accident of Norwegian dairy history. When you make cheese, the liquid left after the curds are separated — the whey — is largely discarded in most dairy traditions. In Norway, it was boiled down. As the water evaporates, the milk sugars concentrate and caramelise (the Maillard reaction, the same process that browns toast), turning the pale liquid into a thick, dark, fudge-like paste. This is then pressed into blocks.

The result is not really a cheese in the conventional sense — it contains the protein, fat, and sugars of cheese, but the caramelisation process gives it a flavour profile unlike any European cheese. It’s closer to dulce de leche or milk caramel than to Cheddar or Gouda.

The main varieties

Gudbrandsdalsost (Brunost standard): The most widely produced and consumed brunost, made with a blend of cow and goat milk whey plus some cream. Flavour: sweet, buttery, slightly tangy, with a long caramel finish. Available at every Norwegian supermarket. The G35 (35% fat) variant is the standard; the G20 is lighter and slightly less rich. Price: NOK 45–65 ($4.84–6.99) for a 500g block.

Ekte Geitost (Genuine Goat Cheese): Made entirely from goat milk whey, this is significantly more intense — more tang, more sour cream, more barnyard. Norwegian dairy lovers consider this the superior version. Harder to find than Gudbrandsdalsost; available at Meny and at Mathallen’s cheese counter. Price: NOK 65–95 ($6.99–10.22) for a 500g block.

Fløtemysost: A lighter, creamier version made with added cream. Less sweet than Gudbrandsdalsost, more delicate. Good for people who find standard brunost too sweet. Price: NOK 45–65 ($4.84–6.99).

Ski Queen (Getost): The export brand sold in international markets. Consistent but slightly different from the Norwegian domestic product — slightly sweeter and less complex. If you’ve tried the international version, the Norwegian domestic versions will taste more interesting.

Small-producer brunost at Mathallen: The artisanal brunost at Gutta på Haugen in Mathallen differs markedly from the supermarket version — more complex, more savoury, with terroir variation depending on the farm. Try side-by-side if you can. Price: NOK 80–150 per 200–300g ($8.60–16.13).

How to eat brunost

The canonical Norwegian way: use a Norwegian cheese slicer (ostehøvel — invented by a Norwegian in 1925) to cut paper-thin shavings and layer them on crispbread or toasted sourdough. The slice should be thin enough to be slightly translucent. A heavy slab of brunost is incorrect and tastes too sweet.

Paired with: Norwegian crispbread (knekkebrød), fresh waffles (most classic combination), light rye bread, or apple slices. Some Norwegians eat it on white bread with butter.

For cooking: brunost melts beautifully into cream sauces, particularly for game — reindeer stew with brunost sauce (sauté reindeer cubes, deglaze with stock, whisk in cream and a cube of brunost) is an Oslo restaurant staple worth ordering if you see it on a menu.

Buy an ostehøvel: The flat cheese slicer is a genuinely excellent kitchen tool and a very Norwegian souvenir. Available at kitchen shops throughout Oslo for NOK 80–200 ($8.60–21.51) depending on quality.

Other Norwegian specialties to seek out

Spekemat: Norway’s charcuterie tradition

Spekemat means “dried and cured meat” and covers a range of Norwegian preserved meats:

Fenalår (cured leg of lamb): Norway’s most distinctive cured meat product. Mountain-grazing Norwegian lamb is salted and air-dried for months until it resembles a light-coloured prosciutto but with the distinctive flavour of lamb fat and mountain herbs. Eaten thinly sliced on flatbread with goat cheese and sour cream. Available at Fenaknoken in Mathallen (the specialty shop) and at better supermarkets. Price: NOK 250–450 per 200–400g ($26.88–48.39).

Spekepølse (dried sausage): A dried, cured sausage that varies regionally. The best versions use lamb and pork with light seasoning. Available at Fenaknoken and supermarkets.

Spekeskinke: Cured ham, similar in concept to Italian prosciutto but made from Norwegian pigs fed on Norwegian grain. Less intense than Iberian ham but clean and pleasant. Available at Mathallen and Meny.

Rakfisk: for the adventurous

Fermented rainbow trout buried in salt for three to twelve months. The smell is genuinely assertive — similar to very strong blue cheese or long-fermented fish sauce. The flavour, for those who get past the smell, is complex, oceanic, and rich.

Rakfisk is not a visitor trap — it’s genuinely eaten by Norwegian families, particularly around Christmas. Eating it requires willingness to lean into a challenging sensory experience.

Where to try it: Fenaknoken at Mathallen, some specialty delis, and traditional restaurants like Engebret Café during the autumn-winter season. If you want to try before you buy, several food tours include a small rakfisk tasting.

Where to buy it: Mathallen, Meny, or Vinmonopolet (which stocks it seasonally). Price: NOK 200–400 per jar or portion ($21.51–43.01).

Norwegian cloudberry jam (multesyltetøy)

Cloudberries (multebær) are small orange-gold berries that grow only at altitude in Scandinavian climates and ripen briefly in late summer. They have an intense, slightly tart flavour unlike any other berry — a sort of concentrated raspberry-apricot hybrid. The jam made from them is one of Norway’s most celebrated food products.

In Oslo, cloudberry jam is available at Mathallen, Colonihagen, and better supermarkets (Meny has it reliably). The fresh berries with whipped cream (multekrem) is a seasonal dessert in August–September.

Price: NOK 80–150 for a jar of quality jam ($8.60–16.13). The small-producer versions at Mathallen are significantly better than the supermarket standard.

Norwegian smoked salmon

Norway produces the world’s most consumed farmed Atlantic salmon, and Oslo’s smoked salmon is the premium version of that product. The difference between Norwegian smoked salmon in Norway and in export markets is real: the product is fresher, the smoking more recent, and the quality control tighter.

Best versions: Mathallen’s fish counter does salmon smoked in-house or sourced from small Norwegian smokehouses. Price: NOK 95–150 ($10.22–16.13) per 200g.

Supermarket versions from Meny are also good. Avoid the pre-packaged versions at discount supermarkets for eating fresh — they’re fine for cooking but miss the quality of the premium product.

Aquavit

Norway’s national spirit is a caraway-and-dill flavoured distillate, aged in oak barrels. The flavour is assertive and distinctly Nordic — if you’ve had gin, you know the botanical-spirit concept; aquavit replaces juniper with caraway as the dominant spice.

The best Norwegian aquavit producers include Linie (which is matured at sea in sherry casks), Lysholm Linie, and Gilde’s Gammel Opland. Buy at Vinmonopolet — the Oslo city centre stores have the widest selection. A standard bottle: NOK 250–400 ($26.88–43.01). Premium aged versions: NOK 400–800 ($43.01–86.02).

Aquavit is meant to be drunk with food — with smørbrød at lunch, with cured fish and meat, or with traditional Norwegian dinners. Not a cocktail ingredient in the traditional Norwegian approach, though Oslo’s cocktail bars do incorporate it creatively.

Where to shop for Norwegian specialties in Oslo

Best overall: Mathallen food hall at Vulkan — the cheese counter (Gutta på Haugen), the cured meat specialist (Fenaknoken), the fish counter (Vingen Fisk), and the condiment shop (Kolonihagen Butikk) cover everything. See the Mathallen guide for full details.

For supermarket versions: Meny has the best quality and range. Kiwi and Rema 1000 are cheapest. Coop Extra is in the middle.

For alcohol: Vinmonopolet only. Multiple central Oslo locations; the one at Mathallen is convenient for a combined shopping trip.

At the airport (Oslo Gardermoen): The duty-free shop sells brunost, cloudberry jam, and aquavit at prices competitive with central Oslo stores. If you forget to shop in the city, the airport is a reasonable last-resort option — not as interesting as Mathallen but reliable for the classic take-home items.

Frequently asked questions

What does brunost taste like?
Sweet, slightly salty, and caramel-like, with a dense, slightly grainy texture. It's sweeter than any regular cheese and unlike anything else in the cheese world. The closest analogue is dulce de leche or a very mild toffee with a gentle savoury undercurrent. Goat's milk versions (geitost) have more tang and complexity.
What is the best brunost to buy?
Gudbrandsdalsost is the classic and best starting point — a cow-and-goat milk blend with a balanced sweet-savoury flavour. Ekte Geitost (genuine goat's milk) is more intense and the choice of Norwegian connoisseurs. Fløtemysost is milder and creamier. For a premium experience, look for small-producer versions at Mathallen — they differ significantly from the supermarket standard.
Can I take brunost home in my luggage?
Yes. Brunost is a hard cheese and travels well in a cool bag or wrapped in paper. Check customs regulations for your destination — EU and UK rules allow up to 2.5kg of cheese from Norway for personal use. US rules are more restrictive; check USDA guidelines before buying significant quantities.
What other Norwegian food specialties are worth buying in Oslo?
Spekemat (dried and cured meats, especially fenalår — cured leg of lamb), rakfisk (fermented trout — adventurous), cloudberry jam (multesyltetøy), Norwegian smoked salmon, aquavit (spiced spirit), and Norwegian chocolate (particularly Freia varieties). All are available at supermarkets; Mathallen has better quality versions.
What is fenalår?
Fenalår is a Norwegian cured leg of lamb — heavily salted then air-dried for months, similar in concept to Spanish jamón but from lamb and with a more intense, gamey flavour. It's eaten thinly sliced like charcuterie, typically with flatbread and sour cream. One of Norway's most distinctive foods and excellent as a take-home gift if you can get it through customs.