Cheesemaking Adventures: Brunost (Scandinavian Brown Cheese)

So, I have alot of whey. I make queso blanco at least once a week, and am venturing into other cheesemaking adventures. I use it in bread, and to cook grains and beans, etc, and STILL have alot of whey. So I decided to try this unusual recipe for a scandinavian type of "brown cheese", made by essentially boiling your leftover whey (with a bit of milk and cream added, if you like) to make a thick, carmelized sort of whey-cheese. 

I used about a gallon of whey, and added 2 cups each whole milk and cream, as recommended by this recipe.

 

Here is the whey reduced to about half. It is starting to get darker.

Here it is reduced to about one fourth. Getting very dark,and thick, and starting to smell caramel-ey.

This is where I stopped it. It was quite thick and dark and I had to stir it constantly. Until this point, I mostly just let the mixture bubble away on medium heat on the stove, just stirring every now and again as I wandered through the kitchen. Not exactly a high-maintenance project.

I did notice at this point that the cheese was lookinga little grainy. I poured it into a shallow pan and took it outside (it's very cold here right now, so I figured that would cool it off quickly) and set it on a cold glass table and stirred until it was cool. The grainyness does not detract from it's taste, but I'd much prefer a smooth cheese.

Now, the taste. It is REALLY interesting and super hard to describe. I like it VERY much. It's both salty and sweet, with caramel overtones. I think it would go well with both sweet and savory dishes. I am going to do alot of experimentation with this fun cheese to see how I like to serve and eat it. I am most intrigued by the idea of serving it on waffles, that sounds really good to me!