Havarti

What is Havarti Cheese?

Danish production began in 1921, when the cheese was sold as Danish Tilsiter after the German tilsiter type. The name Havarti came in 1952, taken from Havartigården near Holte, where the Danish cheese pioneer Hanne Nielsen worked in the 19th century. Nielsen made a Tilsit cheese with caraway for King Christian IX. Whether she invented Havarti is disputed: The Oxford Companion to Cheese credits her, while the Dansk Biografisk Leksikon says the current cheese is not based on her cheesemaking.

Rennet curdles the milk, the curds are pressed into molds and drained, and the cheese is then aged, typically about three months. Havarti is a washed-curd cheese, which keeps its flavor subtle. Flødehavarti, or cream Havarti, uses flash pasteurized milk so that whey proteins stay in the curd. Yields rise, taste and texture change, and it ripens very little, since those proteins bring off-taste and odd appearance over a long ripening.

The cheese ripens from the interior and is rindless, smooth, and slightly bright-surfaced, cream to yellow depending on type. Very small irregular openings called eyes are spread throughout. Taste runs buttery, somewhat to very sweet, and slightly acidic, close to mozzarella. Stronger versions can be a little sharp, like Swiss-type cheeses. Older cheese turns saltier and tastes of hazelnut, and at room temperature it softens quickly.

Havarti can be sliced, grilled, or melted, and flavored variants are sold. It is a staple food in Denmark, which made 17,000 metric tons annually as of 2019 and ate 3,000 to 4,000 tons of that at home. Less than half of world production is Danish. Wisconsin produced 18,400 metric tons in 2018 and Canada 7,500. In October 2019 the EU granted Denmark Protected Geographical Indication rights, so cheese sold as Havarti in the EU must come from Danish milk and approved dairies.