Anne Hov

Anne Hov, sometimes named Anne Haav, was a milkmaid from Gudbrandsdalen who created the modern version of the Norwegian cheese brunost. In 1933, aged 87, Anne Hov received the King's Medal of Merit for her contributions to Norwegian cuisine and economy.

In the second part of the 1800s Gudbrandsdalen, a rural part of Norway, was suffering economically due to falling profits from grain and butter sales. While working at the Valseter mountain farm near Gålå in 1863, Hov came up with the idea of adding cream to the whey when boiling, and to boil it down in an iron pot until the fluid content was reduced to less than 80%, creating a firmer, fattier, more cheese-like product. She originally called it Feitost ("Fat Cheese"). The name later changed into Fløtemysost ("Cream Whey Cheese"), and this variety is currently the second most popular type. The product immediately caught on, and was soon commonly produced and consumed in the area.

When Anne Hov married and moved to Rusthågå farm in Sør-Fron, she started larger-scale production and invented a variety where she added goat's milk to the mix for a more pronounced taste. The local trader Ole Kongsli liked it so much he thought there might be a market for the product in the capital, Oslo. He started exporting it to his business contacts in Oslo under the name Gudbrandsdalsost ("Gudbrandsdal Cheese"), and it became so successful that it contributed significantly to the economy of the region, thus helping Gudbrandsdalen out of recession.