Brunost sweetness. Brunost is made by boiling a mixture of milk, cream, and whey carefully for several hours so that the water evaporates. The heat turns the milk sugars into caramel, which gives the cheese its characteristic brown colour and sweetness. It is ready for consumption as soon as it is packed and refrigerated. Low-fat varieties are made by increasing the proportion of whey to milk and cream. In Norway, Brunost is commonly divided into two types: those that contain only cow's cream and/or milk, and the ones that contain some proportion of goat's milk. The latter type is commonly called
Brunost not adding milk or cream. Also, in Norway, pultost is traditionally made from byproducts of the brunost-making process, and has a very distinctive flavour. Brunost is mostly used as a topping for sandwiches, crispbread, and biscuits. It is very common in the traditional Norwegian matpakke (literally "food pack"), which is a common Norwegian lunch—sandwiches are packed in a lunch box in the morning, and carried to work for consumption in the 30 minute lunch break commonly afforded to Norwegian workers. One advantage of brunost for this purpose is that although its texture changes if not refrigerated, its taste does not.