Let me introduce you to my little friend, my childhood friend, Gamle Ole aka Stinky Cheese. This is a Danish cheese which is aged 40+ weeks and it taste AMAZING and I absolutely LOVE it. It’s a very sharp cheese and as the name indicates it’s very aromatic. When I bring it out my son makes sure windows and doors are flung wide open…I guess that means it needs air to breath…no?
My parents mailed me this cheese for my birthday. It was what I had wished for and I was so happy when it arrived in the mail. I posted about it on Facebook and my cousin Anita told me a story about how her In-laws kept their Gamle Ole outside in the mailbox so not to stink up the refrigerator, besides the mailman always delivered the mail directly to their door. One day there was a substitute mailman and you can imagine his surprise to find the cheese sitting in the mailbox. 🙂
I don’t keep my Gamle Ole outside in the mailbox as I am sure the Virginia heat would melt it away, but instead its securely wrapped in two layers and stored in a Tupperware container so it wont contaminate the entire fridge. I only eat Gamle Ole on weekends because I am sure my coworkes would not appreciate the aroma of, what my son calls “smelly feet”. But despite all the talk of how badly it smells, the taste is incredible. Denmark has long had a reputation of producing award winning cheeses and Gamle Ole is no exception. It won the Best Scandinavian Cheese award in 2010. It remains a controversial cheese meaning in short that you either love or hate it…as for me, I simply just LOVE it.
Source: My Danish Kitchen
Was just surfing by, looking for some cheese web-sites and loved your story 🙂
I don’t know if they ship across the Atlantic, but there is an on-line cheese store here with “Gamle Ole”: http://www.net-ost.dk/arla-ost-danbo-45.html
Btw. Gamle Ole has a father you know? “Gamle Oles Far” is an even stronger stinky cheese 🙂 take a look here: https://osuma.dk/butik/produkt/20869
Im Danish myself and lives in Denmark too, but thought I should write in English.
Thank you so much for the links, I’ll definitely have to check into that.
[…] across the dinner table from one another, she got me interested in tangy Danish Gamle Ole cut into long ribbons, creamy, crumbly Chèvre and that beautiful mouldy mess, Roquefort, the […]
Jeg har en bror og hans voksne børn og børnebørn i USA og når vi besøger hinanden skal de altid have “stinky cheese”. Det kan vist nok ikke skaffes i USA? Hvis du kan lide Gamle Ole, så skal du prøve “Egoisten” ! Den synes jeg er mindst lige så god hvis ikke bedre! (kan skaffes bla. i Super Best)
Jeg har hørt om Egoisten men har ikke smagt den. Vi har desværre ikke en Super Best her, men tak for tippet 🙂
delicious looking cheese beautiful presentation
Thank you 🙂
Your entire post made me smile 🙂
There are so many foods from back home (both France and Bulgaria) that I love and that are so tough for me to find in the US. A few times during the year, I get them — either from family, or by bringing them after a trip, but it’s never the same as having them constantly in your grocery store.
Oh yes I agree, there are so many foods that I miss. But then again, there are so many foods here you can’t get there. 🙂
Haha, I love the mailbox story. When I lived in Paris during the winter they frequently put stinky cheese in the flower boxes outside the windows. I love stinky cheese but it is hard to not have it spread in the fridge.
Jeg kan lugte den gennem skærmen, og er lige ved at omkomme;)
Ha ha ja den er sej 🙂
Can I come over for some of that? Lucky you, and a Happy Belated Birthday. I think it would go very well with the rye bread I’m baking in a couple of days. And you’re right, you either love it or hate it. Personally, I’m in the love it stage.
Oh my goodness. Seeing that is bringing back olfactory memories. On our first grocery shopping adventure when we moved from the US to Denmark we bought some of this cheese. We had no idea what we had purchased. Upon opening it when we got home it was dubbed “Danish sewer cheese”. One of us managed to get it to his mouth but that was it. Into the garbage and out to the can outside in short order. That is some very potent cheese.
It looks so lovely… and I am one of those who has a thing for stinky food 🙂
Oh wow .. just seeing it brought back vivid memories and smells. On a crisp roll slathered with Lurpak, and a layer of this cheese.. maybe some Gammel Fabrik Strawberry and Rhubarb jam.
Kinda makes this bagel I am eating pale in comparison.
I love stinkly cheeses, is there anywhere in the US you can buy it? I will have to keep my eyes peeled.
I know sometimes Nordic House has Gamle Ole but it is extremely expensive because they want to mail it 2nd day air. I just looked and they don’t have it right now, but sometimes they do. Btw, don’t confuse Gamle Ole with Gamle Mads, not the same.