Wrångebäck Sweden

The first cheese in Northern Europe to receive Protected Designation of Origin status

It is with great pride that we announce that our Wrångebäck cheese has received Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status from the European Union. As the first cheese in the Nordic region to achieve this designation, Wrångebäck reflects the commitment at our farm, Almnäs Bruk, to nurture local food production that builds upon Swedish agricultural history and practice

Read more: Almnäs PDO folder

Almnäs registered the brand Wrångebäck Sweden on April 8, 1889, making it Sweden’s oldest registered cheese brand. Every round produced since that time bears the imprint, Wrångebäck Sweden.

The brand’s longevity and respected status means that Wrångebäck features in some interesting moments in Swedish history. In 1896, Wrångebäck was served at the farewell dinner hosted by the Garden Society of Gothenburg for the famous Swedish balloonist Andrée, prior to his ill-fated North Pole expedition. We have the original menu in the Almnäs archive. Guests at the 500th anniversary dinner of the first Swedish Parliament in 1935 enjoyed Wrångebäck cheese. The cheese was served a year later at a charity event at Haga Castle in Stockholm, organized by Crown Princess Sibylla. We have the original orders from Parliament and the Crown Princess in our archives.

After a short break in production, in 2008 we were fortunate enough to enlist the help of our former dairyman, Hans Stiller, to revive the manufacture of Wrångebäck cheese using the original Almnäs recipe and method. He was 82 years old. We took the wooden planks from the old dairy and used them in our new storage facility. The original bacterial cultures that remain in the planks imbue the Wrångebäck rounds with an authentic historical note, preserving an unbroken chain of bacterial cultures dating at least 150 years.

Wrångebäck weighs about 8 kilograms (22 pounds) and is 31 centimeters (12 inches) in diameter. Until 1961, the surface of the cheese was waxed, but for today’s Wrångebäck cheese we have chosen to wash the surface in salt water in the same traditional method we use for Almnäs Brick.

In classic Swedish literature, Wrångebäck is described as the archetype of the great Swedish Manor cheese. Its aroma is slightly tangy, calling to mind the grassy-milky scent of a warm cow barn. Wrångebäck has a slightly tart, complex umami flavour, and the mouthfeel is smooth, dense, and creamy. The storage time is between 10 and 15 months.

In 2018, Wrångebäck cheese won the Silver at the World Cheese Awards held in Bergen, Norway.