- [Narrator] Burträsk, Northern Sweden,
a small village where you can get lit
by magical lights at night.
And during the day,
you can worry about their great mystery.
Yeah, somewhere between that house
and these cute reindeer and this giant row of trees,
there is a Century-old enigma involving,
cheese.
Yep, this big ball of cheese.
(suspenseful music)
Well, as for all mystery tales
a star storyteller is essential,
and today, that is Thomas Rudin,
(speaking foreign language)
- Västerbottensost is the emperor of Swedish cheeses.
I've been making
the Västerbottensost nearly 40 years now.
It was invented long time ago
back in 1872.
The maturation is at least 14 month
because a good cheese will take its time.
It's a very unique taste. - It has a bitter
and milky flavor, and oh do
the Swedes love it.
They put it on basically everything.
But for some reason it can't be made anywhere else
in the world,
aside from this one factory.
It's one of Sweden's greatest mysteries.
- We have tried to make it
in Falkenburg down in south of Sweden
also tried to make it in Bollnäs
and also in Åmål.
But it hasn't been the real Västerbotten cheese.
We don't get the unique taste and flavor of it.
- [Narrator] And, why?
No one really knows.
Some blame it on a meteor that struck
the village some 20,000 years ago,
which created this lake
and, in turn, enriched the soil with calcium,
which affects the cows in the region,
which affects the milk and cheese they produce.
- [Group] Ah.
- [Narrator] Another theory suggests the cheese's
unique flavor is influenced
by the bacteria in the air
of the old factory building.
- [Group] Oo.
- [Narrator] I mean the air is so precious
to the cheese's flavor that when the building expanded,
holes were made so that the air
from the old building would flow into the new one.
- There is a combination with
the kind of milk that we're using from the cows
in our region combined with the microflora
in our dairy.
If we call that magic or not,
OK.
- [Narrator] One thing is certain,
this magic cheese is kept alive
by the people working on it.
- [Thomas] I feel very humble for the fact
that I'm allowed to work with this cheese.
It's a bit of the mystery that's why it's special.
- [Narrator] Last thing,
can you give us the recipe?
- No because that's the big secret with this cheese.
- [Narrator] Hm, mystery solved, maybe.
- Goodnight,
goodnight.
(upbeat music)