Skyr

Skyr up old

mátann

And ketchup on everything!

Vital by Þorgrím Einar Guðbjartsson, dairy scientist at Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar

Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, a dairy scientist, lives with his children and wife, Helgi Elínborga Guðmundsdóttir, in Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar in Dalarna. There they process their own products in home-made and make skyr, cheese and ice cream the old-fashioned way. Hrefna Sætran met Þorgrím in Erpsstaðir and asked him about the production and the dairy life.

When does your day start? I'm up at six in the morning. The day starts with breakfast in the barn and then we have to bring the kids to school. It's good to have something done before I take care of the kids.

How many of you live in Erpsstaðir? My wife and I have five children, but there is also often a lot of visitors. We run the cream farm in collaboration with Ingvar Kristján Bæringsson. He is a dairy technician and we studied dairy science together. He works here from nine to five and is in charge of the production of cheese and skyr confectionery. I take care of the milk we use in the products, such as skyr and ice cream. With the exception of us humans, there are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and sheep, but mostly cows. We have about 60 dairy cows.

Clears up the old fashioned way


And ketchup on everything!

Vital by Þorgrím Einar Guðbjartsson, dairy scientist at Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar


Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, a dairy scientist, lives with his children and wife, Helgi Elínborga Guðmundsdóttir, in Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar in Dalarna. There they process their own products in home-made and make skyr, cheese and ice cream the old-fashioned way. Hrefna Sætran met Þorgrím in Erpsstaðir and asked him about the production and dairy life.


When does your day start? I'm up at six in the morning. The day starts with breakfast in the barn and then we have to bring the kids to school. It's good to have something done before I take care of the kids.


How many of you live in Erpsstaðir? My wife and I have five children, but there is also often a lot of visitors. We run the cream farm in collaboration with Ingvar Kristján Bæringsson. He is a dairy technician and we studied dairy science together. He works here from nine to five and is in charge of the production of cheese and skyr confectionery. I take care of the milk we use in the products, such as skyr and ice cream. With the exception of us humans, there are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and sheep, but mostly cows. We have about 60 dairy cows.

Is it necessary to be a dairy scientist if you have a dairy cow? No, I studied dairy science just to get rich. Dairy scientists were best paid in Iceland when I was little and were always on strike. Then it was so much a reward to be a worker or a dairy scientist. It was like being a banker or a cashier. Fortunately, this has now changed and workers' salaries have become similar to the salaries of dairy farmers.


Are you getting a summer vacation? We try to take it easy from Christmas until the drought. From the 24th of December until the middle of February we get up and do only the most necessary work and then go back in and have a good time. The work then begins again in full force.


Do you drink a lot of milk? I fill a two-liter jug at night and let it stand in the fridge overnight. In the morning, all the cream has settled on top and we fight to get it out on our breakfast cereal.


What is different about your skyr? We work the skyr like in the old days. It takes four days to make skyr, but 15 years ago an attempt was made to speed up the process by pressing the skyr through a press instead of letting the whey leak out itself, as was done in the old days. Not unlike making coffee in a press jug. The whey will thus be completely different and other proteins will be prominent. It is this pressed whey that is used in energy drinks today. The emphasis may have been more on the whey than the skyr. The whey that comes from my skyr is like the whey that was used to make sourdough in the old days.


Why the old-fashioned way? The old-fashioned cloud is denser and more acidic. The texture is very thick, like butter, and the skyr is particularly suitable for cooking. The skyr outside the store is not like the skyr that was here about 15 years ago.


Do you think anything about the fat in your cream and skyr? No, I'm just following the eye. Experience has taught me that if it looks like cream then it is cream, the fatter the better.


What dairy products do you produce in Erpsstaðir: skyr, cream, ice cream and cheese. We are now making cumin cheese from wild cumin that grows around here.

Is it necessary to be a dairy scientist if you have a dairy cow? No, I studied dairy science just to get rich. Dairy scientists were best paid in Iceland when I was little and were always on strike. Then it was so much a reward to be a worker or a dairy scientist. It was like being a banker or a cashier. Fortunately, this has now changed and workers' salaries have become similar to the salaries of dairy farmers.

Are you getting a summer vacation? We try to take it easy from Christmas until the drought. From the 24th of December until the middle of February we get up and do only the most necessary work and then go back in and have a good time. The work then begins again in full force.

Do you drink a lot of milk? I fill a two-liter jug at night and let it stand in the fridge overnight. In the morning, all the cream has settled on top and we fight to get it out on our breakfast cereal.

What is different about your skyr? We work the skyr like in the old days. It takes four days to make skyr, but 15 years ago an attempt was made to speed up the process by pressing the skyr through a press instead of letting the whey leak out itself, as was done in the old days. Not unlike making coffee in a press jug. The whey will thus be completely different and other proteins will be prominent. It is this pressed whey that is used in energy drinks today. The emphasis may have been more on the whey than the skyr. The whey that comes from my skyr is like the whey that was used to make sourdough in the old days.

Why the old-fashioned way? The old-fashioned cloud is denser and more acidic. The texture is very thick, like butter, and the skyr is particularly suitable for cooking. The skyr outside the store is not like the skyr that was here about 15 years ago.

Do you have any thoughts about the fat in your cream and skyr? No, I'm just following the eye. Experience has taught me that if it looks like cream then it is cream, the fatter the better.

What dairy products do you produce in Erpsstaðir: skyr, cream, ice cream and cheese. We are now making cumin cheese from wild cumin that grows around here.

How do skyr go to foreigners? Germans, French and English have heard of skyr and are excited to taste it, but Americans know nothing about it. The Germans are especially obsessed with skyr.


What skyr do you like best? Just clean, with cream and a lot of sugar. My wife is good at making shirts for her sewing club.


What do you do with the whey that comes from the sky? We give it to the calves and use it when we make sour food. We always acid slaughter ourselves. There are also quite a few people who buy the whey from us. In the old days, skim milk was released and placed in a bag that was hung on the wall. A tub of food was placed under it and the whey was placed on it. That's how you made sourdough.


Do you eat skyr every day? Skyr is a lot on offer with us but I do not eat much of it. I do not eat a lot of cheese either, but the other family members are addicted to it. My favorite is ketchup and it's the only vegetable I eat. I put ketchup on everything! Eat most pastries and ketchup.


What do you do in your free time? I travel a lot around the country and prefer to go to abandoned places. The Westfjords are a favorite. I was for a time a worker at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn, where no one lives anymore and I dream of going there again and walking around the area, Látrabjarg, Keflavík, Breiðuvík and Kollvís. Dozens if not hundreds of people lived there in the old days! I think this is such a magnificent area and the thought that once upon a time these countries fed our rivers but today we hardly know about them.

How do skyr go to foreigners? Germans, French and English have heard of skyr and are excited to taste it, but Americans know nothing about it. The Germans are especially obsessed with skyr.

What do you do with the whey that comes from the sky? We give it to the calves and use it when we make sour food. We always acid slaughter ourselves. There are also quite a few people who buy the whey from us. In the old days, skim milk was released and placed in a bag that was hung on the wall. A tub of food was placed under it and the whey was placed on it. That's how you made sourdough.

Do you eat skyr every day? Skyr is a lot on offer with us but I do not eat much of it. I do not eat a lot of cheese either, but the other family members are addicted to it. My favorite is ketchup and it's the only vegetable I eat. I put ketchup on everything! Eat most pastries and ketchup.

What do you do in your free time? I travel a lot around the country and prefer to go to abandoned places. The Westfjords are a favorite. I was for a time a worker at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn, where no one lives anymore and I dream of going there again and walking around the area, Látrabjarg, Keflavík, Breiðuvík and Kollvís. Dozens if not hundreds of people lived there in the old days! I think this is such a magnificent area and the thought that once upon a time these countries fed our rivers but today we hardly know about them.

Clears up the old fashioned way


And ketchup on everything!

Vital by Þorgrím Einar Guðbjartsson, dairy scientist at Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar


Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, a dairy scientist, lives with his children and wife, Helgi Elínborga Guðmundsdóttir, in Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar in Dalarna. There they process their own products in home-made and make skyr, cheese and ice cream the old-fashioned way. Hrefna Sætran met Þorgrím in Erpsstaðir and asked him about the production and dairy life.


When does your day start? I'm up at six in the morning. The day starts with breakfast in the barn and then we have to bring the kids to school. It's good to have something done before I take care of the kids.


How many of you live in Erpsstaðir? My wife and I have five children, but there is also often a lot of visitors. We run the cream farm in collaboration with Ingvar Kristján Bæringsson. He is a dairy technician and we studied dairy science together. He works here from nine to five and is in charge of the production of cheese and skyr confectionery. I take care of the milk we use in the products, such as skyr and ice cream. With the exception of us humans, there are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and sheep, but mostly cows. We have about 60 dairy cows.

Skyr the oldfashioned way

And ketchup on everything!

Vital by Þorgrím Einar Guðbjartsson, dairy scientist at Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar


Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, a dairy scientist, lives with his children and wife, Helgi Elínborga Guðmundsdóttir, in Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar in Dalarna. There they process their own products in home-made and make skyr, cheese and ice cream the old-fashioned way. Hrefna Sætran met Þorgrím in Erpsstaðir and asked him about the production and dairy life.


When does your day start?

I'm up at six in the morning. The day starts with breakfast in the barn and then we have to bring the kids to school. It's good to have something done before I take care of the kids.


How many of you live in Erpsstaðir?

My wife and I have five children, but there is also often a lot of visitors. We run the cream farm in collaboration with Ingvar Kristján Bæringsson. He is a dairy technician and we studied dairy science together. He works here from nine to five and is in charge of the production of cheese and skyr confectionery. I take care of the milk we use in the products, such as skyr and ice cream. With the exception of us humans, there are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and sheep, but mostly cows. We have about 60 dairy cows.

Is it necessary to be a dairy scientist if you have a dairy cow? No, I studied dairy science just to get rich. Dairy scientists were best paid in Iceland when I was little and were always on strike. Then it was so much a reward to be a worker or a dairy scientist. It was like being a banker or a cashier. Fortunately, this has now changed and workers' salaries have become similar to the salaries of dairy farmers.


Are you getting a summer vacation? We try to take it easy from Christmas until the drought. From the 24th of December until the middle of February we get up and do only the most necessary work and then go back in and have a good time. The work then begins again in full force.


Do you drink a lot of milk? I fill a two-liter jug at night and let it stand in the fridge overnight. In the morning, all the cream has settled on top and we fight to get it out on our breakfast cereal.


What is different about your skyr? We work the skyr like in the old days. It takes four days to make skyr, but 15 years ago an attempt was made to speed up the process by pressing the skyr through a press instead of letting the whey leak out itself, as was done in the old days. Not unlike making coffee in a press jug. The whey will thus be completely different and other proteins will be prominent. It is this pressed whey that is used in energy drinks today. The emphasis may have been more on the whey than the skyr. The whey that comes from my skyr is like the whey that was used to make sourdough in the old days.


Why the old-fashioned way? The old-fashioned cloud is denser and more acidic. The texture is very thick, like butter, and the skyr is particularly suitable for cooking. The skyr outside the store is not like the skyr that was here about 15 years ago.


Do you think anything about the fat in your cream and skyr? No, I'm just following the eye. Experience has taught me that if it looks like cream then it is cream, the fatter the better.


What dairy products do you produce in Erpsstaðir: skyr, cream, ice cream and cheese. We are now making cumin cheese from wild cumin that grows around here.

Is it necessary to be a dairy scientist if you have a dairy cow?

No, I studied dairy science just to get rich. Dairy scientists were best paid in Iceland when I was little and were always on strike. Then it was so much a reward to be a worker or a dairy scientist. It was like being a banker or a cashier. Fortunately, this has now changed and workers' salaries have become similar to the salaries of dairy farmers.


Are you getting a summer vacation?

We try to take it easy from Christmas until the drought. From the 24th of December until the middle of February we get up and do only the most necessary work and then go back in and have a good time. The work then begins again in full force.


Do you drink a lot of milk?

I fill a two-liter jug at night and let it stand in the fridge overnight. In the morning, all the cream has settled on top and we fight to get it out on our breakfast cereal.


What is different about your skyr?

We work the skyr like in the old days. It takes four days to make skyr, but 15 years ago an attempt was made to speed up the process by pressing the skyr through a press instead of letting the whey leak out itself, as was done in the old days. Not unlike making coffee in a press jug. The whey will thus be completely different and other proteins will be prominent. It is this pressed whey that is used in energy drinks today. The emphasis may have been more on the whey than the skyr. The whey that comes from my skyr is like the whey that was used to make sourdough in the old days.


Why the old-fashioned way?

The old-fashioned cloud is denser and more acidic. The texture is very thick, like butter, and the skyr is particularly suitable for cooking. The skyr outside the store is not like the skyr that was here about 15 years ago.


Do you think anything about the fat in your cream and skyr?

No, I'm just following the eye. Experience has taught me that if it looks like cream then it is cream, the fatter the better.


What dairy products do you produce in Erpsstaðir?

Skyr, cream, ice cream and cheese. We are now making cumin cheese from wild cumin that grows around here.

How do skyr go to foreigners? Germans, French and English have heard of skyr and are excited to taste it, but Americans know nothing about it. The Germans are especially obsessed with skyr.


What skyr do you like best? Just clean, with cream and a lot of sugar. My wife is good at making shirts for her sewing club.


What do you do with the whey that comes from the sky? We give it to the calves and use it when we make sour food. We always acid slaughter ourselves. There are also quite a few people who buy the whey from us. In the old days, skim milk was released and placed in a bag that was hung on the wall. A tub of food was placed under it and the whey was placed on it. That's how you made sourdough.


Do you eat skyr every day? Skyr is a lot on offer with us but I do not eat much of it. I do not eat a lot of cheese either, but the other family members are addicted to it. My favorite is ketchup and it's the only vegetable I eat. I put ketchup on everything! Eat most pastries and ketchup.


What do you do in your free time? I travel a lot around the country and prefer to go to abandoned places. The Westfjords are a favorite. I was for a time a worker at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn, where no one lives anymore and I dream of going there again and walking around the area, Látrabjarg, Keflavík, Breiðuvík and Kollvís. Dozens if not hundreds of people lived there in the old days! I think this is such a magnificent area and the thought that once upon a time these countries fed our rivers but today we hardly know about them.

How do foreigners like skyr?

Germans, French and English have heard of skyr and are excited to taste it, but Americans know nothing about it. The Germans are especially obsessed with skyr.


What skyr do you like best?

Just clean, with cream and a lot of sugar. My wife is good at making shirts for her sewing club.


What do you do with the whey that comes from the sky?

We give it to the calves and use it when we make sour food. We always acid slaughter ourselves. There are also quite a few people who buy the whey from us. In the old days, skim milk was released and placed in a bag that was hung on the wall. A tub of food was placed under it and the whey was placed on it. That's how you made sourdough.


Do you eat skyr every day?

Skyr is a lot on offer with us but I do not eat much of it. I do not eat a lot of cheese either, but the other family members are addicted to it. My favorite is ketchup and it's the only vegetable I eat. I put ketchup on everything! Eat most pastries and ketchup.


What do you do in your free time?

I travel a lot around the country and prefer to go to abandoned places. The Westfjords are a favorite. I was for a time a worker at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn, where no one lives anymore and I dream of going there again and walking around the area, Látrabjarg, Keflavík, Breiðuvík and Kollvís. Dozens if not hundreds of people lived there in the old days! I think this is such a magnificent area and the thought that once upon a time these countries fed our rivers but today we hardly know about them.

Clears up the old fashioned way

And ketchup on everything!

Vital by Þorgrím Einar Guðbjartsson, dairy scientist at Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar

Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, a dairy scientist, lives with his children and wife, Helgi Elínborga Guðmundsdóttir, in Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar in Dalarna. There they process their own products in home-made and make skyr, cheese and ice cream the old-fashioned way. Hrefna Sætran met Þorgrím in Erpsstaðir and asked him about the production and the dairy life.

When does your day start? I'm up at six in the morning. The day starts with breakfast in the barn and then we have to bring the kids to school. It's good to have something done before I take care of the kids.

How many of you live in Erpsstaðir? My wife and I have five children, but there is also often a lot of visitors. We run the cream farm in collaboration with Ingvar Kristján Bæringsson. He is a dairy technician and we studied dairy science together. He works here from nine to five and is in charge of the production of cheese and skyr confectionery. I take care of the milk we use in the products, such as skyr and ice cream. With the exception of us humans, there are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and sheep, but mostly cows. We have about 60 dairy cows.

And ketchup on everything!

Vital by Þorgrím Einar Guðbjartsson, dairy scientist at Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar


Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, a dairy scientist, lives with his children and wife, Helgi Elínborga Guðmundsdóttir, in Erpsstaðir in Miðdälar in Dalarna. There they process their own products in home-made and make skyr, cheese and ice cream the old-fashioned way. Hrefna Sætran met Þorgrím in Erpsstaðir and asked him about the production and dairy life.


When does your day start? I'm up at six in the morning. The day starts with breakfast in the barn and then we have to bring the kids to school. It's good to have something done before I take care of the kids.


How many of you live in Erpsstaðir? My wife and I have five children, but there is also often a lot of visitors. We run the cream farm in collaboration with Ingvar Kristján Bæringsson. He is a dairy technician and we studied dairy science together. He works here from nine to five and is in charge of the production of cheese and skyr confectionery. I take care of the milk we use in the products, such as skyr and ice cream. With the exception of us humans, there are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and sheep, but mostly cows. We have about 60 dairy cows.

Is it necessary to be a dairy scientist if you have a dairy cow? No, I studied dairy science just to get rich. Dairy scientists were best paid in Iceland when I was little and were always on strike. Then it was so much a reward to be a worker or a dairy scientist. It was like being a banker or a cashier. Fortunately, this has now changed and workers' salaries have become similar to the salaries of dairy farmers.

Are you getting a summer vacation? We try to take it easy from Christmas until the drought. From the 24th of December until the middle of February we get up and do only the most necessary work and then go back in and have a good time. The work then begins again in full force.

Do you drink a lot of milk? I fill a two-liter jug at night and let it stand in the fridge overnight. In the morning, all the cream has settled on top and we fight to get it out on our breakfast cereal.

What is different about your skyr? We work the skyr like in the old days. It takes four days to make skyr, but 15 years ago an attempt was made to speed up the process by pressing the skyr through a press instead of letting the whey leak out itself, as was done in the old days. Not unlike making coffee in a press jug. The whey will thus be completely different and other proteins will be prominent. It is this pressed whey that is used in energy drinks today. The emphasis may have been more on the whey than the skyr. The whey that comes from my skyr is like the whey that was used to make sourdough in the old days.

Why the old-fashioned way? The old-fashioned cloud is denser and more acidic. The texture is very thick, like butter, and the skyr is particularly suitable for cooking. The skyr outside the store is not like the skyr that was here about 15 years ago.

Do you have any thoughts about the fat in your cream and skyr? No, I'm just following the eye. Experience has taught me that if it looks like cream then it is cream, the fatter the better.

What dairy products do you produce in Erpsstaðir: skyr, cream, ice cream and cheese. We are now making cumin cheese from wild cumin that grows around here.

Is it necessary to be a dairy scientist if you have a dairy cow? No, I studied dairy science just to get rich. Dairy scientists were best paid in Iceland when I was little and were always on strike. Then it was so much a reward to be a worker or a dairy scientist. It was like being a banker or a cashier. Fortunately, this has now changed and workers' salaries have become similar to the salaries of dairy farmers.


Are you getting a summer vacation? We try to take it easy from Christmas until the drought. From the 24th of December until the middle of February we get up and do only the most necessary work and then go back in and have a good time. The work then begins again in full force.


Do you drink a lot of milk? I fill a two-liter jug at night and let it stand in the fridge overnight. In the morning, all the cream has settled on top and we fight to get it out on our breakfast cereal.


What is different about your skyr? We work the skyr like in the old days. It takes four days to make skyr, but 15 years ago an attempt was made to speed up the process by pressing the skyr through a press instead of letting the whey leak out itself, as was done in the old days. Not unlike making coffee in a press jug. The whey will thus be completely different and other proteins will be prominent. It is this pressed whey that is used in energy drinks today. The emphasis may have been more on the whey than the skyr. The whey that comes from my skyr is like the whey that was used to make sourdough in the old days.


Why the old-fashioned way? The old-fashioned cloud is denser and more acidic. The texture is very thick, like butter, and the skyr is particularly suitable for cooking. The skyr outside the store is not like the skyr that was here about 15 years ago.


Do you think anything about the fat in your cream and skyr? No, I'm just following the eye. Experience has taught me that if it looks like cream then it is cream, the fatter the better.


What dairy products do you produce in Erpsstaðir: skyr, cream, ice cream and cheese. We are now making cumin cheese from wild cumin that grows around here.

How do skyr go to foreigners? Germans, French and English have heard of skyr and are excited to taste it, but Americans know nothing about it. The Germans are especially obsessed with skyr.

What skyr do you like best? Just clean, with cream and a lot of sugar. My wife is good at making shirts for her sewing club.

What do you do with the whey that comes from the sky? We give it to the calves and use it when we make sour food. We always acid slaughter ourselves. There are also quite a few people who buy the whey from us. In the old days, skim milk was released and placed in a bag that was hung on the wall. A tub of food was placed under it and the whey was placed on it. That's how you made sourdough.

Do you eat skyr every day? Skyr is a lot on offer with us but I do not eat much of it. I do not eat a lot of cheese either, but the other family members are addicted to it. My favorite is ketchup and it's the only vegetable I eat. I put ketchup on everything! Eat most pastries and ketchup.

What do you do in your free time? I travel a lot around the country and prefer to go to abandoned places. The Westfjords are a favorite. I was for a time a worker at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn, where no one lives anymore and I dream of going there again and walking around the area, Látrabjarg, Keflavík, Breiðuvík and Kollvís. Dozens if not hundreds of people lived there in the old days! I think this is such a magnificent area and the thought that once upon a time these countries fed our rivers but today we hardly know about them.

How do skyr go to foreigners? Germans, French and English have heard of skyr and are excited to taste it, but Americans know nothing about it. The Germans are especially obsessed with skyr.


What skyr do you like best? Just clean, with cream and a lot of sugar. My wife is good at making shirts for her sewing club.


What do you do with the whey that comes from the sky? We give it to the calves and use it when we make sour food. We always acid slaughter ourselves. There are also quite a few people who buy the whey from us. In the old days, skim milk was released and placed in a bag that was hung on the wall. A tub of food was placed under it and the whey was placed on it. That's how you made sourdough.


Do you eat skyr every day? Skyr is a lot on offer with us but I do not eat much of it. I do not eat a lot of cheese either, but the other family members are addicted to it. My favorite is ketchup and it's the only vegetable I eat. I put ketchup on everything! Eat most pastries and ketchup.


What do you do in your free time? I travel a lot around the country and prefer to go to abandoned places. The Westfjords are a favorite. I was for a time a worker at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn, where no one lives anymore and I dream of going there again and walking around the area, Látrabjarg, Keflavík, Breiðuvík and Kollvís. Dozens if not hundreds of people lived there in the old days! I think this is such a magnificent area and the thought that once upon a time these countries fed our rivers but today we hardly know about them.

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