Leipäjuusto, Finnish Squeaky Cheese
The squeak is the point
English calls it bread cheese, which explains the browned top and nothing else. It is mild, milky and barely salted, so the flavour is not what people remember. The texture is. It resists your teeth and then gives, with a sound you can hear inside your own head, and that reaction is the thing guides watch for.
Warm it and it improves. Cold from a fridge it is fine but muted; heated until it softens at the edges, with cloudberry jam spooned over, it becomes the tasting most people rank first. Cloudberry is an amber berry that grows in northern bogs, tart and slightly resinous, and it does for the cheese what lingonberry does for meat.
Where you meet it
Cheese counters in both halls sell it in rounds. It also appears as local cheese on the tasting lists of the city walk, the rooftop walk and the coffee culture walk, which makes it one of the few items nearly every operator agrees on.
It is a fresh cheese, so it does not travel the way a hard cheese does. If you are choosing something to carry home, I would look at rye and chocolate on the shopping page instead and eat the cheese here, warm, while someone tells you which bog the jam came out of.
Ask for it warmed if the counter will do it. A warm round with cloudberry jam and a cold one straight from the case are close to two different foods.
Frequently asked questions
Why does leipajuusto squeak?
Because it is a fresh cheese rather than an aged one, and the curd is baked until it browns without melting down. The result resists the teeth and squeaks. It is not a fault and it is not a gimmick for visitors. It is on the tasting list of the city walk as local cheese.
What is cloudberry jam?
Jam made from lakka, the amber berry that grows in northern bogs. It is tart, briefly in season, and the standard partner for warm squeaky cheese. Cloudberries ripen earlier and disappear faster than bilberries, as the berry page explains.
Is leipajuusto the same as halloumi?
No, though both squeak and both take heat without collapsing. Leipajuusto is milder, barely salted, baked until browned in patches, and eaten with sweet jam rather than as a salty grill cheese. The Finnish food page places it properly among the regional imports.