Danish Luxury

Food Cheese and butter

Danbo

Danbo, the semi-soft aged cow's milk cheese called Denmark's national cheese, protected in the EU since 2017.

Designed by
Rasmus Nielsen

Visit arla.dk

A piece of Riberhus Danbo under a glass cheese dome
A piece of Riberhus Danbo under a glass cheese dome

Pictures © Danbo, from arla.dk.

Why it is renowned

VisitDenmark puts Danbo on its list of ten Danish cheeses for visitors to try, as the cheese Danes call their national cheese.1 Since 2017 it has been a protected geographical indication in the European Union.23 It also travelled: Danish immigrants in Minas Gerais in Brazil, making Danbo with Brazilian milk early in the 20th century, arrived at a new cheese, queijo prato.3

The story

The dairyman Rasmus Nielsen developed Danbo at the end of the 19th century.4 It is aged in rectangular blocks of 6 or 9 kg under a coating of bacterial culture, which is washed off before the cheese is packed.3 It is sold by age, from mild to extra aged, and a traditional variant has caraway seeds.3 The brands include the very mild Lillebror, the long-aged and pungent Gamle Ole, and Arla's Riberhus.3 Riberhus comes from the dairy in Ribe, founded in 1893, where cheesemakers took over in 1971.4

  • Arla, makes it as Riberhus in Ribe
  • Havarti, another semi-soft Danish cheese, protected in the EU
  • Danish Blue cheese, another Danish cheese with an EU-protected name
Sources
  1. 10 of the best Danish cheeses, VisitDenmark. visitdenmark.com, read 29 September 2026.
  2. Populær dansk ost får EU-blåstempel, LandbrugsAvisen. landbrugsavisen.dk, read 30 September 2026.
  3. Danbo, Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org, read 29 September 2026.
  4. Historien om Riberhus, Arla. arla.dk, read 29 September 2026.

Last checked 5 October 2026, against the maker's own pages.