Summer on Bornholm

Summer on Bornholm

This Danish island in the Baltic Sea is a paradise for nature lovers, cyclists, walkers, foodies and anyone with a sweet tooth.
 

The holiday begins on the ferry. The Baltic Sea is as smooth as glass and shimmers in the sunlight. The ship is accompanied by a flock of seagulls and the smell of the sea, salt and summer fills the air. Although ferries from Ystad in Sweden, Køge in Denmark and Sassnitz on the German island of Rügen dock in Rønne, Bornholm’s main town, several times a day, it is not in the least hectic. It makes a calm, peaceful impression, like a picturesque yacht harbour.

The unspoilt natural landscape of the island can already be seen from the ferry: steep and impressive cliffs, skerries, white sandy beaches and extensive dunes. But only a few hundred metres from the sea, you will find rolling hills with woods and fields criss-crossed by ravines. Beech, oak and sycamore woods give way to pasture and moorland dotted with rocks, pine trees and ponds where tree frogs are happily croaking. On the eastern side of the island, the opposite side to Rønne, lies Svaneke.

This small, tranquil village with its brightly coloured wooden houses is the sweet centre of Bornholm. Here (and in Copenhagen) Johan Bülow, Denmark’s liquorice king who was born on the island, makes wonderful liquorice, sweet or salty, with chocolate, coffee, almonds, habanero chillies, strawberry or cranberry powder. His mother Pernille Bülow has a small but prestigious glassblowing works next door.

Only a few metres away is the Karamelleriet, run by Tine and Charlotte. Their cream caramels have just the right texture – not too firm and not too soft. If you like your sweets crunchy, try the rocks or dragées: caramel dipped in liquorice or fruit powder or in icing sugar. And if you still haven’t eaten enough sweets, you can visit the Svaneke Chokoladeri where Janne Lundberg and Daniel Mikkelsen make mouth-watering truffles from white, milk and dark Belgian chocolate with liqueurs and spices from all over the world and organic fruit from the island.

All of these sweet things will make you thirsty and hungry. Fortunately, in the nearby market square you will find the Svaneke Bryghus, a small speciality brewery and restaurant. Jan Paul has been running the brewery for almost ten years. Born in Flensburg and with a degree in brewing from Munich, on Bornholm he has made his dreams a reality by brewing authentic, unfiltered craft beers which are given plenty of time to mature and contain no chemical additives, stabilisers or other unnatural products. Jan Paul’s creativity knows almost no bounds. Alongside classic lagers and porters, stouts and ales, he also works with unusual ingredients (which are not permitted in beer in Germany), including juniper berries, red chillies, chocolate, seaweed and, of course, liquorice. “The typical flavour of our beer is the result of our brewing philosophy and the natural landscape of Bornholm. For example, the water comes from the island’s bedrock and gives the beer its characteristic, pleasant mouthfeel,” explains Jan. Anyone who tries the 20 or so different beers that he brews each season will believe every word he says.

That’s also true of Thomas Guldbæk. He is a guide to the natural world of Bornholm and knows the name of every plant on the island. During a one-and-a-half-hour walk along the cliffs from Gudhjem to Melsted, you will have the chance to try water mint, wild asparagus, daisies, cherry twigs, wild hops, tormentil, wild garlic and sour clover. And fresh, sweet liquorice plants with leaves that can be used in salads and roots that are made into liquorice.

Along with honey, mustard, sea buckthorn, rapeseed oil, pasta, fungi, figs, mulberries, blueberries, fish and meat from Bornholm, these small, inconspicuous natural treasures form part of the new Nordic cuisine, which appears on plates at eateries such as Lassens Restaurant in the Stammershalle Badehotel and the Restaurant Saison in the Melsted Badehotel in Gudhjem, together with the Restaurant Poul P. in Rønne, run by the artist Poul Pava and decorated with his extravagant, colourful paintings.

Denmark’s only pasta factory is on Bornholm. Near Svaneke, Susanne and Finn produce different types of pasta using beetroot, basil and saffron, lemon, white pepper, ginger and oranges. They also make pesto to accompany it, which has ingredients such as basil, lemon, truffles, dill and aniseed, parsley and thyme, mint and rosemary. The eggs used in the pasta are organic and even the durum wheat comes from the island. That’s also true of Danablu, the popular Danish blue cheese, which is the only cheese to be awarded the title of world cheese champion twice at the World Championship Cheese Contest. A decisive factor in the strong character of Danablu is its storage. Each of the wheels is left to mature for five to six weeks and is carefully turned roughly every three days. The Andelsmejeri on Bornholm has been making Danablu since the 1950s. The dairy is the only one on the island and belongs to the Bornholm dairy farmers.

Anyone who is lucky enough to visit Bornholm in May will experience a unique natural spectacle: huge fields of yellow rape swaying in the breeze, together with beds of wild yellow tulips, carpets of primroses and expanses of white and green wild garlic on the edge of the woods. The rapeseeds are used to make Denmark’s only cold-pressed rapeseed oil. Yellow is also the predominant colour of a typical Bornholm dish – Sol over Gudhjem (sun over Gudhjem) – which consists of a freshly smoked herring served with onions and a bright yellow egg yolk on black rye bread, accompanied, of course, by a glass of Bornholm bitter.

Text: Rainer Meier

INFORMATION

Hotels and restaurants
Restaurant Bryghuset, Svaneke, www.svanekebryghus.dk
Stammershalle Badehotel and Lassens Restaurant, www.stammershalle-badehotel.dk
Restaurant Saison in the Melsted Badehotel, www.melsted-badehotel.dk/en/restaurant
Restaurant Poul P., www.restaurantpoulp.dk

Producers
Lakrids, owned by Johan Bülow, www.lakrids.nu
Karamelleriet, owned by Ipsen/Viogel, www.karamelleriet.dk
Svaneke Chokoladeri, www.svanekechokoladeri.dk
Svaneke Bryghus A / S, www.svanekebryghus.dk
Karamel Kompagniet, www.karamelkompagniet.dk
Lehnsgaard, www.lehnsgaard.dk
Bornholm producers and chefs, www.bornholmer-kochkunst.de

Other information
Destination Bornholm, www.bornholm.info
Ferries from Ystad/Sassnitz/Køge to Rønne (Bornholm), www.faergen.com