Tag Archives: Skaertoft

Finding Local Produce: Farm Shops

One of the benefits of living in Sonderborg is that you are close to the countryside. And a benefit of that is that you are close to the source of most of what you eat. However, with most supermarkets being big chains, being close to the food source does not tend to translate into fresher produce. For that you need the farm shops. And, luckily for us, there are plenty of those!

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Rønhaveslagteren: New butcher on Kær. Went to visit after tasting their ringriderpølsen – we wanted more! Open Wed-Fri 8:30-17:00; Sat 9:00-13:00

Frydendal Ismejeri: For land produce (mainly vegetables) and local ice-cream – in Dybbol. Best ice-cream I have had in Denmark! Opening times depend on the time of the year.

Hestehave Frugtplantage: Fruit and vegetables on Kær. My favourite is the æblemost (pressed apple juice)…20DKK for a litre, and it goes down like honey. Open Mon-Fri 8:30-17:00; Sat 8:30-12:00.

Østegaard frugt og bær: Fruit and veg in season. Also their own pressed apple juice. As with the other fruit and veg shops, if there is no one in the shop, take what you want and leave the appropriate amount of money in the cash box in the shop. Open every day 9:00-18:00.

Skærtoft Mølle: For locally-produced flour, rye, spelt etc.

Besides shops, while driving around you often also see small stalls set up at the road side with a few vegetables, fruit, eggs etc. If anything catches your eye you can just stop the car, grab what you like, and leave the requisite money in a tin on the stall. If you want to go further and pick your own, there are also a number of options there. We had covered this a while back.

There are also a number of individual producers of specific produce. So far we have come across honey, mead and æblemost.

This is a selection of a few we know about. Do write in with any others we have missed. We like discovering new places!

 

Skaertoft Molle Bread and Food Festival

Skaertoft Molle is a small-scale organic mill located to the East of Sonderborg owned by Jørgen Bonde and Hanne Risgaard and their daughter Marie-Louise. The special thing about this mill is that it specifically focuses on organic freshly-ground flour with bran and germ that is especially suited for bread-making.

The mill started to mill its own flour in 2004. This required a lot of effort and knowledge on their side in order to produce the best flour they could. Part of this research led the owners to Richard Bertinet in Bath (UK), a well-known name in the bread-making world. It was Bertinet himself who suggested the idea of a Bread and Food festival at Skaertoft, which led to the first festival in 2008, and Bertinet being a guest at this years festival!

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The Bread and Food festival is held on a weekend towards the end of August/beginning of September every year. Each year a specific theme is chosen, with the theme this year being two: Smorrebrod (Scandinavian open sandwiches) and Food waste. During the festival there is a programme of events going on, with presentations, demonstrations, guided tours as well as competitions. On top of that there is a ‘mill market’ with around 25 producers from the German/Danish border region. Oh, and, of course, you can buy the mill’s own flour and other products.

We visited the mill for the festival on Saturday afternoon. There was a real vibe around the place, with many chefs in chef whites and chef blacks happily buzzing around, talking together and appearing to have a good time. We had a look around the stalls, sat in on a demonstration by Bertinet on making dough, and watched a sheep farmer and her dog round up sheep.

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If you’re still looking for something to do tomorrow (1st of September 2013), at 30 DKK a visit to the festival is a good option. Whether you like baking, are interested in local produce, or are a student looking for plenty of free tasters, it should be easy to find something that catches your eye. If you are reading at a time outside the festival, you can always visit the mill on During the rest of the year you can visit the mill on a Mondays at 14-18 to buy the mills own produce. Courses on bread making and baking are also held at the mill on a regular basis.

Skærtoft Mølle
Skærtoft 4
6440 Augustenborg