Funen’s Temptations is also available in a larger version, presenting even more exciting foods. It can be bought from the shop, at the tourist bureaus on Funen and in bookshops.

By Mariann Fischer Boel, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries

The Irish author Oscar Wilde once said, ”I can resist everything except temptation”. I do not know if Oscar Wilde ever visited Funen - but I am convinced that he would have loved it, with all its outstanding culinary temptations.

Funen is called the Garden of Denmark - and with good reason. There is a veritable cornucopia of orchards and market gardens. Juicy apples hang side by side with ruby raspberries and dark blackcurrants. Personally, I also particularly like the shrimps caught in Kertinge Nord, the freshly picked asparagus from the west of the island and the excellent cheese from the Funen dairies, ideal for breakfast.

Funen has a rather special standing in Denmark regarding food. For centuries it has been at the forefront in developing foods which taste good - to the joy of both the inhabitants and others.

I hope that “Funen Temptations” will make it both easier and even more fun for gastronomic adventurers and other food lovers to enjoy the wonderful variety.

Have fun - and bon appétit!

On Funen we are rightly proud of our smoked cheese tradition and regard it as one of our very best Funen specialities. Today’s production is estimated at 1 500 tons of smoked cheese annually.
But back in the garden or in the summer cottage by Funen’s lovely beaches it has become popular to eat homemade freshly smoked cheese smoked on the straw of your fancy in the little oven while the other dishes are being consumed - frequently headed off by smoked eel, making the smoked cheese the perfect conclusion to a summer’s lunch in the open.

The smoked cheese on Funen is traditionally eaten on a slice of rye bread or white bread with a liberal sprinkling of freshly cut chives and newly picked radishes, some add salt and pepper. Simple enough and delightful! The more avant-garde locals add coarse-grained mustard - jam or rose jelly from Funen!

Funen’s lovely nature has always had a positive effect on the yield from Funen’s soil. The many attractive quickset hedges from way back in the 18th century - where else do you find so many captivating lilac hedges? - provide good shelter from the winds, and in the summer time the land with its nearby shores provide warmth from the sea.
These are the ideal conditions for fruit growing, so it is no wonder that Funen is reckoned to be Denmark’s orchard, and today most of the fresh Danish fruit eaten is still getting ripe in Funen’s orchards - and the Danish summer gives the fruits a taste envied in warmer climes.

The apple was popular fare already in the Middle Ages - in old Danish called the "Abild", hence the name Abildgårde (orchards) mentioned in Danish legislation in 1241. The pear turns up a little later in history, obviously on Funen in Vejstrup in the 15th century.

Denmark’s Garden or Denmark’s Green Heart are terms we often see used about the fairy tale-like landscape of Funen. It is difficult to imagine these descriptions without having visions of beautiful flowers in Funen’s nature.

Quite right! Funen is endowed by all kinds of beautiful manifestations in the most tantalising colours, and in the summer the busy Funen bees fly from flower to flower. Here they do not just ensure the pollination so that next year’s flora is guaranteed, they also supply the loveliest honey with the full honey taste.
Honey consists mostly of sugars (fructose and glucose), but the contents of diverse taste stimulants give honey its characteristic flavour. Some of these stimulants come from the flower oils. 180 different substances have been found in honey!

Summerbird Chocolaterie in Assens, in the western part of Funen has the philosophy that delicacies are only for connoisseurs. The chocolate is only sold from specialist shops, and the quality is based on the ideal product being made from the best raw materials. The start of the Summerbird story is the now classic and much demanded "Summerbird Pure Amande" - a titbit of the finest marzipan shaped like a beautiful butterfly, coated with a thick layer of what is probably the world’s best chocolate "Caraque". Simple, but really ingenious because the principle is an uncompromising policy on raw materials, in this case chocolate and marzipan - a marzipan that they themselves call the world’s best, made of the finest and very aromatic and oleaginous Spanish Valencia almonds with all of 75% almonds and only 25% sugar in the paste.

An Eldorado of Funen nature - in the water! Funen is not merely the beautiful scenery, it is also charming bays and creeks, long sprawling sandy beaches, cliffs and pebble beaches. A total of 1,130 kilometres of shoreline in the middle of Denmark’s Eldorado, and nearly all the shores are admirably suited for the great experience of catching Funen’s sea trout. After a mighty effort to improve the breeding and lives of the Funen sea trout, including the release of fry Funen is now known in Europe as one of the best places to fish sea trout - or sea salmon as it used to be called.

It is the County of Funen that started the scheme for improving the conditions for the Funen sea trout, and it is the salmon association, Fyns Laksefisk Elsesminde, that for many years now has bred and restocked the small fry. As an example two thirds of the obstructions that used to bar the sea trouts from entering the watercourses to spawn have been removed.

Most native Funen people cherish the tradition of eating Brunsviger cakes on all and any occasion. People from other parts of Denmark often find it weird that the more the sugary mass trickles over the edge
the better value it is for the native of Funen. It is not at all uncommon that a local asks the baker to select the best Brunsviger with the words: "do give me the gooiest one there..."
A breakfast Brunsviger is not eaten on Funen just as a "wad", but also as a top half of a sandwich, with the gooey side against the bread. The fans swill it down with a glass of milk. Traditionally it is party pastry enjoyed with the coffee, but it has evolved into a "Funen cake" to be savoured round the clock. You can buy Brunsvigers in many other parts of the country, not always met with the approval of Funen’s Brunsviger-eaters, because on the island we expect more from our national speciality.

The Funen juice was originally a fermented drink made from apples and pears or plums, i.e. cider. This strong drink had to last through the cold season; so huge quantities were produced so everybody could slake their thirst. The Funen apple juice of today contains no alcohol, but the tradition has long roots - the old Romans too knew how to press the juices out of fruits.

In the first half of the last century it was waste not want not, and the apples of which Funen had plenty were not just used for eating- or cooking apples. The apples left over from the harvest were used for pressing into apple juice. At the end of World War II there were over a hundred cider presses in Denmark! In 1960 more than 200 million apples were used for making juice!

Today’s Danes will be surprised to hear that buckwheat really has such colour-ful and tasty potentialities. Funen is known throughout Denmark for our buckwheat porridge, which practically no natives of Funen eat nowadays, except perhaps the odd fan. But the buckwheat itself, grown in the deep Funen soil is about to be revived for its outstanding potential.

We know for certain that we already around 1300 have fields cultivated with buckwheat on Funen. We know of buckwheat from way back in Viking times, and when it comes to its application over the years imagination knows no bounds. Apart from the traditional loaves, soups and pancakes buckwheat was used, to name a few examples, as padding for mattresses and stuffing for pillows.

enmark had an extensive dairy production as early as the 16th century, especially in the country estates, the 18th century sees a considerable growth in dairy produce and once again Funen is in the forefront with its many manors quickly making Funen a dairy county par excellence, an example to the rest of he realm. Later on we see a significant exportation of Danish butter, at the time known as "manor butter" or "farmers’ butter" indirectly informing the buyers of the differences in quality.

The manor butter fetching the highest price on the market is exported to England and Norway, though the two countries also buy some of the inferior farmers’ butter. England frequently used some of the most inferior Danish butter for lubricating machines.

Refsvindinge Brewery in eastern Funen has been brewing bear for four genera-tions. The present master brewer’s great grandfather founded the brewery back in 1885 - today John Juul Rasmussen at Denmark’s smallest brewery is both director, master brewer, driver and messenger boy - plus all the other functions an active and modern enterprise needs.

A brewery that with its size has survived for so long in spite of the vicissitudes of life for small production companies needs to have something unique to offer. Obviously Refsvindinge Brewery has that something, not only are the proud Funen beers brewing traditions being maintained, but beer is being brewed of a standard that you rarely see these days.

As Funen has always been the garden of Denmark - for edible produce too, it is quite natural that here there are lots of people who cultivate the Funen soil on organic principles. This means that today, the island of Funen is endowed with a special feature - innumerable farm shops and manor dairies where anyone who cares to look will see exactly where the produce comes from. Frequently there is an extra treat for children as many of the farms are happy to let them see the animals.
It is really not very surprising that organic production is so popular with the people of Funen.

A recent report says that Danes are the European champions in organic produce. We consume large volumes of organic produce and have decades of experience in the area. We have a comprehensive selection of organic vegetables, fruit, meat, cheese, milk etc.

www.falsledkro.dk
www.hesselet.dk
www.kongebrogaarden.dk
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www.restaurantklitgaard.dk
www.kvaegtorvet.com
www.rudolfmathis.dk
www.herregaardspension.dk
www.sortebro.dk
www.valdemarsslot.dk

Se the map.