Memory of Denmark, wild rose petal jelly

wild rose Denmark

One of the lasting memory of Denmark is the presence of wild roses everywhere, along the shore, in the field, as hedge plant. Only one variety, with healthy looking rich green leaves, bright carmine flowers and wonderful fragrance.

wild rose Denmark

Before leaving, I collected a big bag of petals, around 200gm, to make rose petal jelly, to capture the colour and the perfume.

wild rose petal jelly

1. Shake petals to remove bugs, place in a big pot.

2. Make enough syrup (with 60% cane sugar or honey, a teaspoon salt) to submerge all the petals, around 1.2 litre. 

wild rose petal jelly

3. Bring the pot to boil and remove from heat, mix and stir petals.

4. After a day, the petals loss their colour, the syrup turns brown. Sieve and press out syrup.

5. Add lemon juice a tablespoon at a time, the carmine colour gradually reappear, I used 5 tablespoons. 

6. Add pectin to syrup (follow instruction on the package), bring to boil to set the jelly. 
The whole house will be filled with rose fragrance, the flavor is so intense, a little goes a long way.

wild rose petal jelly

wild rose petal jelly

Rudbeck Ost and Deli, Fano Island, Demark

Smorrebrod

Smorrebrod is a national dish, meaning open rye bread sandwich topped with salmon, ham, prawn, smoke fish, smoked cheese, salad, pickled vegetables, mustard and mayonnaise sauces.

After checking in the supermarket to see the list of "ingredients" on the produce and sauces, I decided to only try it when they are homemade (which seem to be still quite rare in this country) and use good quality ingredients.

This was a satisfying meal, the Smorrebrod looks good and tasted excellent, with local shrimp, warm flat fish, local made ham, homemade sauces, pickled cucumber, onion, lots of fresh herbs etc.

Dessert comes with wild rose hip sorbet, or wild rose petal jam, made from the wild roses that are growing all over the country.

Back 200 years, Fano Island, Denmark

Fano island

A small island on the windy west coast, 15 minutes ferry from mainland. Once stepping off the ferry, you feel like going back 200 years. So quiet and peaceful, no industry, no tourist traps, only huge sandy beaches, quaint old thatch houses and farms.

Fano island

Fano island

Fano island

Fano island kite flying

 

Fresh herring, Hvide Sande, Denmark

herring

 

There may be a lot of fish in the sea, but so far in this country, the only way to have really fresh ones is to go and catch them. Hvide Sande on wild west coast is such a fisherman's favorite spot, easy to catch herring right at the edge of the town.  

herring

 

Seafood, Denmark, West coast

Along the West coast towns it is easier to find decent fish shops, selling whole fish on top of filets. The most popular among local people is smoked fish, well, tasty, can keep, no need to cook etc etc, my favorites are smoked prawn, mackerel and eel.

fish shop Denmark

fish shop Denmark

fish shop Denmark

smoked prawns

smoked cod eggs

smoked eels

smoked halibut

 

Natural energy, Denmark

wind turbine, Denmark

Being such a windy country, there are huge wind turbines everywhere to generate electricity. Together with solar panels and water heating panels, they provide 80% energy needs in some towns.  

solar, hot water panels, Denmark

 

What is even more impressive, and I noticed the visual pleasure instantly on arriving Denmark is the lack of electricity wires along the road, and from buildings to buildings, except long distance power lines, all buried underground.  

West side fjord, Denmark

Huge piece of land pierced by numerous fjords, there are a lot of grazing animals, cows, buffaloes, horses, and wild birds.

west fjord

west fjord

west fjord

 

Wild west coast, Denmark

The west coast is a continuous long strip of sandy beach, with super strong wind, and huge expanse of rough heath land. There are lots of hiking and biking trails to admire wilderness. 

Klitmoller

Agger

Agger

Klitmoller

Kiltmoller

Fishing trip, Denmark, Hirtshals

cod

A popular activity in Denmark is to go on fishing boat to catch the seasonal fish, at the moment is cod. This is a sure way of having super fresh fish, and be able to cook to your own liking, most restaurants deep-fried everything. 

cod filet

I like to lightly salt the filet for half a day, sear skin side down with the lid on, until the flesh flakes easily. 

cod filet

crispy cod skin

Remove the skin and cook the other side of the skin until crispy, lovely crunchy contrast to the pure white flesh.

Liquorice syrup

The best find in Denmark so far, syrup of natural liquorice, anise in molasses. I like the rich smoky flavor of molasses very much, and the addition of licorice, anise, give a unique herbal, savory taste to the syrup. 

liquorice molasses syrup in yogurt

 

Great on yogurt and vanilla ice cream.

Rabjerg Mile, Denmark

Rabjerg Mile

The biggest sand dune in Europe, with sand fine like powder, indeed walking around feels like it is endless. 

Rabjerg Mile

You walk to a ridge just to find another stretch of endless sand in front. Two simple tones of blue and beige are doing magic. 

Rabjerg Mile

 

Hirtshals, Denmark

Hirtshals

 

Another one of the many fishing ports along the north coast, all are developed for industrial fishing, and so lack a rustic little fishing village feel.
 

Hirtshal

Sunset at North Sea is great, at 10:10pm!

North Sea sunset

Cape of Skagen - Denmark

Leaving Fyn and drove to the north end of Denmark, the landscape is more flat, farms are bigger, more industry and cars, I started to miss the scenery of Fyn.

Cape of Skagen

Cape of Skagen is where the paler Baltic Sea and the more bluish North Sea meet. It is great to walking along such a huge expense of sand and sea, simple, natural and in the sun, very pleasant. 

Cape of Skagen

The tip at Cape of Skagen

Wild flowers - Denmark, Fyn

Fyns Hoved

It is such a delight to walk around with so many wild flowers, in the hills and also along the shore. Wild roses are particularly doing well here, with huge purplish pink flowers.

Fyns Hoved

What is surprising is to see a lot of white flowers blooming along the shore. On close inspection, the shape of the leaves and branch structure resemble an over grown broccoli.

Fyns Hoved

A quick search on the web confirms that this is Wild Cabbage, the origin of the whole cultivated Brassica family including broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprout, cabbage, kale. Collected some soft head and indeed tasted similar.

wild cabbage