Where to shop Bornholm’s best artisanal food

Gudhjem, the steep harbour town on Bornholm’s north-east coast, has plenty of ways to sell sugar, but Karamel Kompagniet does it with proper grip. Anna Knightbridge founded the company in 2004, using a family recipe from her grandmother’s English cookbook from 1894 and turning it into one of the island’s most recognisable sweet makers. The caramels are soft, buttery and neat without losing chew. Start with cream, liquorice or chocolate, then move into sea-salt versions with peanuts or liquorice. This is the shop for buying too much and calling it a gift.

The order at Kjærstrup Chokolade is simple: flødebolle first, chocolate for later. A flødebolle is Denmark’s chocolate-covered marshmallow cream dome, and the good ones make most cupcakes look like bad admin. Birgitte Kjær and Peter Bræstrup started the family-owned company in Snogebæk in 1999, and the Gudhjem branch gives Bornholm’s north-east coast a compact version of the chocolate fix: handmade pieces, flødeboller, ice cream and a counter that makes restraint unlikely. Raspberry and liquorice flødeboller are the safest bet, unless soft ice with flødebolle topping gets there first.

Bech Chokolade keeps Gudhjem’s sweet tooth local, with handmade chocolate tied to one very Bornholm beginning. The business started with Den Bornholmske Honningkage, the island’s honey cake, which needed a proper chocolate coating and grew into a full chocolate company. Today the shop works across chocolate bars, handmade pieces, flødeboller – Denmark’s chocolate-covered marshmallow cream domes – and café drinks, with small-batch production and local names doing some of the charm. Look for hand-dipped Spejderkugler and Bornholmerbissen, two pieces that read better once tasted than explained. It is a good stop before the hill back through town starts looking steeper.