This year we decided to take a gamble on the Danish summer weather and spent 2 weeks of precious vacation time in a beach house on the island of Samsø. I’m happy to say that we totally lucked out with the weather and had two weeks of bliss on this place. Denmark is so idyllic when the sun shines and after enduring the winter here, you are even more appreciative of what the summer has to offer. Samsø for me was definitely Denmark at its best.
I was totally wowed by the beautiful countryside and the abundance of fresh local produce. Every homestead that we passed on the road seemed to be selling garden and farmyard produce, primarily berries, peas, spring onions, radishes, herbs, eggs and, of course, potatoes. The island of Samsø is famous for its potatoes. I must say, and this is coming from an Irish person [read: spud-fussy], the freshly dug Samsø tuber got the thumbs up from me. These fellas are perfect either just served boiled with a knob of butter or, thanks to their nice, soapy texture, made into a potato salad (recipe coming up soon in Part II).
I hope that the below somewhat captures the essence of Samsø and gives you a feel of what it was all about.
The menu from the very charming Café Fruen at the lighthouse on the south coast of Samsø.
My youngest daughter digging into her lunch of fishcakes at Café Fruen.
Summer on Samsø is all about local fresh vegetables, particularly potatoes and, of course, radishes, which add a wonderful splash of colour (& taste) to any summer salad.
One of the numerous roadside vegetable stalls where you can buy local produce. The fact that they are all unmanned, and just have a little jar or box for you to put your payment in, says it all about this island.
This edible sea kale grows along the shore. A little Googling told me that the smaller leaves taste good and can be used for cooking. Although I have been known to dabble with this kind of thing, I didn’t try it on this occasion…
More crops. This time red cabbage – I’m not sure that the photo really does the colour justice. It appeared that the local hares were rather partial to this veggie – I startled many a long-eared friend on my morning runs past the cabbage fields.
Red currants almost ready for picking. We passed row upon row of red and black currants – very pretty. For the most part they seemed to be used for making preserves and fruit juice.
