In an old yellow merchant’s house, in the quaint and charming square of “The City of Sunshine,” Svaneke, lies Bolcheriet.
Here, old-fashioned hard candy is produced, using traditional candy cooking methods. The first impression your senses will experience is the delightful smell of warm candy mass, licorice and mint. A very nice and yet exciting scent, that lead your thoughts to the importance of good craftsmanship and careful attention to the details of the candy-making process.
This is exactly what you will discover at Bolcheriet, where you can follow the entire candy-making process from the cooking and stretching to the cutting of the sweet colorful pieces. If you can pull yourself away from watching this art unfold, you can venture into the universe of a myriad of vivid colors which characterises the display at the heart of the store.
You are sure to become fascinated when visiting Bolcheriet. After a freshly made, luke-warm sample, you will be tempted to take home a handful of the delicious hand-made sweets.
In the 1990s, there was nearly no food production in Svaneke. In fact, the large smokehouse, characterised by five chimneys, was one of the only ones. Around this time, Thomas Ibsen, together with his nephew of the same name, started Svaneke Bolcher.
Thomas was learning the art of candy-making the old-fashioned way. After many years in Svaneke, Thomas and his wife, Mariam, moved to Løkken in Jutland and started their own old-fashioned hard candy store. Just like in Svaneke, hard candy quickly became popular in northern Jutland. And soon, the happy couple opened yet another old-fashioned hard candy store, this time in Skagen.
In the beginning of 2018, Thomas’ uncle, Thomas Ipsen, who originally started the store in Svaneke, retired. Therefore, Thomas and Mariam took over the family business in Svaneke, where it all began.
Making hard candy the old-fashioned way entails stretching the hard candy mass, while still warm, over a large hook in order to fold air into it. This results in hard candies with small, airy pockets, which creates the crispness that Bolcheriets loyal customers have come to recognize in these hard candies.
Marketers and event planners looking for something unique can custom-order hard candies made with their own company’s logo. This is a challenging art that Thomas has, fortunately, mastered fully. They are experts in their craft at Bolcheriet. So good, in fact, that the whole process looks easy when the thick, heavy candy mass is being formed and swung through the air. So make no mistake, when these candy makers are able to joke with onlookers while swinging hot candy mass, it is only due to their expertise in craftsmanship.
Even though Bolcheriet operates three different stores, there is one product completely unique to Svaneke – Svaneæsken (The Swan Box). The Swan Box contains candy from their gourmet line, which has slightly more pronounced flavors. For instance, pieces of raw licorice have been worked into the licorice flavored hard candies. Basil extracts, licorice powder and Læsø salt has been added to taste. The Swan Box contains strawberry, apple and ginger flavored hard-candies, which the two owners have spent countless hours perfecting. The hard candy mass is made using organic cane sugar, supplemented by freshly squeezed ginger juice. Remember to look for the award-winning Swan Box when visiting Bolcheriet in Svaneke.