Summerbird Organic was founded in 1986 by Mikael Grønlykke in collaboration with his parents Lene and Sven Grønlykke. The Grønlykke family were gastronomic pioneers who brought French cuisine and the first Michelin star to Denmark. The family founded the gastronomic company Løgismose and the gourmet restaurants Falsled Kro on Sydfyn and Kong Hans’ Kælder in Copenhagen. Summerbird Organic comes about when an American business associate asks the Grønlykke family to develop a cookie. In the idea phase, the Grönlykke family chooses to work with a cookie recipe where marzipan is the main ingredient.
At that time, quality marzipan did not exist. The family decides to develop their own and travels to Spain, where some of the world’s best almonds grow. The Valencian almonds become the main ingredient in a marzipan with a completely unique and nuanced taste. The Grønlyks decide that this fine and sophisticated marzipan should not be wrapped in cookie dough. Instead, it must be surrounded by chocolate. Here a new problem arises. Because at that time there was no quality chocolate either.
The iconic butterfly
Mikael Grønlykke travels the world and meets the small family-owned chocolate company Valrhona, south of Lyon in France, which produces the world’s finest raw chocolate. They start a close collaboration and refine the chocolate together, so that the fine nuances of taste in the cocoa bean come into their own in interaction with the unique marzipan.
In 1986, the first butterfly is born – Summerbird Pure Amande. With very few raw materials – almonds and cocoa beans – Summerbird Organic has created a completely new level in the market. The ultimate. It will also be the foundation for Summerbird Organics’ future work. The end goal is no longer the pursuit of butter cookies for an American importer. It is the pursuit of perfection.
