Sweet desserts without sugar

Grodan is a clas­sic among the many restau­rants in Stockholm. At the same time it’s a restau­rant which is in con­stant renew­al – to ensure their guests ever new gas­tro­nom­i­cal experiences.

Nils Idevall has been the head pas­try chef at Grodan for ten years. He is inno­v­a­tive, future-ori­ent­ed and always keen to fur­ther devel­op the range of desserts at Grodan. He is dri­ven by his deter­mi­na­tion to sat­is­fy the guests, and by that he means each and every guest. Not least those who for var­i­ous rea­sons usu­al­ly pass on desserts.

– Lactose intol­er­ants can pick and choose, as almost all dessert are lac­tose free. There is always gluten-free and veg­an alter­na­tives. The next step is desserts with­out added sug­ar, to reach a new tar­get group, says Nils Idevall.

”We now serve more than just berries”

Nils Idevall recent­ly intro­duced a beau­ti­ful and lux­u­ri­ous choco­late dessert with a fine, bal­anced sweet­ness – with­out added sug­ar. Another dessert is the ele­gant vanil­la ice cream, served with a super thin Florentine wafer, also with­out added sug­ar. The sweet­en­ing comes from Eureba, Bayn’s tai­lor­made solu­tions for sug­ar reduction.

– It is great fun to be able to serve such beau­ti­ful desserts. We have many large din­ners and events in our ban­quet rooms, that we share with our neigh­bour the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. There are often more than 200 guests, so it’s nat­ur­al for us to have spe­cial dietary needs options avail­able. To be able to offer a prop­er dessert that is sug­ar reduced that is not just fruits, nuts and berries has been a real chal­lenge, before I found Bayn, he says.

Elegant sweetness

Nils Idevall presents dessert plates for tast­ing. They are delight to behold. But the proof is in the pud­ding, pun intended.

Under a sur­face brushed with gold pow­der brushed sur­face hides a lux­u­ri­ous mocha truf­fle, deli­cious­ly creamy and with a hint of crisp­ness from ground cof­fee beans. The truf­fle melts in your mouth, the sweet­ness is well bal­anced and the flavours are just right. It’s impos­si­ble to guess that this dessert is both lac­tose-free and with­out added sugar.

The vanil­la ice cream is shaped like a lit­tle egg. Small specks of vanil­la dot the creamy white ice cream. A thin Florentine wafer and a gar­nish of berries fin­ish the dish.

The ice cream is entic­ing­ly smooth and has a del­i­cate yet clear vanil­la flavour. The crisp­ness of the wafer con­trasts with the berries that explode in your mouth. The entire dessert is lac­tose-free and with­out added sugar.

For all those who want to enjoy the good things in life

What Nils Idevall has cre­at­ed is a stroke of genius: irre­sistible bits of heav­en which can be enjoyed by, yes, almost any­body who want to fin­ish their din­ner with a treat.

– The wait­ers and the guests alike love both the mocha truf­fle and the ice cream. It is amaz­ing that the ice cream can taste just as good as any ice cream made with white, refined sug­ar, he says.

The mocha truf­fle is made with Bayn’s Eureba C-02. It is a sug­ar reduc­tion solu­tion for dark choco­late. The vanil­la ice cream is made with Eureba D-01 and the Florentine wafer with Eureba B-02.

– I haven’t had to change the recipes at all. Neither the amounts, tem­per­a­tures nor cook­ing time. That is the strong point of Eureba, says Nils.

A healthier alternativeHälsosammare alternativ

To Nils Idevall and Grodan it is impor­tant to be the spear­head in the devel­op­ment. But it is not about fol­low­ing trends. Nils Idevall thinks that what we are see­ing is more per­ma­nent than that. It is about con­stant­ly mak­ing the right choices.

– That’s why it’s impor­tant to always look ahead, to be able to offer health­i­er alter­na­tives, to be able to con­stant­ly sur­prise our guests with some­thing which is both deli­cious and which affects your health in a pos­i­tive way, says Nils Idevall.

Conscious guests are the guests of the future

In prin­ci­ple all of Grodan’s desserts are lac­tose-free, many are gela­tine free. The egg-free pavlo­va is yet anoth­er exam­ple. It has been on the menu for a long time, to the delight of quite a few guests. It is made with aquafa­ba – chick­pea water – and tastes just like an ordi­nary meringue.

– That it’s veg­an friend­ly is an extra bonus as veg­ans are usu­al­ly only served a sor­bet, or in the best cas­es a fruit sal­ad. It is part of my phi­los­o­phy, to be able to present some­thing made with more con­sid­er­a­tion to each guest, says Nils Idevall.

Today’s guests are con­scious of what they eat.

– This is only the start. In the near future we will prob­a­bly see more of this. It feels good to be able to offer an alter­na­tive to tra­di­tion­al sug­ar with­out hav­ing to use strange sweet­en­ers, says Nils Idevall.