Taste of Sweden

The traditional company AAK Dalby AB goes back to its founder Arthur Virgin, who founded the ALBA margarine factory in Åhus, southern Sweden, in 1931. Three years later the company moves to Dalby. Both cities are in Skåne, Sweden's southernmost province. The plant was completely modernized in the mid-1970s. In the 1990s, further additions and renovations were carried out.

Albaöl was first produced in Dalby at the end of the 1970s. The product soon became established in Sweden's hospital and home catering industry and soon found its way into numerous restaurant kitchens. In 1990, Albaöl was exported for the first time - to Germany. Two years later, exports to France, Norway and the Netherlands began - exclusively in bulk packs. In 2003, Albaöl finally came onto the market in consumer bottles - but only in Germany - at the urging of numerous diet chefs, nutritionists and other nutrition experts.

In 2012, the certification process according to the international standard ISO 9001:2008 was successfully completed and Taste of Sweden received the coveted certificate.

About 40 years ago, the Association of Swedish Hospital Chefs approached the Swedish fat manufacturer Alba in Dalby with a request: They wanted a heat-stable, universally applicable cooking fat with a healthy fatty acid composition, but which at the same time should taste good.

The “inventor” of Albaöl, Alf Qvist, once told us how he came up with the idea of ​​butter-flavored rapeseed oil:

It was on a Sunday. The sky over Skåne in southern Sweden was bright blue. The sea provided a light spring breeze. What do you do in Sweden in such weather? Exactly. Nothing like getting out into nature! With a picnic basket and a thermos of coffee, of course. So does Alf Qvist. After a hard week at work, he deserved it. But he wasn't really able to switch it off because the Association of Swedish Hospital Chefs had approached his company with the above-mentioned request.

Alf Qvist, who liked to eat well himself, realized that “healthy” alone is not enough. You only eat healthy if it tastes good. He wandered through meadows and fields, lost in thought. “Taste good” kept running through his mind and a steak fried in butter appeared in his mind’s eye. Sure, butter is traditionally part of good cuisine and is unbeatably delicious. A cow in the pasture next door nodded to him as if in confirmation. But of course Alf Qvist also knew that butter contains a lot of saturated fatty acids - anything but the desired “healthy fatty acid composition”. Exhausted, he sat down on the edge of a field to take a sip of coffee. How beautiful the blooming rapeseed fields looked! Left and right it glowed golden yellow as far as the eye could see. And at that moment something clicked for him! Suddenly he knew the solution for a healthy, good-tasting fat: butter-flavored rapeseed oil! The benefits of rapeseed oil were already known back then. Of course, it couldn't compete with butter in terms of taste - but the problem could certainly be solved.

However, the path from Alf Qvist's idea to the product we know today as “Albaöl” was a little further than his Sunday walk. Ultimately, Albaöl was intended to combine the benefits of two very different products. And then there were various special requests from family and friends: “It would be great if you could develop a fat that doesn't splatter when frying” - a point that Alf's wife repeatedly pointed out - with a reproachful look at the new wallpaper in the kitchen, which was covered in grease splatters.

So much for the history of product development, which at the same time makes it clear why “Albaöl” has this name: The oil was simply named after the manufacturer, who is now known in Germany as “Taste of Sweden”.

In densely populated southern Sweden, AAK Dalby AB supplies restaurants, bulk buyers and bakeries directly with its own fleet of 25 trucks. There are also delivery warehouses at another six locations in Sweden.

In Europe, foodservice delivery services take care of deliveries. In Germany, Albaöl is also available for bulk buyers in some C+C markets. German consumers receive the Albaöl product variants in the markets of the leading retail chains and through mail order.

AAK Dalby AB produces specialty products such as oils, margarines, mayonnaises and tomato sauces for large bakeries and food manufacturers.

AAK Dalby AB exports under the “Taste of Sweden” label to various European countries, for example Norway, France, the Netherlands and Germany. The most important export product is Albaöl.