This was yet another find from the alternate ShopRite grocery in my general, but not immediate area. Which, as I covered before, was worth visiting, since it did have some culinary nuggets that my more local ShopRite does not. Anyway, I tried three kinds of cookies/biscuits from the Sherwood company--their Danish butter cookies, their Kingsland chocolate wafer rolls, and their Kingsland vanilla wafer rolls.
Alas, I wasn't able to find out much about the manufacturer in question. Sherwood does have an official website, but it's basically limited to product lists, a "contact us" link, and a very brief mission statement. I did utilize their email address to try to learn more about them, but I haven't heard back yet. (I'll update this if/when they do reply.) Therefore, all I can tell you is that they have offices in the towns of New Brunswick and Roselle in New Jersey. The labels on their cookie containers all clearly state that they're made in India, however. I couldn't find out where, or if this baking is done in Sherwood facilities, or if these are other companies which work in conjunction with Sherwood. As for their products, Sherwood is noted for its chocolate bars, chocolate truffles, wafer rolls, butter cookies, butterfly pastries, nut clusters, fudge, and line of cappuccinos. Another website claims that the company has 10 employees, and had a recent annual gross of $1,790.000.00. (I'm guessing this total of 10 employees does not include the workers that actually make the cookies in India.) Also, this alternate website says that Sherwood's CEO is a guy named Steve Deusch. (At the risk of being juvenile, it must have been rough growing up with a surname like that--he must have been teased about that regularly.) And that's it--other online mentions were just cookie sellers who carried Sherwood products, or reviews of the same.
I did get some history of the Danish butter cookie, luckily. Which goes by a few other names, such as sweet biscuit, sable (mainly in France), and brysslkex (in Sweden). The exact inventor(s) and origin place is a bit murky, though. Given how simple the basic ingredients of the cookie are (flour, butter, sugar) folks have presumably been making versions of it for thousands of years. One website claimed that it was being made in Denmark as early as 1100. The sable, the French version, can be dated back to at least 1670, in the community of Sable-sur-Sarthe. By the 1800s, the cookie was being made very commonly in Denmark, typically in peoples' individual home kitchens. One major Danish commercial manufacturer, Kjeldsen's, starting marketing Danish butter cookies in 1933. Another Danish brand, arguably the most popular, is Royal Dansks, which has been selling these treats since 1966. Whatever their exact history, or what title they are called, these cookies are avidly consumed around much of the world. In North America and Europe they are often associated with the Christmas season. Meanwhile, in China, the cookies are often eaten to help celebrate the New Year. Some Danish butter cookies can be a bit bland in their basic form, so it's not uncommon for flavoring to be added, such as vanilla and chocolate. Other than the holiday seasons I previously mentioned, these cookies are also enjoyed as snacks, sometimes at school, for breakfast, at afternoon tea, or crushed up and mixed in with certain cakes.
Sherwood Danish delights butter cookies: These were yellowish-brown in color, and came in five shapes, which were all flat--round, round with scalloped edges, rectangular, pretzel-shaped, and kind of an incomplete bagel shape. Each was about 4 cm. by 4 cm., or about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches. The taste of all five was the same, and all were crunchy and powdery. And this taste was rather mediocre. Butter cookies aren't my favorite type, so there's that. But these were just "meh" or average even by the standards of this variety, in my opinion. So if you're big into butter cookies these might dazzle you, but otherwise you'll probably just think they're okay.
Sherwood Kingsland wafer rolls, chocolate flavor: These were twisted rods, about 4.5 inches (about 11 cm.) long, and about .25 inch in diameter (or about .5 cm.), with a dark brown color. The flavor was chocolate-y, obviously, and they were crunchy in texture. Decent, but not as strong a taste as I would have preferred. So solid, but not great.
Sherwood Kingsland wafer rolls, vanilla flavor: These wafer rolls were the same size and shape as their chocolate kin, only they were whitish in color. And they tasted similar to typical vanilla wafers, only in a different shape. However, they were a touch sweeter and creamier than most vanilla wafers. Which made them very good, these stood out. So they were a superior cookie, which I'll definitely be interested in buying again, the pick of this litter of three by far.
It's been my experience in general that European cookies/biscuits sometimes come across as bland to my "ugly American" taste buds. This could be said about the Danish butter cookies, and maybe the chocolate wafer rolls to an extent. But not the vanilla wafer rolls--they were bold, and wonderful.
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