Darling Sweet

Darling Sweet came into existence when Frits van Ryneveld and Hentie van der Merwe met in September 2013 and decided to become partners, not only in life, but also in business: Hentie, with his passion for art and food, and Frits with his love for quality and design.

Frits, who had been living in Darling for some years and who ran a succesful antique business in his Mantis Mall shop, was the first to come up with the idea. For him it was obvious that Darling should be producing the most delectable old fashioned toffee seeing as its main ingredient, butter, is historically linked to the small town with its picturesque surroundings.

The idea didn't take long to inspire Hentie - artist, lecturer and trained chef - to start journeying into the centuries old art of toffee making, tracking down long-forgotten toffee recipes and experimenting in their kitchen late into the night, while teaching art students about art and photography during the day.

From the start Frits and Hentie decided to produce a range of toffees that are unique to Darling and its surrounds, and true to this vision they try and use as many local ingredients as possible. The butter for the toffee is supplied by a local farmer, made in the European Cultured butter tradition - the main ingredient for the Classic Toffee as well as all the other flavours. The fleur de sel and Veld Flower Honey for the Honey & Salt toffee are both from the Darling area. The Sour Fig (or Latynse naam) with its beautiful yellow or purple flowers, the fruit of which is used for the Sour Fig toffee, is also indigenous to the Darling area, and has been a delicacy of the original inhabitants of the Swartland - the KhoiSan - for centuries.

The Mantis Antique Shop has made space for a state of the art kitchen where members of the public can watch the Darling Sweet Team produce their toffees - the whole process being done by hand - from the assembly of the ingredients to the final packed product. The focus on manual production is very much part of Frits and Hentie's focus on job creation and career development in the Darling community.