In December the Dutch are crazy about their their december’s culinary specialties .
Of course, it’s only available in December.
For novices, here’s a recap of their specialties.
Here we mostly celebrate ‘Sinterklaas’ or Saint Nicolas. celebrated on December the 5 th.
Children receive small gifts, it is customary to make a surprise for the oldest ones
(Think paper maché) and write a poem.
For St. Nicolas, you will receive a chocolate letter> 1 the 1st letter of your first name. Friendly bosses will also offer a chocolate letter to their employees!
By the end of November, the Dutch eat kilos of ‘pepernoten’> 2 , a small crispy cinnamon biscuit.
The Dutch LOVE cinnamon, I do not know how many pounds per year and per person they consume but it must be huge! On my picture are shown the normal ones and those coated with chocolate. Check At the counter of almost every store you ‘ll find a bowl of perpernoten for your enjoyment.
In short, you can’t miss it 🙂
For the new year’s Eve it is traditional to eat ‘oliebollen ‘> 3 (literally oil balls!), with your glass of champagne. But from the end of November, you will find street vendors of oliebollen, a kind of donuts, the traditional ones are with raisins (small donut No. 3). There is also a version of stuffed apple, not to applesauce no, large pieces of apples, coated in cinnamon of course! On my photo, it’s the big one nr 3. It is eaten warm and crispy topped with icing sugar.
To decorate your Christmas tree, you will need some ‘kerstkransje’> 4 .It’s a chocolate wreaths, stuffed or not (on my photo, the big red and white and white ones are stuffed with vanilla) , covered with decorative sparkle or not, you can choose them from dark chocolate, milk, white … You can place them directly to the branches of your Christmas tree or tie them on a pretty sting to go on the Christmas tree (and to avoid removing all the thorns when you catch one to eat it!)
Now you know everything, of course I eat half a kilo of pepernooten during the making of this post! and I still have half a kilo left because pepernooten are sold in large package of a kilogram that filled the childrens’ mini caddies !
Happy December everyone!
