Feed The Craving

[annuin]

So I just completed an order for a load of Dutch licorice. It's my Christmas present to myself, or that's a good enough excuse anyway. Or ourselves, as I know PreZ likes one of the types of licorice. He has yet to try the other three I'm getting, but I think he'll like those too, it's not like I got the weird stuff, like salt licorice.

It's not something I make a habit of, I've ordered from this place once before, and it was more than a year ago, if not closer to two. But I've been craving stuff from home, and so it was time for another order. Just over 4 kilos worth, which should last me a while :) I hope.

Heksenhyl, kokindjes, school krijt and a box of Venco's sweet mix. Yum.

Comments

[pixie-nz.livejournal.com]

They recently opened up a Dutch coffee shop here and they also sell a variety of Dutch food. There's quite a lot of licorice but someone told me it was rather salty and gross so I didn't buy any. They have some yummy looking chocolate flakes and quite a lot of biscuits/crackers so I might have to go get some one day.

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

Ignore that person ;)

Some licorice is salty, and then there's the double salt licorice, which really is an acquired taste... I think mostly only Dutch people like that one. It's definitely interesting to feed that kind to the unwary.

The vast majority of it is sweet though, and you could probably ask the people in the shop and they'd be happy to tell you, assuming the staff is knowledgable about their product, which I'd expect them to be. There's also various textures as well, hard licorice and soft. So something for every palate.

Of the stuff I ordered, the Heksenhyl is the only one I'd be slightly wary about offering to people who need an intro to licorice. It's a Danish licorice, witch licorice (heks is the word for witch in Danish and Dutch), but the filling is 'salmiak' which is ammonium chloride based. This is a very tangy and tart kind of filling, which can be odd to some. PreZ likes it however.

I can give you names/descriptions of well known licorice types that they're a) bound to have, and b) are sweet and I'd recommend to people if you like?

The chocolate flakes and sprinkles/hail are a well known and loved bread topping :)

They might have "beschuit" (http://www.dutchstuff.com/cgi-bin/klompen/store/quikstore.cgi?search=yes&hits_seen=&product=B120&category=Bakery&keywords=&detail=yes&page=search.html&template=database_list_page&%%&exact_match=yes) in that store, which I believe they call rusks in English. They're round, light and crisp. Good as a breakfast food with some jam on them. A Dutch tradition with the birth of a child is to serve beschuit with "muisjes" (mice), which is another bread topping of sugar coated aniseed. Blue and white (http://www.dutchstuff.com/cgi-bin/klompen/store/quikstore.cgi?search=yes&hits_seen=&product=C121&category=Bread_Toppings&keywords=&detail=yes&page=search.html&template=database_list_page&%%&exact_match=yes) for boys, pink and white (http://www.dutchstuff.com/cgi-bin/klompen/store/quikstore.cgi?search=yes&hits_seen=&product=C120&category=Bread_Toppings&keywords=&detail=yes&page=search.html&template=database_list_page&%%&exact_match=yes) for girls.

[pixie-nz.livejournal.com]

I can give you names/descriptions of well known licorice types that they're a) bound to have, and b) are sweet and I'd recommend to people if you like?

Yes please! I'd feel a lot better about buying it if I kind of knew what it was like.

They definitely have "beschuit", I recognise the different coloured ones anyway.

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

The beschuit is the crispbread thing, the muisjes are the coloured aniseed toppings.

Okay, licorice to recommend:

Katjes aka cats. These are small hard cat shaped pieces of licorice. Sweet and yummy. You'll get a sore mouth trying to chew lots of these though because of their hardness... I guess it's one way to ensure you don't eat too many at once ;) Small pic here (http://www.hollandsedrop.com/katjes.jpg).

Honey licorice. Also a hard licorice, most often shaped like little beehives, sometimes like honeycomb. The honeycomb ones are often softer than the beehives. And they have honey flavouring. Small pic here (http://www.hollandsedrop.com/honing.jpg).

Coin licorice. Shaped like coins. Also a relatively hard licorice, though depending on the brand they sometimes can be softer. Small pic here (http://www.hollandsedrop.com/munt.jpg).

Kokindjes, no idea what an equivalent English name would be for these. They're small (think circumference of a thick ballpoint or so) half domes, with a K on them. Sweet, soft and chewy. Small pic here (http://www.hollandsedrop.com/kokind2.jpg).

These are quintessential licorice varieties, and they're bound to have them. Other than that, I guess asking the staff would be the best thing, maybe you'll get lucky and they might even let you try some :)

[lady-kverem.livejournal.com]

GIMME THE TRIPLE SALT LICORICE!!!

Can you get Turkish Pebbers????

If you can....... OMFG...

Cheers
M

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

They have double salt varieties.

http://www.marinamarket.com/licorice.htm

About midway down the page for the double salt. 3.5oz packets for US$1.85 is pretty reasonable. They often have larger packs/tubs too if you email and ask.

As for turkish pebbers, I have no idea what they are.

[lady-kverem.livejournal.com]

Turkish Pebbers are ungodly awesome...

They're salt licorice candy... with a salt licorice powder in the middle.. my best friend Anna used to bring them from Sweden..... You should check for them...

they bloody rock.

You also can make a drink out of them, you take 4 or 5 of them.. and put them in a bottle of Vodka.. (Absolut Vodka).... and you let them slowly dissolve.. make sure you keep the bottle in the freezer.... and then you have a sipping drink later.

I need to see if I can get some "good" salt licorice now.....

MMmmmmmmm

Cheers
Melissa