Even a small province like Friesland in the Northern part of the Netherlands has its own, regional food. We from YourPost don’t want foreigners and travelers to miss out on these special and delicious products. Here it’s the selection of top 7 products you should eat when you visit Leeuwarden. Sweet, juicy, typical, untypical, cheesy, meaty, or just tasty!
By: Tereza Baráková & Welmoed van der Weerd
Sugarbread
Everyone loves this sweet bread with looots of sugar (mainly internationals). The similar products you can also find in some part of Belgium, but Frisian version contains twice more sugar, which means 40%.
If you are not sugar intolerant you have to taste it, we would be very surprised if you won’t like it.
Frisian cheese
Every tourist would say that typical Dutch things are tulips, windmills and cheese. Different flavours, types and addition. But in the northern Netherlands the most common cheese is with cumin seeds and aromatic cloves, that’s why is Dutch delicacy also called ‘nail cheese’.
Orange cake
The reason we call this cake ‘orange’ is because of the shavings of candied orange peel that is processed in the cake batter. The other ingredient that gives orange cake its specific taste, are anise seeds. In the middle of the cake is a layer of almond paste. The cake is flat and usually cut in rectangles or triangles, topped off with pink glaze, butter cream and garnish.
Frisian dry sausage (not for vegetarians)
Across the province there are plenty of recipes of these dry sausages. Each butcher keeps its own secrets and uses different methods of smoking. Pork and beef mixture is here popular, mainly also thanks to wind conditions and quickly drying sausages in open air. You should not miss the combination with some great beers of this region.
Fryske dúmkes
Fryske dúmkes literally translated to English, means ‘Frisian thumbs’. That might sound weird or disgusting, but there is a story behind these small cookies. The baker usually presses his thumb in the cookies when they come out of the oven and the dough is still soft. He does this to leave a ‘signature’ and also to give the cookie its shape. Fryske dúmkes are very crunchy and taste like anise, because of the anise seeds that are in the cookies.
Typical Frisian beer
For beerlovers, there are approximately 40 types of beer to choose from. The offer in beer differs by time of the year. There’s special kinds of beer only available in specific seasons. The Frisian beers are brewn by a few different beer brewers in Friesland who each produce different kinds of beer.
Frisian mustard
Most people think the best Frisian mustard comes from the Frisian islands, like the island Ameland (Amelander mustard). But there is also very good mustard made on the mainland of Friesland. There are a lot of different types of mustard. The spiciness varies per mustard and to some mustards special herbs or ingredients like honey or cranberries are added. Frisians usually eat mustard with a piece of good Frisian cheese or they make mustardsoup. To the mustardsoup Frisian dry sausage can be added as an optional ingredient.
Most products that are mentioned in this article, are to buy at the shop ‘Priuw’ located in the Oosterstraat, Leeuwarden city centre. The shop is owned by Hielkje van der Molen and in 2016 her shop won an award for ‘The Best Shop in the Netherlands’. And this is not the only one! Inhabitants of Leeuwarden proudly sell local food in many shops all around. In the city centre you can find a lot of them. Keep an eye on Frisian flags in shop windows, that’s probably a place you’re looking for!
