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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Gouda
Two thin crisp waffle wafers glued together with a caramel-cinnamon syrup filling. It originated in Gouda bakeries around 1800, and the method of making it by hand is on the national inventory of intangible heritage.
Traditional sweet from Gouda, Holanda Meridional
Also known as: stroopwafel, siroopwafel, Goudse siroopwafel
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Goudse stroopwafel — Gouda, the Netherlands
The Goudse stroopwafel is a thin, round waffle cookie, baked on a patterned iron, cut in half while still warm and filled with a syrup made from molasses, sugar, butter and cinnamon. The syrup sticks the two halves together and stays soft and elastic, while the waffle remains crisp.
The history is told by the Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland, which records in the national inventory the craft of baking siroopwafels in Gouda. Around 1800 it was an inexpensive cookie, made from leftover dough and bakery crumbs and sold out the back door. Early versions joined two cookies with syrup; later bakers began to bake the batter on the iron and cut it. Several sources cite the Kamphuisen bakery in Gouda as one of the first to make the cookie.
Gouda once had dozens of stroopwafel bakeries. Today a few remain, tied to traditional families, and some welcome visitors and demonstrate the handmade process, from kneading the dough to spreading the syrup on the opened waffle. The municipality included the stroopwafel in its city plans, and every year on the last Saturday of June the city celebrates Stroopwafel Day.
Spelling varies by producer: siroopwafel is the traditional Gouda form, while stroopwafel is more common elsewhere in the country. Industrial stroopwafels are sold throughout the Netherlands, but in Gouda you can still buy them made on the spot, hot, at stalls and bakeries.
A common custom is to place the stroopwafel over a cup of hot coffee or tea for a few minutes: the steam softens the syrup before you eat it.
Gouda , Holanda Meridional
Cookie created by the bakers of Gouda.
Dough of wheat flour, butter, sugar, leavening, milk and egg; syrup filling (stroop), brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.
With coffee or tea; often rested on the hot cup so the syrup softens. When made to order, it is eaten still warm.
All year round; in Gouda, Stroopwafel Day is on the last Saturday of June.
Your questions
Yes. The city’s bakeries created the cookie, and the craft of baking it by hand in Gouda is recognized as intangible heritage.
With coffee or tea. Many people rest the cookie on the hot cup for a few minutes to soften the syrup.
Yes, they are two spellings of the same cookie; the latter is used by traditional Gouda bakeries.
Flavors of the Netherlands
Thick split pea soup with vegetables and smoked sausage that in winter can become so thick a spoon can stand upright. The preparation of erwtensoep, also called snert, was recognized as intangible heritage of the Netherlands in July 2018.
Young, fatty seasonal herring, cleaned, salted and matured by the traditional method and eaten raw with chopped onion. It is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed of the European Union, and the arrival of the new season is celebrated throughout the country.
Fried yeasted dough balls, with or without raisins and apple, dusted with confectioners’ sugar. They are the New Year’s Eve treat in the Netherlands, sold at stalls that appear in towns at the end of the year.
Rustic mashed potatoes mixed with a vegetable, such as kale, sauerkraut or carrots with onion, served with a smoked sausage and gravy. It’s the winter home-cooking dish of the Netherlands, with variants that have their own names.
Small white bread filled with well-seasoned pork, the worstenbroodje is the savory of North Brabant and was recognized as Dutch intangible heritage in 2016.
White yeast bread with large chunks of sugar mixed into the dough and cinnamon, which caramelize in the oven. It is the sweet bread most associated with Friesland, and local tradition links it to visits to the parents after a baby is born.
A boiled egg wrapped in a creamy, spiced ragù, breaded and fried: the eierbal is the snack bar treat of Groningen. It was added in 2017 to the national inventory of intangible heritage, following an initiative by a society created to protect it.
Round tart made from a thin fermented dough and generously filled with fruit, rice pudding or custard, sometimes topped with a lattice or streusel. Since 2024 it has a Protected Geographical Indication from the European Union, shared by Dutch and Belgian Limburg.
Tray of French fries topped with shoarma, melted cheese, salad, garlic sauce and sambal. Created in 2003 at a snack bar in Rotterdam for hairdresser Nataniël Gomes, it took the name of his salon and spread across the Netherlands.
Cereal distillate flavored with juniper, the predecessor of gin, which made Schiedam the city of jenever: at its peak, hundreds of distilleries operated along the canals, and giant windmills ground the grain. Jenever has a European geographical indication shared by the Netherlands, Belgium and neighbouring areas.
Large choux pastry ball filled with whipped cream and covered in dark chocolate, the sweet of 's-Hertogenbosch. A local pastry shop advertised chocolate balls as early as 1903 and began filling them with whipped cream in 1924.
A small leavened roll twisted into a spiral with light brown sugar and cinnamon that caramelizes in the oven, leaving it sticky inside and out. It is the best-known sweet of Zeeland and its origin is attributed to the Sephardic Jews who settled in Middelburg at the end of the 16th century.
