Culinary specialties

Culinary: adresses

To find all catering adresses (restaurants, beach houses, pubs etc.): read on

Mussels and aquaculture…

Thinking of Zeeland is thinking of mussels. Straight from the fire, pot and all, onto your table. Cook them briefly with some finely chopped onions, celery and carrots and then… tuck in! Add a glass of white wine or a bottle of ‘mussel’ beer and you have a true feast! Something so simple can be so delicious! Well, the cooking is easy enough--- getting the mussels to the shop is the hard part! A lot of tides have come and gone by the time the mussels lie neatly packaged in the supermarkets’ refrigerated displays. Mussels aren’t caught the way fish are. They’re ‘farmed’ --- in a process known as aquaculture, to be exact. Tiny seed mussels are fished up by mussel farmers and brought to mussel beds where they continue to develop till they are ready to be brought to market. During cultivation, they’re hauled up several times and brought to other mussel beds. After two years, the mussels are harvested and brought to the Yerseke mussel auction.

Oysters, like pearls before swine...

Fresh oysters, from the clear water of the Oosterschelde --- sorted with care, packed into a handsome split-wood basket with a strand of seaweed on top to keep them nice and moist. A special farming method guarantees that the oysters from this region are top quality! There are two species of oysters on the market: the wild Zeeland oyster or ‘creuse’ and the flat oyster, native to Zeeland. They can be enjoyed raw or grilled. The flat Zeeland ones have such a delicate flavor that it is rather a pity to put them under a grill. And so, these native oysters are almost always eaten raw. Served chilled with a bit of salt and pepper and a drop of lemon juice --- a gourmet’s delight!

Cockles, share them with the birds…

Cockle-fishing takes place off the North Sea coast and in the Ooster- and Westerschelde from late August till early December. The cockle is a shellfish that lives in areas that regularly fall dry at low tide. Each year, a limit is set on the catch --- the birds have to eat, too! In the restaurants you’ll find cockles in soups, ragouts or in a shell stuffed with tasty seafood!

Little periwinkle, come and creep out of your house...

‘Alikruiken’, as the Dutch call them, are known locally as ‘kreukels. They’re sea snails ---‘periwinkles’ to you! A periwinkle has a dark brown ‘house’ and a transparent yellowy-brown ‘lid’. They are gathered by hand and are found on seaweed, in the salt marshes between the high- and low-tide marks, on breakwaters and on the stone cladding of the sea walls. The stones of the cladding are also called ‘kreukelbermen’ --- ‘periwinkle banks’!

Bolus

A ‘bolus’ is a sticky bun made of white bread dough that has been rolled out in brown sugar to form a long strand. After this, it is rolled up. While baking, the sugar that has got between the dough turns syrupy. The true art of bolus-baking is to take it out of the oven at just the right moment. Too early? It’s undercooked. Too late? It’s as hard as a rock. As it is cooling, a layer of syrup forms on the surface. A proper ‘bolus’ has got to stick to your fingers! And it will taste all the better after you spread some rich, creamy butter on top!

From currant to bonbon....

75% of the Dutch black currant harvest (currents are often referred to as ‘black gold’) comes from the Zeeland municipality of Borsele. It’s mind-boggling what these tiny berries can be made into. Few people appreciate a black currant right off the bush. But, once processed, currants prove to be a true delicacy. Taste some of the delicious ‘Crème de Cassis de Zélande’ liqueur, or the black currant wine, the lemonade, the paté, the chutney, the bonbons, the jam, the pie, the ice cream, the cheese, or the mustard. All made with black currants! The vineyard at Boonman’s Wijnmakerij, on Stoofweg 10 in Nieuwdorp, will teach you how black currants are cultivated and processed. All kinds of delicious black currant products are available for your enjoyment in their farm shop.

’t Goesenaartje --- the ‘gosling’

Goes has its own little ‘gosling’! You can only find it at the Van Opdorp bakery. In the Zeeland dialect, the pronunciation of the G and the H are sometimes mixed up --- ‘Goesenaartje’ or ‘Hoesenaartje’ (‘gosling’ or ‘hosling’, we might say) --- but it’s not a problem! However you say it, it tastes just as good! Luscious mocca cream with crunchy hazelnut meringue.

Babbelaar --- the butterscotch ‘chatterbox’ candy

The experts who make butterscotch ‘babbelaars’ use small copper pans since copper conducts heat the best. While cooking, the ingredients caramelize to form a mass of butterscotch which is then spread out onto a buttered baking sheet and turned over regularly, to cool quickly. Then, using their bare hands, the cooks stretch out the thickening mass and fold it in again. The butterscotch ‘taffy’ is pulled into thinner and thinner lengths, rolled back and forth, and finally cut into little pieces --- and that’s how the sweet ‘chatterbox’ is born!

Lobster, mmmm....

Nowadays, lobsters are found in the mouth of the Westerschelde, in the Oosterschelde and in Lake Veere. Lobstermen still use traditional methods. From small boats, they set out baited traps or baskets before returning the next day to pull them up again. With a little luck, they’ll find one or more lobsters in each trap. The lobster season is quite short; it only runs from 1 April till mid-July in order to prevent over-fishing. Undersized lobsters are carefully released. The females that have eggs under their tails are also put back into the water. After all, eggs mean baby lobsters on the way!

Vegetables with a salty tang…

Glasswort is a delicious, healthy Zeeland vegetable. It grows on bare patches of shore land and at the edges of the salt marshes. It is full of vitamins from the surrounding sea water. Glasswort is an annual and is propagated from seed. The seeds need fresh water to germinate. A lot of rain must fall in early spring to assure a good yield. Glasswort is harvested from mid-May to early September.

Zeelanders call sea lavender ‘lamb’s ear’. That name probably comes from the fact that the leaves are similarly shaped. The plant grows mainly on the higher-lying parts of the salt marshes. Sea lavender has a salty tang because it absorbs salt water as it’s growing though it doesn’t taste as salty as glasswort! Sea lavender is harvested from mid-March to late July. Towards the end of the season, the plants’ stems begin to bloom with lovely daisy-like flowers.

Nice and fruity....

Along the sides of the road you’ll see them --- signs that say ‘zelf fruit plukken’ --- ‘pick your own fruit’! Stop a while! Go on, walk up into the farmyard, stroll through the orchards or along the rows of bushes and plants. Breathe in the scent of the ripening fruit. Fruit farms offer passers-by the chance to pick their own fruit. When you enjoy them right off the bush or plant, strawberries, raspberries, currants and blackberries taste so good! And, if you pick a few more kilos, you can easily make your own jam!

Wine from the Beveland…

During the Middle Ages, the climate was warmer than it is now. In those days, there were several vineyards in Zuid-Beveland. In the centuries that followed, as it grew colder, growing grapes for wine came to an end. Now, temperatures are rising again and, over the past few years, vineyards in the Netherlands have been making a comeback and in this region, too, for it has more sunny summer days than any other parts of the country. And, the vines certainly love the extra sunshine!

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