The Big Book of Liquorice: about the ‘Dutch’ national candy
In Het Grote Dropboek (Big Book of Liquorice), researcher Marieke Hendriksen delves into the history of liquorice in the Netherlands and far beyond. The book is in shops from today.
From boerderijdrop (farm liquorice), Katjes (kittens) and pull liquorice, to Pottertjes, black-and-white, throat lozenges and Kokindjes. On average, the Dutch eat about 2 kilos of liquorice a year. Ask Dutch people what they consider typically Dutch and chances are that liquorice will be mentioned. But… is it really? How Dutch is liquorice really? In what context did we used to eat liquorice, and does it differ from today? And how has the taste of liquorice changed over the centuries?
Het Grote Dropboek is the first book devoted entirely to the history of the ‘Dutch’ national sweet. From medieval manuscripts, the story goes to eighteenth-century country houses and pharmacies, and via the international commodity trade to the first liquorice factories in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, Hendriksen tells of popular comic books and coughing opera singers and reconstruction, after which the popularity of liquorice in the Netherlands soared. Only to end up in the present, where nothing is too crazy.
More information
Published in Dutch by Just Publishers.
Size : approx. 288 pages.
Format : 15 x 23 cm, paperback with flaps
ISBN : 97890 8975 305 2
Price : € 24,99
