The most famous Dutch product has to be the soused herring that’s caught in the north of this region.
Eaten with the hands while holding it by the tail, it’s placed above the mouth and is eaten upwards from the bottom towards the tail.
The fish is served with little cubes or slices of onions.
Mussels are harvested along the coast but the most famous product of all comes from Gouda, the old city named by the Van der Goude family that named the cheese.
In the year 1000 the city of Gouda was a wet marshland laced with small rivers and inundated with peat forests that were harvested a 100 to 200 years later.
The cheese (that’s nothing like the version made anywhere else in the world) is made from cow’s milk and the curds are ‘washed’ to get rid of some of the lactic acid in order to make a sweetish cheese.
Coated in black paraffin wax, it can be aged for up to 7 years before eating.
The other cheeses made here are Edam, Leidse oplegger (spiced cheese with caramin, cumin or cloves), Leerdammer and Beemster.
Mayonnaise and mustard is made in the Zaanstreek and West Friesland is home to the Jodenkoek (Jewish cookies made with vanilla and cinnamon)