A beloved Dutch staple of buttered toast topped with chocolate sprinkle, hagelslag is far more than a simple breakfast, it’s a centuries-old icon enjoyed by people of all ages across the Netherlands.
It probably sounds crazy that there are thousands of recipes out there for hagelslag, a Dutch toast of butter and sprinkles, but hagelslag is no joke to the people of the Netherlands. An estimated 750,000 hagelslag toast are consumed each day, typically for breakfast, but sometimes also for lunch or as an afternoon snack. And people wonder why Dutch children are raised the happiest in the world? Hagelslag is not just eaten by children; it is certainly not uncommon for those in their 60s to start their day with hagelslag or people in suits to eat them at work.
The history of hagelslag goes back to 1919, when B.E. Dieperink, Director of the liquorice sweet company, VENCO created the aniseed version, and patented the name “hagelslag”. The fruit version was introduced in 1928 by De Ruijter, who named them vruchtenhagel. The famous chocolate ones were introduced in 1936 by the chocolate company Venz, seemingly after a boy wrote a letter requesting them to make a chocolate topping for his bread. They were named chocoladehagel. The Dutch are also very strict about what can and cannot be considered chocolate hagelslag. They have to be made of at least 32% cocoa, and anyone in the Netherlands will tell you they have nothing to do with sprinkles.
There are approximately 20 varieties of hagelslag ranging from dark, white, milk and extra dark chocolate as well as a mixture of dark and white chocolate ones. There are also different flavoured fruit ones, including forest fruit, as well as ones made of anise, which were the original. Moreover, there are special edition hagelslag including pastel-coloured ones for Easter and orange ones for Dutch sporting events and King's Day. Other examples include jungle sprinkles and extra-large chocolate sprinkles. Related to hagelslag are “beschuit met muisjes," blue and white and pink and white aniseed covered with sugar, which are served on crackers when guests come to visit a baby.
"Hagelslag tells us a lot about the Dutch," says Colleen Geske, author of the blog “Stuff Dutch People Like”. When you strip it away, the Dutch are not pretentious at all. They don't care what people think of them… they don’t over-analyse and question if this is healthy? Is this for children? They're simply indulging in a simple pleasure. What appears to be a simple toast holds not only deep and rich history but a very special place in the hearts of many Dutch people. “Dutch people love it. It’s just part of childhood. I brought it always to Spain," says a half-Dutch half-Spanish student studying abroad in the Netherlands.