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A jodekoek (in Dutch,
Claimed to have been first baked in the 17th century, these biscuits were advertised by bakeries as early as 1872. Jodenkoeken were made famous by a baker called Davelaar, in
/ref> * A baker with surname ‘de Joode’ baked the biscuits. * Jodenkoeken are big but very flat, making it a cheap product to produce. A lot of cheap products got the prefix ''Jewish'' in the past. A lot of Jews were poor, making it likely that they bought cheaper things because it was necessary. * The last story associates the biscuit with the unleavened bread baked by the Jews of ancient Egypt at the time of the exodus. The connection is made by the physical properties that both the biscuits and unleavened bread have in common: they are both flat, crunchy and have a very low
Website of producer Davelaar Koeken, Amarant Bakkersholding B.V.
Website of producer Van Dijk Banket B. V
goeievraag.nl
origin of the word Cookies Dutch cuisine Shortbread
literally
''Literally'' is an English adverb. It has been controversially used as an intensifier for figurative statements.
History
The first known use of the word ''literally'' was in the 15th century, or the 1530s, when it was used in the sense of "in ...
"Jew biscuit", plural jodekoeken) is a big, flat, round shortbread biscuit
A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be ...
with a diameter of about 10 centimeters (4").
History
Claimed to have been first baked in the 17th century, these biscuits were advertised by bakeries as early as 1872. Jodenkoeken were made famous by a baker called Davelaar, in Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...
, Netherlands. The Stam bakery in Alkmaar started selling jodenkoeken in 1883, and Gijs Verhoeven took over this bakery in 1924. By advertising in local newspapers and by offering the biscuits through other shops, his jodenkoeken became a popular product. The company continues to bake them to this day. Similar products with the same name are produced by Lotus Bakeries
Lotus Bakeries is a Belgian biscuit company, founded in 1932, with its headquarters in Lembeke, Kaprijke, Belgium. Lotus is known for its speculoos biscuits and biscuit-based products, branded as Lotus Biscoff in the United States, United Kingd ...
and O'Lacy.
Etymology
Some producers still use the old spelling, ''jodekoek'', while others have changed the name of the product to ''jodenkoek'', after the new orthography of the Netherlands from 1996. There are four different stories about the name of the biscuits: * Lotus Bakeries claims that the recipe originates from a Jewish baker in Amsterdam who sold the biscuits around 1920. This baker sold the recipe to a bakery in Enkhuizen.''Dit is Alkmaar'' on the history of jodenkoeken (in Dutch)/ref> * A baker with surname ‘de Joode’ baked the biscuits. * Jodenkoeken are big but very flat, making it a cheap product to produce. A lot of cheap products got the prefix ''Jewish'' in the past. A lot of Jews were poor, making it likely that they bought cheaper things because it was necessary. * The last story associates the biscuit with the unleavened bread baked by the Jews of ancient Egypt at the time of the exodus. The connection is made by the physical properties that both the biscuits and unleavened bread have in common: they are both flat, crunchy and have a very low
moisture content
Water content or moisture content is the quantity of water contained in a material, such as soil (called soil moisture), rock, ceramics, crops, or wood. Water content is used in a wide range of scientific and technical areas, and is expressed as a ...
, resulting in a long shelf-life.
In the 1970s the name was thought to be discriminatory by some, and the manufacturer considered changing it, but ultimately decided against it. The name has received little to no controversy since then, and prominent rights activist Wim Kortenoeven
Robert Frank Willem "Wim" Kortenoeven (born 29 May 1955) is a Dutch author, journalist and former politician.
Kortenoeven engages in political developments in the Middle East, focusing on the Arab-Israeli conflict. He also writes about Jewish h ...
, specialising in Jewish history, (while critical of the naming of the Dutch sweet ''jodenvet'' "Jew fat" (now ''borsthoning'' "chest honey")), said he saw nothing wrong with the name.
In 2021 Bakery Davelaar in Alkmaar decided to rename the Jodenkoek to Odekoek (or Ode biscuit).
Package
Originally, the biscuits were sold in metal tins with a yellow wrapper. Nowadays jodenkoeken are also sold in plastic tins lined with a purple wrapper. Because the biscuits are packaged in an air-tight tin, they remain fresh and crunchy.See also
* List of shortbread biscuits and cookiesReferences
{{reflistExternal links
Website of producer Davelaar Koeken, Amarant Bakkersholding B.V.
Website of producer Van Dijk Banket B. V
goeievraag.nl
origin of the word Cookies Dutch cuisine Shortbread