Jodenkoek facts for kids
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| Place of origin | Netherlands |
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A jodenkoek is a large, flat, round cookie from the Netherlands. It's a type of shortbread cookie, which means it's made with a lot of butter, making it crumbly and delicious. These cookies are usually about 10 centimeters (4 inches) wide.
A Sweet History
People say these cookies were first baked way back in the 1600s! That's a long time ago. Bakeries started selling them widely around 1872. A baker named Davelaar in Alkmaar, Netherlands, helped make jodenkoeken very famous.
Another bakery in Alkmaar, called Stam, began selling them in 1883. Later, in 1924, Gijs Verhoeven took over the Stam bakery. He was smart and advertised the cookies in local newspapers. He also sold them through other shops. This made his jodenkoeken super popular! This company still bakes these cookies today. Other companies, like Lotus Bakeries, also make similar cookies with the same name.
What's in a Name?
The name "jodenkoek" literally means "Jew cookie" in Dutch. Some companies still use the older spelling, jodekoek. Others changed it to jodenkoek after new spelling rules came out in 1996.
There are a few ideas about how the cookie got its name:
- One idea from Lotus Bakeries says the recipe came from a Jewish baker in Amsterdam around 1920. This baker supposedly sold the recipe to another bakery.
- Another story says a baker with the last name ‘de Joode’ made these cookies.
- Jodenkoeken are big but very flat. This made them cheap to make. In the past, many cheap products were sometimes called "Jewish" because many Jewish people were poor and needed to buy things that cost less.
- The last idea connects the cookie to the flat, unleavened bread that Jewish people ate during their exodus from ancient Egypt. Both the cookies and this bread are flat, crunchy, and have very little moisture. This means they can stay fresh for a long time.
In the 1970s, some people thought the name might be unfair. The company thought about changing it but decided not to. Since then, there hasn't been much disagreement about the name. Even a famous activist who studies Jewish history, Wim Kortenoeven, said he saw nothing wrong with the name.
Jodenkoeken are sent to other countries like England and China. But because the name can be hard to explain, the cookies sold for export are often called Dutch Cookies. In 2021, the Davelaar bakery in Alkmaar decided to change the name of their Jodenkoek to Odekoek (or Ode cookie).
How They're Packaged
When these cookies first came out, they were sold in metal tins with a yellow wrapper. Today, you can also buy jodenkoeken in plastic tins with a purple wrapper. Because the cookies are packed in a tin, they are sealed tightly. This keeps them fresh and crunchy for a long time!
