Zure Lappen

For the holidays both my grandmothers sent me gifts. One a nice card, the other zure lappen and a marzipan banana with an image of Sinterklaas. The card is universal, obviously, but zure lappen and Sinterklaas could be unfamiliar to some of you. So, see for yourself:


Zure Lappen are sour mini "rugs" that are very tasty, but also not that great for you. Sinterklaas is Saint Nick, he precedes the "ho-ho-ho-ing" man with reindeer who is set to visit houses across the world this week.

From Wikipedia: "Sinterklaas is the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. It was during the American War of Independence, that the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) which had been swapped by the Dutch for other territories, reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city's non-English past. The name Santa Claus is derived from older Dutch Sinte Klaas."

I think I will have to share this Dutch candy with my colleagues. Some of them have already vowed never again to eat any candy I bring to work after I brought old fashioned Dutch licorice a while back.