Geraardsbergen Mattentaart

The mattentaart is a small round tart of puff pastry filled with matten, milk curds made by curdling buttermilk with fresh milk, mixed with egg, sugar and almond essence, baked until the filling rises and cracks the top. It is specific to Geraardsbergen and a handful of neighbouring villages, and it carries an EU protected geographical indication limiting the name to that area, which is unusual for a pastry of this modesty. Records of it go back several centuries. Bakeries in the town make it daily and it is eaten warm, ideally within a few hours, since it does not keep. A festival in the town each year involves eating them in quantity. The texture is somewhere between a cheesecake and a custard tart.

What you actually see

• Curds made from buttermilk - the filling that defines the tart.
• Puff pastry cracked open - the top split by the rising filling.
• A protected designation - the name limited to this town and its neighbours.
• Bakeries making it daily - eaten warm within hours of baking.

When to go

Year round; it is baked daily. One hour to find a bakery and eat one. Mornings, when they come out of the oven. The annual festival in the town is the peak but not necessary.

Honest expectations

It does not travel and is poor the next day. It is small and sweet and one is usually enough. Bakeries outside the protected area sell versions that are not the same thing. There is nothing to see beyond a bakery counter.

Nearby

The Muur climb is above the town; Oudenaarde lies west.