The Stroopwafel

The stroopwafel is credited to Gouda, where bakers in the early nineteenth century are said to have used up crumbs and leftover syrup rather than waste them. The method has not changed much. A stiff dough is pressed in a hot iron until it is thin and crisp, the disc is split horizontally while still soft, syrup is spread inside and the halves are pressed back together. Straight off the griddle it bends and the syrup runs. The packaged version is firm and dry, which is why the standard Dutch move is to rest one on the rim of a hot cup for a minute until the middle softens again.

What you actually see

• The iron - the griddle plates that press the pattern and make the dough crisp.
• The split and fill - the disc cut in half while soft and spread with syrup.
• The cup trick - resting the packaged one over hot coffee until it gives.
• The variants - honey rather than syrup, and the small dry supermarket versions.

When to go

Market griddles run on market days, which in most towns means one fixed weekday morning plus Saturday. Fresh ones start coming off the plates from mid-morning. Any season works, though the queues at the Amsterdam markets are longest in summer and the wait can run to twenty minutes for something that takes seconds to eat.

Honest expectations

Fresh is much better than packaged, but it costs several times more and goes hard within a couple of hours, so buying a stack to carry home defeats the point. Stands in tourist areas charge what they like. They are extremely sweet and one is genuinely enough. Souvenir tins are the dry version at a premium.

Nearby

Gouda's market square and weigh house; every town market has a griddle somewhere.