Today it's back to Belgium. (As memory serves, in the great "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" book series, "Belgium" is actually the rudest word in the universe.) Moving back to reality, I've featured several Belgian foods and drinks on my blog, but I think it's been nearly a year. These were all from the Jules Destrooper company--the butter waffles, almond thins, butter crisps, and the chocolate rice flavors.
The company was founded in 1886, by, of course, Jules Destrooper. Or, to be formal, Julius Renatus Maria Destrooper. Mr. Destrooper first opened up a store in the Belgian town of Lo in August of 1885, selling mostly coffee, tobacco, chocolate, and spices. At one point he made some almond thin biscuits as a promotional gift. When he realized that the customers were dazzled by the cookies, he quickly opened up a company that sold them. By 1890 Destrooper developed his butter crisp biscuits, or lukke. Alas, ingredient rationing during World War I forced the company to temporarily close down in 1914. Destrooper was able to barely stay open during World War II, but the lack of butter meant prices skyrocketed--some products were four times their pre-War prices. In 1949 Destrooper cookies were first exported to the U.S., and by 1969 Japan was added as a market. (Currently about 75 countries around the globe import Destrooper wares.) In 1994 the company received the royal commission. A bad fire damaged the factory in 2005, but they rebuilt, and soldiered on. Finally, in 2015 GT & CO (under the Vandermarliere family umbrella) bought the company. However, the products have not been changed. (As a trivial aside, I didn't like that the official Destrooper company website had a reference to Vanilla Ice that wasn't negative.)
1) Jules Destrooper, butter waffle biscuits: These were oval-ish, about 10 cm. by 7 cm. (about 4 inches by 2.75 inches), crosshatched like a waffle, obviously, and brownish-yellow in color. They were crunchy and just alright. Kind of bland-ish. Okay, but not great.
2) Jules Destooper, chocolate rice cookies: These were rectangular, about 1.5 inches by 1 inch (about 4 cm. by 2.5 cm.), dark brown in color, and kind of lumpy from the rice chunks. Unfortunately for me, the chocolate was dark chocolate, which I'm not usually a fan of. So these tasted unpleasantly bitter to me. The rice was nice, but the dark chocolate ruined it. Didn't like, and didn't finish these.
3) Jules Destrooper, almond thin biscuits: These were dark brown in color, and rectangular in shape. About 6 cm. by 3.5 cm.( about 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches) and with visible almond pieces. These I enjoyed. The sweetness was at a good level--neither bland nor overpowering and cloying. Solid cookie.
4) Jules Destrooper, butter crisps cookies: These looked a lot like the butter waffles, only thinner. They were roughly oval in shape, and were about 4 inches by 2.5 inches (about 9.5 cm. by 6 cm.). They also had "JB" embossed on them. They were thin and crunchy. Noticeable butter taste. Rather like the butter waffles again, they were decent but not spectacular. Kind of "meh" overall.
So, to recap, I liked one kind, disliked one, and thought two were average. I will say I thought these cookies were a bit overpriced, considering how few came to a box. But, if you're really into the buttery waffle flavor, and/or enjoy dark chocolate, you may disagree with my opinions.
Back in my February 24, 2018 post on Belgian fruit drinks, I briefly discussed some famous Belgians. Just to flesh this out a little, I'm going to mention some more. For starters, the inventor of the saxophone was Belgian--Adolphe Sax. In the world of cycling, 5 time Tour de France winner (and many, many other races winner) Eddy Merchx is also Belgian. Then there was priest/mathematician/astronomer/physics professor George Lemaitre, arguably most famous for pioneering The Big Bang Theory of the universe. And Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a chemist who invented Bakelite, a progenitor of plastic. Finally, actress Audrey Hepburn ("Roman Holiday" (1953), "Sabrina" (1954), "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "Charade" (1963), "Wait Until Dark" (1967) is classified as British, but she was born in Belgium. As was famous American fashion designer Liz Claiborne.
Switching topics, I'm pleased to reveal that another story of mine will be published as part of an anthology in about a month. Things are moving very fast--I just learned it was accepted only a few days ago. Anyway, the book (from Devil's Rock Publishing) will be called "The Other Side," is edited by Daniel Willcocks, and has a scheduled publishing date of October 19th. More info to come in the next few weeks.
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