Belgium Surprise

A recent sample swap with @dram_gazette delivered an unexpected and surprising additional sample!

Let see what it was...

I'm sure most of you know Wim or @dram_gazette as he's known on twitter, he publishes regular whisky reviews in a unique format, recently publishing number 500! You can find his reviews here!

I've known Wim for years and we regularly swap whisky samples - thanks to him I've got to try whisky from a few interesting Belgium distilleries.

A recent sample swap including something a little strange....

Some strange purple cones!

It turns out these are a Belgium sweet called Cuberdons, theculturetrip.com website describes them as:

"Maybe it’s the weird official name or maybe it’s the unusual color, but the fact remains that the raspberry flavored cuberdon has had a rough time conquering tourists’ hearts the way the Belgian waffle or the country’s luxurious chocolates have. It’s not for lack of a cute nickname or local charm either. Dubbed neuzekes (or ‘little noses’) for their similarity to the human nose – minus the deep violet hue – this traditional candy, originating in Ghent, is one of the most nostalgia-inducing treats around."

As is true for many a delicious sweet, it is believed that Cuberdon were invented by accident! They  date back to 1873, when a Ghent pharmacist called De Vick discarded a batch of medicinal syrup. A few days later he found that the surface of the syrup had hardened to form an outer crust, while the inside remained liquid. Inspired, he opened a candy shop, and the Cuberdon was born.

By the end of the 19th century, Ghent's streets were full of vendors with the sweets piled high in purple mountains on their bicycle booths. To this day, older Belgians relate to them in a sentimental way, regarding them as an artisanal specialty from their youth!

In the 1950s, Antoine Geldhof was given the recipe while working at De Vick’s factory in Ghent. He went on to open Confiserie Geldhof - the current market leader out of the three major Cuberdon makers. The third generation family-run business, based in Eeklo northwest of Ghent, still makes its Cuberdons from the original recipe, using gum arabic, sugar, glucose and starch. The ingredients are boiled together, set in a conical mould and baked in an oven for at least 12 hours before cooling. The entire process - from boiling to packaging - takes 4 to 5 days resulting in a sweet with a slightly-hard outer shell and deliciously soft and gooey inside.

One reason for the Cuberdon’s lack of international VIP status is its rather short shelf life, only around 3 weeks before its hard crust starts to thicken and the gooey center within starts to crystalize. A wide array of flavours is now available including strawberry, blueberry, lemon, apple, anise and chocolate!

Let see what they are like!

Appearance: 2.5cm tall dark purple cones, when opened the runny jammy centre is released.

Nose: Raspberry jam, icing sugar, hints of almond marzipan.

Palate: Crunchy sugary exterior gives way to a crystallised inside and runny jelly interior. Sweet raspberry jam, sugary marzipan and a hint of citrus.

Finish: Short sweet sugary notes.

Overall: An interesting sweet, reminds me a little of a Jelly Baby but with a runny inside, the Cuberdon is a lot firmer to start with but once the hard code and soft jelly merge in the mouth it's similar. I must admit when I first saw the packed in the parcel I mistook the dark purple for chocolate and was expecting a Belgium Chocolate type sweet but this is obviously completely different. Unusual and really nice - if you're ever in Belgium get some! Now that nearly liquid centre could be whisky......

 

Many thanks to @dram_gazette for the samples!

Geeky stuff:

My review in Wim's style!