Oldtimers, De Echte Zachtzoute Hinderloper Ruitjesdrop

• Mild Salt
• 235 grams

The story behind the licorice: by Jochem Douwenga, son of the inventor

In the blessed year of 1924, my father, Douwe Douwenga, as a young man, visited the Hindelooper fair with three friends. The beer flowed richly. And in a jolly mood the three friends locked up my father in an old wooden toilet that was customary at the time. My father did not give a shit. He sat in the toilet for four hours. And he used that time well. His only contact with the outside world was the small, diamond-shaped opening in the door of the bathroom. Would not it be nice, my father thought, if I thought of a diamond shaped licorice now. Salt, but not too salty, people like that.

He pressed his eye against the window and could just see Hindeloopen’s weapon at the town hall. (A golden, galloping doe in a green pasture.) Then he knew it. A solid, mild salt, rhombic licorice would be it. With the Hindeloopen’s doe in it. The Hindelooper Ruitjesdrop. A year later, the licorice was already a success. Not only in Friesland, but even in Alkmaar and Delfzijl, it was eagerly deducted. And in 1931 the five hundred thousandth can came out of the factory. A record for that time. So it is an honor for me to pick up this old recipe from my father so everyone in Friesland and the rest of the Netherlands can enjoy it again.