Borrelnootje

Cocktail nuts

A borrelnootje (English: roughly "cocktail nut") is a nut (often a peanut) with a crispy layer surrounding it, usually with a herbal flavour. It is often consumed in the Netherlands.

Origin[]

In the 1950s, the company Go & Zoon (later Go-Tan) made peanuts with a crispy outside.^[1] They marketed it as "Katjang Shanghai".^[2] This family company had introduced the nuts from Indonesia where till this day still Kacang Pedis (crispy peanuts) are being consumed.^[3] The nuts were imitated by companies such as Calvé and Duyvis. Calvé paid patent rights to Go-tan for the idea of mass-producing the nuts, whilst Duyvis invented their way of production.^[3]

Preparation[]

The layer around the cocktail nut consists mainly of starch. Depending on which type of nut, the nut will often be loose from the surround layer. This phenomenon could be a result of dough surround the nut rising, or due to moisture in the dough evaporating causing a decrease in volume.

Variations[]

The cocktail nut comes in several variations:

• The simplest cocktail nut, with a white layer, containing mainly garlic. Originally this variant was called the sjanghainootje. The current cocktail nuts are colour and taste variants of this.
• The tiger nut: cocktail nut of which the crispy layer has several colours. This variant was developed in the mid-nineties of the twentieth century.
• The Japanese cocktail nut: nut with a smooth, hard layer that can be found in the Japanese mix. These are somewhat sweet in taste.
• The oriental cocktail nut: cocktail nut curry, cumin, onion, garlic and coriander.

Besides this, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, there are packages with a mixed assortment of cocktail nuts.

See also[]

• Koh-Kae, a similar Thai brand
• Cracker nuts

References[]