Black Pepper Cracker

Black Pepper Cracker with pepper and sea salt from Zeeland

The Black Pepper Cracker is a wafer-thin, savory waffle biscuit from Zeeland, seasoned with coarsely ground black pepper and a hint of sea salt. Not a sweet cookie, but a salty companion for beer, wine, and cheese boards.

Black Pepper Crackers by Verduijn's are thin, savory crackers from Eede in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the Dutch corner on the Belgian border. They break with a bright, dry snap, taste first of butter and toasted grain, and only in the finish does the pepper make itself known. A biscuit that knows when to hold back.

First the snap, then the pepper

The cracker breaks dry and bright, tastes of butter and toasted grain, and only pushes the black pepper along when you have almost forgotten it.

It remains surprisingly light on the palate. This is due to its thinness, because the dough runs so flat through the iron that there is hardly any crumb, only crust. Salty, nutty, with a fine heat in the finish. The pepper is not baked for so long that it becomes bitter, but remains grainy and fresh. A trace of sea salt holds both together.

The fact that a cracker turns out so thin is no small feat. Too much heat, and it browns at the edges before the center is done. Too little, and it becomes chewy instead of crispy. The fine line between the two determines whether the biscuit shatters or bends. The 75 g in the bag is enough for two people for a long evening, if you can show some restraint.

With dry Pilsner, aged Gouda and blue cheese

The Black Pepper Cracker likes strong companions. With a dry Pilsner, aged Gouda, or a blue cheese, it fully plays out its spiciness.

As a base for canapés, the topping hardly needs any more salt. Cream cheese with chives, a strip of smoked salmon, a shaving of Parmigiano Reggiano and it's ready. Those who prefer herbs to heat should grab the Rosemary Cracker from the same series, which is milder and uses rosemary instead of pepper.

It goes just as well with wine. A dry Riesling absorbs the spiciness, a tannic red finds a partner on equal footing in the pepper. On the apéritif table, the bowl usually disappears before the second course arrives. And because the cracker is dry and neutral enough, it can also handle sweet accompaniments: fig mustard or a spoonful of chutney are worth considering.

For New Year's Eve, the cracker has a home game anyway. The company grew up with New Year's waffles, and even if the pepper cracker represents the savory side of the family, it fits the turn of the year better than any bag of chips. Set it out with sparkling wine, and the wait until midnight will pass noticeably faster.

Piet Verduijn and the house on Havenstraat

The crackers are baked by Verduijn's Fine Biscuits, a third-generation family business from Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, which Piet Verduijn founded in 1935.

Piet initially traded in confectionery. It was only after the Second World War, which hit Breskens hard and cost him his wife, that he began baking New Year's waffles in his new house on Havenstraat, following the old Zeeland tradition. They were so successful that he soon sold them all year round and the whole family helped with the packaging.

By 1970, 35 people were already working in the company, and Piet handed it over to his son Adrie. Today, the grandchildren Jean-Pierre and Henk run the house. Since 2004, production has been located in Eede, right on the Belgian border, with steel band ovens where temperature and baking time are still adjusted by hand. The best way to taste the entire Verduijn's range is to try them one by one. More savory snacks can be found right next to them.