Rosemary Crackers

Rosemary Crackers with Sea Salt from Zeeuws-Vlaanderen

The Rosemary Cracker is a thin, savory wafer from the Netherlands, seasoned with dried rosemary and sea salt. Neither a herb bread nor a sweet biscuit, it is a Mediterranean-spiced savory snack for wine, cheese, and antipasti.

Rosemary Crackers by Verduijn's are paper-thin herb crackers from Eede in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The rosemary is fine enough not to be prickly, yet robust enough to hold its own against cheese. Add to that a touch of sea salt. If you think of the Netherlands as a land of sweet waffles, this will prove you wrong.

Rosemary, sea salt, and lots of air

The cracker smells of a herb garden in the midday sun—resinous and warm—and tastes significantly milder than the aroma suggests.

When you bite into it, it yields immediately. No resistance, no splintering, just a quick snap followed by butter, grain, and rosemary. Dry, airy, Mediterranean. The sea salt sits on top and hits the tongue first; the rosemary follows leisurely and lingers all the longer. Of the three varieties we carry, this is the most understated.

Dried rosemary is tricky in the oven. It burns quickly and becomes bitter and sharp because the essential oils evaporate at high heat. That it remains soft and rounded here is a question of quantity and the right moment in the baking process. The 75 g in a bag contain a great deal of experience, even if it doesn't look like it.

Especially nice with goat cheese and white wine

The Rosemary Cracker looks for mild partners. Fresh goat cheese, a young sheep's milk cheese, tomato with good olive oil, and a cool white wine.

It goes well with everything Mediterranean. Place it on the table with olives and antipasti, or top it with ricotta and a few drops of honey. Good butter and radishes are another idea that will disappear faster than you think. For something heartier and sharper, try the Black Pepper Cracker from the same series.

It is one of those snacks that needs no explanation. You put out the bowl, and it empties. For a cheese platter, it is worth putting both varieties side by side, as they cater to different cheeses: rosemary for the mild and fresh ones, pepper for the bold ones. The rest of the sweet and savory department has a hard time on such an evening.

The crackers also have their place at the turn of the year, and logically so, as Verduijn's grew up with New Year's waffles. The Rosemary Cracker is the savory answer to that, unobtrusive enough for a long evening and sturdy enough to survive a bowl full of dips without getting soggy. If you are planning a New Year's Eve party, it’s better to buy one bag more than your calculation suggests.

Three generations between Breskens and Eede

Behind the cracker is Verduijn's Fine Biscuits, a Dutch family business that has existed since 1935 and is now led by the third generation.

It was founded by Piet Verduijn, then 31 years old and a confectionary trader in Breskens. After the war, he began baking himself—first seasonal New Year's waffles, then all year round. The products soon crossed the border into Belgium, France, and Germany. In 1970, 35 people worked in the company, and Piet handed it over to his son Adrie.

In the 1980s, it was the turn of his sons Jean-Pierre and Henk. They opened a second bakery in Aardenburg, which was already too small by 2004, and built a new facility in Eede, less than ten kilometers from the North Sea. You can see what has come of it in the Verduijn's range. Further savory snacks are available alongside them.