Hagelslag is the Dutch name for small sprinkles eaten on a slice of buttered bread, most often chocolate ones and most often at breakfast or lunch. The word combines hagel (hail) and slag (shower or strike): a "hailstorm" of small pellets falling on a sandwich. To a visitor it looks like cake decoration on toast; to a Dutch eater it is simply one of the standard things to put on a boterham, eaten by adults as routinely as by children.
Breakfast item, candy, or bread topping?
In Dutch usage hagelslag is broodbeleg — a sweet bread topping — rather than snoep (candy). Supermarkets shelve it with chocolate spread, jam and peanut butter, not in the sweets aisle, and it is eaten as part of an ordinary meal rather than as a treat between meals. The convention is simple: bread, a layer of butter or margarine (without it the sprinkles do not stick), and enough hagelslag to cover the slice. It is eaten at breakfast and at the cold Dutch lunch, and is not limited to children.
A short history
The name predates the chocolate version. According to the standard account, B.E. Dieperink of the Amsterdam confectioner Venco came up with the idea during a hailstorm in the autumn of 1908, and the first hagelslag was a white, brittle aniseed granule sold to bakers and grocers. A chocolate version followed around 1913 from the chocolate maker Erven H. de Jong, which registered "hagelslag" in combination with chocolate; competitors therefore used names such as chocoladekorrels or chocoladehagel.
Venz — founded in Amsterdam in 1890 by Hendrik de Vries, the name coming from "de Vries en Zonen" — began making chocolate sprinkles in 1936 and became the country's largest producer. The year 1936 is therefore sometimes misremembered as the date hagelslag was invented. The other dominant brand is De Ruijter, the Baarn firm better known for muisjes. Both brands later passed through the food groups CSM and Heinz and are now associated with Kraft Heinz.
What the law says
Chocolate hagelslag is one of the few sprinkles with a legal definition. Under the Dutch Warenwetbesluit Cacao en chocolade, a product sold as chocolate hagelslag must contain at least 32% dry cocoa solids, including at least 12% cocoa butter and at least 14% fat-free cocoa solids. Milk-chocolate hagelslag must contain at least 20% dry cocoa solids, with minimum milk solids and fat. Cheaper sprinkles that fall short of these figures are sold as cacaofantasie or simply hagel, without the word "chocolate".
| Dutch name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Chocoladehagel puur | Dark chocolate sprinkles; at least 32% dry cocoa solids |
| Chocoladehagel melk | Milk chocolate sprinkles; at least 20% dry cocoa solids |
| Chocoladehagel wit | White chocolate sprinkles |
| Cacaofantasie / hagel | Cocoa-flavoured sprinkles below the legal chocolate minimum |
| Vruchtenhagel | Sugar sprinkles in fruit flavours and colours |
| Anijshagel | Aniseed-flavoured sugar sprinkles |
| Chocoladevlokken | Chocolate flakes, the thin-shaved cousin of hagelslag |
How long does hagelslag last?
Hagelslag is a dry product and keeps well. Use the best-before date on the box as the guide, keep the box closed, and store it somewhere cool and dry, away from the stove and strong smells. Chocolate sprinkles that have been warm or damp can develop "bloom" — a dull grey or white film where fat or sugar has migrated to the surface. Bloomed chocolate is safe to eat but less pleasant in texture. Throw the box out if it smells musty, has clumped from moisture, or shows signs of pantry insects.
Outside the Netherlands
The habit travelled with Dutch influence: chocolate sprinkles on bread are also familiar in Flanders, Suriname and Indonesia, where they are called meses. Elsewhere hagelslag is mostly sold to Dutch expatriates through import shops; the buying guide covers where to find it.