A brief history of Dutch sprinkles a.k.a. hagelslag

There's no doubt about it: hagelslag is a traditional Dutch food. It is impossible to go to a Dutch supermarket without spotting little boxes filled with sprinkles on the shelves. These sprinkles are a favourite of the Dutch nation - yes even adults - and are said to contribute to their ranking as one of the happiest people in the world (although this is unconfirmed).

What is hagelslag?

Hagelslag gets its name from its resemblance to hail, but the word doesn’t just refer to the chocolate variety of the sprinkles, which are particularly popular. Instead, the name refers to the sandwich topping in all its varieties and flavours. 

In the supermarket, you can find around 20 varieties, including aniseed, fruit and forest fruits flavoured sprinkles, as well as chocolate hagelslag (milk, white and dark), extra-large sprinkles, chocolate flakes (chocoladevlokken) and low-sugar versions.

In the Netherlands, 14 million kilograms of hagelslag are consumed each year, and every day 750.000 slices of bread topped with hagelslag are eaten, often as part of a Dutch breakfast.

When was hagelslag invented?

According to the Amsterdam City Archives, hagelslag was first invented by B.E. Dieperink, director of the liquorice sweet company VENCO, in 1919. Apparently, he came upon the idea of making brittle, white aniseed-flavoured sprinkles and using them as a bread topping during a hailstorm on a bleak autumn day. Hagelslag became extremely popular and VENCO started delivering their hagelslag to bakers and supermarkets.

VENCO patented the name hagelslag. This meant that companies, such as De Ruijter who began making fruit-flavoured hagelslag in 1928, were not allowed to use the name “hagelslag”. Instead, De Ruijter named their products with the flavour of the sprinkles followed by “hagel”, for example fruit sprinkles were called vruchtenhagel. De Ruijter proved competition for VENCO with their lemon, raspberry, orange and aniseed flavours.

Less than a decade later, in 1936, Venz, a company producing chocolate and confectionery, began making chocolate hagelslag, which received the name chocoladehagel due to the patent. The idea to create chocolate hagelslag was supposedly the result of letters the Venz company received from a young boy requesting a chocolate topping for his bread.

Under food regulations in the Netherlands, dark chocolate sprinkles (chocoladehagelslag) must contain at least 32 percent cocoa, while milk chocolate sprinkles (melkchocoladehagelslag) require a minimum of 20 percent. Any varieties falling below these legal thresholds cannot be sold as chocolate and must instead be labelled as cocoa fantasy (cacaofantasie).

After the Second World War, manufacturers started developing and introducing all the flavours and varieties of hagelslag we see today.

Different names for hagelslag

Hagelslag is available in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium and a couple of former territories and parts of the Kingdom, including Suriname, Indonesia and the Dutch Caribbean islands (such as Aruba and Curaçao).

Outside of these countries, hagelslag or sprinkles are usually used to decorate cakes or as a topping for ice cream.

In other countries, the names for hagelslag differ. In Belgium, hagelslag is referred to as muizenstrontjes, which translates to mouse droppings. In Indonesia, it is called meses or meises.

Baby celebration tradition

Muisjes®, which translates to little mice, are another typical topping you can find in Dutch supermarkets, and they also look a little bit like sprinkles. They are little aniseeds covered with sugar and are a typical accompaniment to buttered rusks (beschuit met Muisjes). Muisjes and rusks are eaten at the celebration of a birth and have been around for quite some time.

In 1860, C.R. de Ruijter opened a bakery in Baarn and started selling the pink and white aniseed treat. Shortly after offering the regular Muisjes variety, De Ruijter began making crushed ones so that elderly people could enjoy them without worrying about what the harder Muisjes would do to their teeth.

In 1938, De Ruijter made special orange Muisjes to offer to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard at the birth of their daughter Princess Beatrix. Since then, the offering of orange Muisjes​​​​​​​ at the birth of a Prince or Princess of Orange has become a tradition.

Nowadays, blue or pink ones are eaten at the celebration of the birth of a baby boy or girl. The blue variety was introduced in 1994.

The royal custom has continued into the 21st century, with orange Muisjes returning to the shelves to celebrate the birth of Princess Catharina-Amalia in 2003 and the accession of King Willem-Alexander in 2013.

*Muisjes®  is a registered trademark of Koninklijke De Ruijter B.V.