{"id":3457,"date":"2015-10-12T18:19:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T18:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=3457"},"modified":"2015-10-12T18:19:11","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T18:19:11","slug":"vla-is-dutch-all-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/vla-is-dutch-all-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"VLA is Dutch &#8211; all you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>VLA &#8211; what do these three letters mean in the Netherlands? A mysterious secret service? A shortcut for a big city in the Netherlands? Maybe something&#8230; astronomical?<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 549px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/pC9Hhu\" aria-label=\"15505299296 1ee1c05593 B\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\"  alt=\"\" width=\"539\" height=\"359\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/c2.staticflickr.com\/6\/5606\/15505299296_1ee1c05593_b.jpg\"><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">No, New Mexico&#8217;s Very Large Array (VLA) is not what I am referring to! (Image by Diana Robinson at Flickr.com)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>All NO, NO, NO! I am talking about something delicious here.\u00a0The Netherlands is famous for its Heineken beer, its cheeses, bikes, marijuana, dykes and flatness. But not for the <i>toetje\u00a0<\/i>(dessert) <em>vla<\/em>, weirdly!<\/p>\n<p><em>Vla\u00a0<\/em>is an\u00a0exclusive to the Netherlands, and not widespread in\u00a0the world.<em>\u00a0<\/em>I think that is because it is fresh\u00a0<em>zuivel\u00a0<\/em>(dairy), and can therefore not easily be transported&#8230; And maybe it is also a matter of taste?<\/p>\n<p>Well, it is a warm recommendation from me: the next time you are in the Netherlands, go get some\u00a0<em>Vla<\/em>! It is not a dessert you can find in restaurants usually, so just walk into a supermarket and head right to the refrigerated\u00a0<em>zuivel\u00a0<\/em>section. Next to the <em>k<\/em><em>wark\u00a0<\/em>(quark) and <em>y<\/em><em>oghurt\u00a0<\/em>(Yogurt).<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what is\u00a0v<em>la<\/em>\u00a0exactly?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The law has something to say about this, actually! In the\u00a0<em>Warenwetbesluit Zuivel\u00a0<\/em>(Product\u00a0Law Decision Dairy), Article 14, it is specified that a dairy product may only be called\u00a0<em>Vla\u00a0<\/em>if it contains:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0<em>zetmeel\u00a0<\/em>(starch)\u00a0as an important ingredient and at least 50% cow milk;<\/li>\n<li>a milk fat level of at least 2.6%;<\/li>\n<li>other ingredients needed (like a flavoring, sugar, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This should result in a\u00a0<em>dikvloeibaar samengesteld zuivelproduct<\/em> (thick liquid, composed dairy product).<\/p>\n<p>This all sounds a bit scientific and not very telling &#8211; what is it\u00a0<em>actually<\/em>? It has a consistency between yogurt and pudding, and is very smooth.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3521\" style=\"width: 551px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450.jpg\" aria-label=\"IMG 1825 E1444673866450 300x224\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3521\" class=\"wp-image-3521 \"  alt=\"\" width=\"541\" height=\"404\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450-300x224.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vla in de Schappen!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It also comes in a lot of different flavors, always with a good amount of sugar, to make it nice and sweet. Very popular are Vanilla and Chocolate.\u00a0There are many, many varieties, from those where chocolate balls are added, real pieces of fruit, where two or even more different flavors are mixed (VlaFlip, Dubbelvla&#8230;).\u00a0Of course there are also light versions, with less sugar and added sweetener, for example. Or another type of lightness:\u00a0<em>luchtig toetje<\/em>. This is <i>vla\u00a0<\/i>with added air, to make it fluffy.<\/p>\n<p>It is mostly eaten as a\u00a0<em>toetje\u00a0<\/em>(dessert), but can also be eaten as a\u00a0<em>tussendoortje\u00a0<\/em>(snack).<\/p>\n<p>Adding some ingredients yourself can be nice too. For example, vanilla\u00a0<em>vla\u00a0<\/em>with jam or fresh fruit is great. Or add some\u00a0<em>yoghurt\u00a0<\/em>to give it less of a sweet taste. Adding some\u00a0<em>hagelslag\u00a0<\/em>(chocolate sprinkles) is of course also possible. Well, the possibilities are endless!<\/p>\n<p>I am a super big fan of it!<\/p>\n<p><b>Where can I get this?!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Since <em>vla<\/em> is not much available outside of the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of far west Germany, I found some recipes for you. Below a video in Dutch, which explains how to make <em>vla <\/em>quickly yourself!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zelf ouderwets vanille vla maken\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WnXP81hpDmE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If that all went too quick for you, this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.typicaldutchstuff.com\/vla.shtml\">English explanation<\/a> might help you!<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy!!!<\/p>\n<p>Have you heard of <em>vla<\/em> before?\u00a0Have you found it in your country?<\/p>\n<p>In case you have had it before, what do you think about it?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"261\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450-350x261.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450-350x261.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450-768x574.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450-1024x765.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2015\/09\/IMG_1825-e1444673866450.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>VLA &#8211; what do these three letters mean in the Netherlands? A mysterious secret service? A shortcut for a big city in the Netherlands? Maybe something&#8230; astronomical? All NO, NO, NO! I am talking about something delicious here.\u00a0The Netherlands is famous for its Heineken beer, its cheeses, bikes, marijuana, dykes and flatness. But not for&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/vla-is-dutch-all-you-need-to-know\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":3521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[60713],"tags":[2064,70,358737,358736],"class_list":["post-3457","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-2","tag-dessert","tag-food","tag-tussendoortje","tag-vla"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3457"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3594,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457\/revisions\/3594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}