How to Eat Beskuit

The first bite of beskuit is a surprise for most Dutch people. It’s rock hard, and that’s exactly the point. Beskuit is baked twice and then dried for hours, so it keeps for months. But that also means you can’t just bite straight into it.

Here’s how it’s done

Take your beskuit, and dunk it in a hot cup of coffee, tea or rooibos. Hold it in until the dunked part goes soft, then eat that soft part. Dunk again, and repeat, until the piece gets too small to hold with your fingers without getting them wet.

Then you grab the spoon

At that point, just drop the last piece into the coffee, and fish it back out with a spoon. Nobody wants wet, hot fingers, and this way the very last crumb tastes just as good as the first bite.

How long you dunk depends on which beskuit you’re eating. Our karringmelk and mosbolletjie beskuit are a little lighter and soften faster. Bruin beskuit is denser and can stay in the coffee a bit longer. You’ll know it’s ready when it gives just slightly as you bite, without falling apart.

Coffee is the classic choice, but rooibos works just as well, especially in the evening. Some people dunk quickly, others let it soak almost all the way through. There’s no wrong way, as long as you actually do it.