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Sweets from Curaçao

Originally published on 30 July 2009. Updated – 28 April 2011 to add some new recipe links, where found. For additional information on Curaçao cuisine visit the following pages (found through googling)

Almost 2 years ago, I wrote about my visit to Curaçao, the lovely island in the Caribbean Sea that is part of the Netherlands Antilles. Back when I would post about my travels more regularly. Or just post more regularly…

Anyway, one of the things that had really interested me from my visit was the plate of traditional sweets I received, as it was a reminder that even if names were different, and languages, the people and food of the Caribbean do share so much!

Curaçao - Traditional Sweets 2

Of course, back then, I really didn’t know for sure the names of what I had eaten! But thanks to Flickr, and a helpful comment* from a Curaçao flickrite, I can now inform my readers. Starting from the pastry at the front left and moving clockwise -

  • Tèrt (cupe cake), a small crusty bottom filled with prunes. (recipe in papiamentu)
  • Kokada (the dark brown one), grated coconut in brown sugar glaze (this is the one that tasted like tulum) (the original link seems to not exist anymore, I searched and found this one (not in English).
  • Tentalaria (the white one), ground cashews in a sugar cream (the one that reminded me somewhat of peyra) – try this link (not in English).
  • Panseiku (peanuts chunks), praline of toasted peanuts, in a brown-sugar brittle (we all have nutcakes!)
  • Ko’i Lechi (bar) meaning literally milk thing, caramel bar (fudge!, the Trini kind, hard and sugary)

Another view of the plate.

Hope you enjoyed the revisit to Curaçao…or at least the sweets of Curaçao!

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* yes, yes, this comment was from a year ago, but it’s about time I blogged it! And make my goal of 2 posts in July.

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This entry was written by Chennette and posted on April 29, 2011 at 9:00 am and filed under Caribbean, food, travel. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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14 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

  1. Nice!

    1. Cynthia on July 31st, 2009 at 12:07 am

  2. That photo certainly got my sweet tooth going! I’m a fudgeaholic – there’s a place in West Mall that has them in all sorts of delicious flavours and I try to avert my head when I’m passing by there because once I step inside all is lost.

    4. Liane Spicer on August 1st, 2009 at 10:04 pm

  3. Good day,

    Curacao is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to. The people were so friendly and no one made problems. I still remember the sweet houses. All of them had different colours and seemed to be very traditional.
    I really miss the Netherlands Antilles. Although I paid a lot of money, I would travel again to Curacao…

    5. Flug on August 4th, 2009 at 10:03 am

  4. I don’t have a sweet tooth and that is why I probably still have all my teeth and just one cavity. Time will probably take care of that ;)

    The sweets look good but nut cake takes the cake ;)

    6. aka_lol on August 5th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

  5. Nut cake is a serious classic :-) Nuts AND sugar. Although I can resist sweet things much more easily than fried and savoury things…

    7. Chennette on August 5th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

  6. I was born and raised in curacao and have been living in new york for a few years now long time and let me tell you Korsou have some of the best kept secret dishes ever. And ive tasted lots of cuisine. Thanks fot the memories because i forgot abot tentalaria. The best. Yum thanks again

    8. tayanara on October 12th, 2009 at 10:01 pm

  7. Hello and welcome tayanara – I would love to go again to Curacao (when I’m not fasting!) so I can discover more surprises and secrets!

    9. Chennette on October 12th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

  8. Great article which I read with pleasure. Keep on posting these good ones and THANX!

    10. Fernsehsessel Blog on April 26th, 2010 at 10:04 am

  9. The best example of this unique Caribbean style is iguana stew. Prepared just as you would imagine, the dish is a favorite of locals (who say the meat greatly resembles chicken), though it often takes an adventurous tourist to have a taste. Traditional Dutch recipes dating to the early colonial period such as keshi yena – a baked dish with plenty of Gouda cheese, meat and other fresh ingredients – are also popular in many of Curacao’s restaurants. Much to the surprise of many visitors, Indonesian cuisine plays an important role in Curacao’s culinary scene. Brought to the island by the Dutch after establishing colonies in Southeast Asia, Indonesian ingredients and cooking techniques have found their way into many favorite local recipes. One such dish is rijisttafel (Dutch for “rice table”), a combination of rice, vegetables, meat or seafood and the hearty kick of chili peppers.

    11. Magnetschmuck on June 11th, 2010 at 10:49 pm

  10. thanks for the love… i hope you go to korsou soon…and by the way the iguana soup is the best…..i miss it….and the iguana eggs are known for strenght

    12. tayanara on August 12th, 2010 at 11:06 pm

  11. I´m a freak of sweets so I´m trying to taste all of those sweets. Do you think it´s possible to get informations about how they made it. Maybe you can mail me and send me some more informations. Thank you

    13. College Jacken on September 3rd, 2010 at 8:56 am

  12. The links in the post are all I know.

    14. Chennette on September 3rd, 2010 at 12:15 pm

  13. The links is the post don’t work anymore. And I’d also really like to know how to make these delicious-looking sweets :)

    Hey knuffel – thanks for visiting and for bringing this to my attention. I searched for some new links, but wasn’t always successful. The last 2 I don’t have recipes for, but the panseiku was really just like a brittle and the ko’i lechi was a condensed milk fudge, so you can look for equivalent/similar Caribbean recipes for those things.

    15. knuffel on April 18th, 2011 at 8:48 am

  14. Those above are really, really sweet! It is my first time to see those sweets and I am craving for it now. Maybe one of these days I’ll go there and not to miss the sweets.

    16. Healthy Snack on May 12th, 2011 at 10:23 pm

2 Trackbacks

  1. By Global Voices Online » Trinidad & Tobago, Curacao: Sweet Tooth on July 31, 2009 at 9:40 am

    [...] Lifespan of a Chennette blogs about traditional sweets from Curacao: “It was a reminder that even if names were different, and languages, the people and food of the Caribbean do share so much!” Cancel this reply [...]

  2. By Global Voices in het Nederlands » Trinidad & Tobago, Curaçao: Zoetekauw on July 31, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    [...] Lifespan of a Chennette [en] blogt over traditionele lekkernijen uit Curaçao: “Het was weer eens een bewijs dat de mensen en het eten in het Caraïbisch gebied heel veel overeenkomsten hebben, ook al gebruiken we verschillende namen en verschillende talen!” [...]

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