Spices of Amsterdam
The home of the Dutch East India Company, which dominated the nutmeg, mace and clove trade in the seventeenth century.
Traded and grown here
Best time: April to September.
Amsterdam was the base of the Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602. The company took control of the clove, nutmeg and mace trade from the Moluccas and Banda, and the canal houses of the city were built on the profits.
Spices and trade
The Dutch have kept a taste for spice, seen in speculaas, the spiced biscuit, pepernoten, kruidnoten and gingerbread. Indonesian food, from the colonial link, is popular, and the rijsttafel is a well-known feast.
The place and its people
Dutch cooking mixes native dishes with Indonesian and Surinamese ones. The history of the colonial trade is told in museums, including the Scheepvaartmuseum.
Visiting
The Maritime Museum and the old canal ring give the context. Speculaas is sold around the Sinterklaas season in November and December.
A trail idea for Amsterdam
- Het Scheepvaartmuseum See the maritime history.
- A bakery Taste speculaas.
- An Indonesian restaurant Try a rijsttafel.
- The canal ring Walk past the merchants' houses.
Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Amsterdam" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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