DUTCH TREAT NO MORE

It will soon be over.

Overshadowed by fruit stands that Keremeos is known for, is a Dutch and European products store.  After so many years of operation, since February 1981, DutchMill Imports will close this November 2015.  It was actually a fruit stand till five years ago. 

Cheese (the goat gouda was good) and licorice are the most popular.   Other items include Maatjes herring, smoked mackerel and eel, Delft Blue giftware, housewares, and wooden shoes - all from Holland.

But the pièces de résistance are homemade in Keremeos, Canada: the apple pie, and DutchMill’s specialty butter shortbread called “boterkoek”.  Owner Cor Kriekaart, who migrated from Holland and is retiring, said the shortbread has fans from all over the world.  He will not reveal the recipe but the name tag did say "made daily from farm fresh eggs and European butter".  

Cor Kriekaart with his delightful "boterkoek" butter shortbread.

He did share what makes the apple pie exceptional.  The secret?  Of course, the apples.

Two cultivars grown in the orchard behind the store provide the apples that are sliced and layered together in every apple pie with a lattice crust top dusted with sugar  Cor said the crust is a basic Crisco dough.  The apples?  Belle de Boskoop, an apple cultivar that began as a chance seedling in Boskoop, Netherlands in 1856.   And Winesap, an apple cultivar developed in the mid-1800s in the eastern United States.  Both are tart, firm and tangy which as a combo makes for a superb apple pie.  I bought the last two wedges ($2.50 each + gst) that morning.  DutchMill apple pie has a delicious embrace of tart and sweet giving you a tango yummy kick from tongue to palate.  A whole apple pie cost $14.95 and will be available only until mid-October. 

BTW, did you know there is an optimal apple slice thickness that will lessen sogginess in an apple pie?  See Perfectly Unsoggy Apple Pie

DutchMill Apple Pie

As for the butter shortbreads, one can still order them after November.  About 10 inches in diameter, a whole sells $7.50 a piece.  Add shipping if you are not picking up in Keremeos – about a three hour drive from Vancouver BC.   Cor said they will still bake and sell the butter shortbread until mid-November, deliver to Penticton and Kelowna, but not to Oliver, Osoyoos or Okanagan Falls.

DutchMill’s specialty butter shortbread called Boterkoek

DutchMill Imports is at 3010 Highway 3, Keremeos – right side if you are driving towards Vancouver.    You will see on the roadside a cardboard cut-out of a Dutch Maid in a Volendam costume with her peaked and winged cap.   

DutchMill Imports is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Other days – the shop is open from 10 am till 4 pm.

To order, e-mail cor@dutchmill-imports.com, or call  250 499 5791 or  250 400 6306

See www.dutchmill-imports.com for just a few more details.