Vla!

[Giuliano]

Joby,

Many years ago on a trip to visit friends in the Netherlands we were introduced to vla. Whenever we return we bring with us several crates of decent beer, a couple of mature Dutch cheeses (far better than the tasteless plastic pretence for Dutch cheese in British supermarkets) and a few cartons of vla. How on earth are you meant to get something with the consistency of a thick custard out of a milk carton wit ha 15mm aperture? Knowing the Dutch well I appreciate they are a parsimonious race, so I can’t believe they leave 20% of the product in the carton. How do they get it out? Cutting it open with scissors and then smearing the vla over your face as you lick all the surfaces doesn’t seem very Dutch.

[Mr-C]

I had no idea what you were talking about so had to Google it.Seems you’re missing the tool for the job!

Vla was originally sold in glass bottles and the consistency made extracting the complete amount difficult, so a special bottle scraper (“flessenschraper” or “flessenlikker”) was specifically designed. Despite the fact that vla is now normally sold in cartons, these scrapers are still common in Dutch family kitchens. However, as they are no longer mass produced they are slowly vanishing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlaandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_scraper

[Jetstream]

What does it taste like?

[Giuliano]

What flavour do you want? There are probably more than 20 varieties. Personally I like the vanilla, which isn’t the same as plain.