Limburgse vlaai

Appearance & taste

Limburgse vlaai is a round, golden-brown tart 10 to 30 cm in diameter. It consists of a base of sweetened yeast dough, at most 1 cm high after baking, a topping and, where applicable, a top layer. Toppings and decorations vary greatly and are always baked with the tart. The tart is left open (“open vlaai”) or covered with a dough lid (“dekselvlaai”), with strips of dough (“reepvlaai”) or with crumble (“kruimelvlaai”); lids and strips may be sprinkled with sugar before or during baking.

The specification attaches importance to the generous topping, which shows in the minimum weight: depending on diameter and variant, a tart weighs at least 130 g (open, 10 cm) to 1,400 g (with strips of dough, 30 cm). The rice pudding variant is open, but as heavy as a tart with crumble.

Production

The yeast dough has a consistency similar to bread dough and contains no added artificial flavourings. It is topped with fruit, rice pudding, cream, semolina pudding, cream cheese, a sugar and egg mixture or a combination of these. The tart is always baked with its topping and, where applicable, the top layer; after that it is not processed or decorated further.

It is prepared and baked in Belgian and Dutch Limburg. The tart is made fresh every day and sold at most one day after it is made. It may be packed for immediate sale, but may not be frozen after baking. The packaging shows the name, the EU symbol and a common logo of the bakers; unpacked tarts are offered with both marks nearby.

Origin & history

The area covers the adjoining provinces of Belgian Limburg and Dutch Limburg. According to the specification, the recipe comes from farmhouses: in 1878 Jacobus Craandijk described a Limburg harvest festival at which the “vlaai”, a tart of wheat flour and fruit compote, was served alongside white bread. Housewives topped it with fruit from their own orchards; both provinces are traditional fruit-growing areas. Drying fruit gave rise to the “bakkemoezenvlaai” with dried pears, later preserved fruit was added, and at the end of the 19th century a canning factory that made cherry topping, for example, possible out of season. Topped alternately with dairy products, the tart was served all year round at festivals and processions.

In the 20th century the vlaai moved into bakeries and became a Sunday treat; according to the specification, small bakeries bake about eight variants a day, and up to 14 at weekends. In 1911 Maria Hubertina Hendrix from Weert began selling small vlaais to travellers in a station restaurant. In 1977 the Belgian authors J. Collen and J. Lambin listed toppings of apple compote, apple slices, rhubarb, gooseberries, forest berries, plums, cherries, mixed fruit and rice pudding. Since the 1960s the tart has appeared in travel guides of both countries; in both countries it is listed in the gastronomic heritage inventory “Euro Terroirs”, whose Dutch edition appeared in 1998. A 2003 survey of young people in Limburg and the Rhineland found that it is the best-known Limburg dish.