Rademaker Hopjes

Hopjes are hard, coffee-flavored caramel candies. They’re named after the 18th century Dutch diplomat Baron Hendrik Hop, who, for a time, lived in an apartment above the Van Haaren & Nieuwerkerk confectioners’ shop in the Hague. One night, Hop left a cup of coffee on a warm radiator. The coffee slowly evaporated, leaving behind a deliciously sticky residue. Inspired, Hop asked the confectioners’ shop downstairs to make a coffee-flavored candy. Theodorus van Haaren obliged, inventing a creamy coffee candy which he named after Hop. The candies quickly spread in popularity, likely thanks to Hop’s job as a diplomat (odds are he gifted them to foreign dignitaries during his travels). Soon, other candy makers began making hopjes, including the confectioner J.P. Rademaker, the maker of these Rademaker Hopjes. In fact, the two companies spent decades in legal disputes with each other, both fighting to claim the iconic candies as their own. We, personally, love the results of a little candy competition! Don’t you?