Item of the Week: Sirop de Liège

I got the idea to launch a new section in this blog: the Item of the Week, where I will introduce you to a typical Belgian object and I will (try to) do it every week. This week, a light-blue pot you can get in any supermarket in Belgium and it comes from my city... Liège!

 

Le Sirop de Liège (or Liège syrup) is made of evaporated fruit juices, mostly apple and pear ones, and is a traditional spread from the province of Liège (mostly the city of Herve). It is dark-brown and has a sort of unexpected taste. Unlike peanut butter or nutella, you wouldn't like to put it on a spoon and eat it like that, but rather on bread at least. Personally, I love it on white cheese in a sandwich, because it gives all the sweet taste, without being too sugary.

More importantly, it is also used in the preparation of the Boulet à la Liégeoise, one of the most famous (Liège waffle excluded...) dishes of the province. We use it to make the sauce (mixed with fruits and onions) which will accompany pork-beaf meatballs and fries. After it, you will feel filled up!

After talking to Dutch people, I realised they had the same kind of spread, which they call Appelstroop (Apple Syrup), but it is not quite the same, because they don't use any pear juice in it.