{"id":65284,"date":"2026-08-20T20:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/nederlandse-keuken\/cacao-zaanstreek\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:29:21","slug":"cacao-zaanstreek","status":"publish","type":"dish","link":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/nederlandse-keuken\/cacao-zaanstreek\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocoa from the Zaan region"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the largest cocoa ports in the world sits in North Holland, and on an easterly wind you can smell it.<\/p>\n<h2>The port<\/h2>\n<p>Amsterdam and the Zaan region process a substantial share of the world&#8217;s cocoa. The storage sheds along the Zaan have been there over a century.<\/p>\n<h2>Van Houten<\/h2>\n<p>Coenraad van Houten invented the cocoa press in 1828, separating cocoa butter from cocoa powder. That made powder and later bar chocolate possible.<\/p>\n<h2>Why it mattered<\/h2>\n<p>Before that invention chocolate was mainly a drink. The press laid the basis for the entire modern chocolate industry, and it began here.<\/p>\n<h2>The smell<\/h2>\n<p>On an easterly wind Zaandam smells of cocoa. Residents find it ordinary and visitors notice immediately.<\/p>\n<h2>Hot chocolate<\/h2>\n<p>The Dutch habit of chocolate milk with cream has its supply chain here. The brand that became the generic comes from the same industry.<\/p>\n<h2>Where to look<\/h2>\n<p>The Zaanse Schans and Zaandam, and chocolatiers in Amsterdam and Haarlem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the largest cocoa ports in the world sits in North Holland, and on an easterly wind you can smell it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false},"dish-region":[18902],"dish-type":[],"pairing":[],"class_list":["post-65284","dish","type-dish","status-publish","hentry","dish-region-noord-holland"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dish\/65284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dish"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/dish"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"dish-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dish-region?post=65284"},{"taxonomy":"dish-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dish-type?post=65284"},{"taxonomy":"pairing","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restaurant-cafe-bar.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pairing?post=65284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}