Cuberdon

The cuberdon is a cone-shaped sugar confection beloved in Ghent, Belgium. Bite into the small purplish cone and the thin sugar shell cracks, releasing a soft, raspberry-scented syrup. Because crystallization continues after the confection is made, the contrast between the shell and the center changes depending on when it is eaten.

Making cone-shaped hollows in starch powder

The cuberdon’s shape is made using a method called starch molding. A mold is pressed into a thick layer of starch powder, and sugar syrup is poured into the resulting hollows to set. Rather than releasing identical shapes from metal containers, this method forms cone-shaped hollows one by one in the powder.

The syrup uses sugar and fruit flavoring, with gum arabic giving it cohesion. Some recipes (the proportions of ingredients and the methods) also use gelatin. The ingredients are heated in a copper pan or similar vessel into a uniform syrup, which is poured while hot into the powder molds. The outer shell and inner syrup are not made separately and then filled; instead, an inside and an outside of different firmness are created from the same syrup.

Traditional cuberdons from Ghent. The cone shape and dark-colored surface are visible. Photo: DimiTalen, 2013-02-18, location unknown. Original image / CC0. Reduced-size version from the distribution source, no additional processing.

Drying slowly to form a thin sugar shell

After being poured into the molds, the confections are dried slowly at a low temperature. For example, in the process of Léopold, which makes its traditional method public, they are kept in a drying room at about 55°C for 7 days. Even when the surface hardens into a shell, the center is left soft.

The confections taken out of the molds are coated with starch powder. When this is carefully removed with air or a brush, a fine-textured sugar surface appears, unlike that of a glossy, transparent hard candy. The composition of the syrup and the degree of drying are adjusted to create a thin shell that does not let the contents leak.

A sugar shell that thickens even after completion

The texture of cuberdons changes even after they are finished. Over the weeks, the once-thin sugar shell becomes thicker, and crystallization of the center also progresses, changing it from a flowing syrup to a state that is still soft but flows less easily. The fresher the cuberdon, the clearer the difference between the firm shell and the soft center.

The periods recommended by makers vary depending on the formula and storage conditions, but freshness is valued for enjoying the thin shell and fluid center. Cuberdons are kept in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and sudden changes in temperature and humidity.

Origin legends, and records of production and the name

Ghent’s tourist information tells a discovery story in which a pharmacist, trying to make a medicinal syrup keep longer, saw that only the outside hardened while the inside stayed liquid, and turned it into a confection. Léopold preserves a different legend, in which a 19th-century clergyman near Bruges first made it and called it the “priest’s hat” because of its shape. One story is told in terms of a failed attempt at preservation and the other links a maker with the shape; the actual inventor has not been determined.

The company also says that gum arabic was in short supply during the Second World War and that it resumed production in 1946, once gum arabic became available again.

The confection’s name, cuberdon, goes back to the Walloon and Picard form cul d’bourdon. Separately from this dialect form, recorded before 1936, newspaper usage of the present spelling survives from 1946. The reason for the name further back than this has not been determined.

A confection bought at the market, and boxed products sent far away

At markets such as Ghent’s Groentenmarkt and at confectionery shops, the purple cones are sold packed in bags or boxes. The culture of buying cuberdons at markets and fairs and eating them without keeping them for long suits a confection whose nature changes over time. In recent years, flavors and colors other than raspberry have been added, and the flavor is also used in syrups, ice cream and other products.

The Dutch-language nickname is neuzekes, meaning “little noses.” Like the French-language name chapeau de curé, “priest’s hat,” it likens the pointed shape to something else. Products made with the traditional method are also registered under Flanders’ regional product certification.

However, cuberdons are not bought only at markets. Léopold has expanded its sales channels to its workshop in Enghien, delicatessens, fine food stores, wine shops, cheese shops and more, and it also ships abroad by mail order. The company sets the shelf life of its own products at 11 weeks from production while also noting that fresher ones have thinner shells; in other words, the period during which they can be sold as products is not the same as the time for enjoying the thin shell. Even though cuberdons can now be boxed and sent far away, the way time changes their texture remains.

Colorful cuberdons lined up on a street in Ghent. The cone-shaped confections are sold at a stall. Photo: FlippyFlink, 2022-01-16, Ghent, Belgium. Original image / CC BY-SA 4.0. Reduced-size version from the distribution source, no additional processing.

Glossary