Vla - Vla Custard

Vla Custard

This dairy product made from fresh milk first appeared in the 1950s. Traditional vla is made of cooked milk with custard, or with a combination of eggs, cornstarch, vanilla and sugar. Vla has the viscosity of yoghurt and is served cold, but is sweet rather than sour, and has a smooth texture.

Vla is available in many different flavours. Plain vanilla vla is frequently served as a vlaflip, with yoghurt and fruit syrup. It comes in several flavours, such as chocolate, caramel, vanilla, banana, etc. and some are limited editions like orange (with an artificial orange flavours) sold only at the time of national events in the Netherlands like "koninginnedag" or the world and European championships (as long as the Netherlands is still in the competition). Dairy producers will also regularly experiment with unusual variations.

Vla found in Dutch supermarkets is usually also made with other additives including thickeners. Vla was originally sold in glass bottles and the consistency made extracting the complete amount difficult, so a special bottle scraper ("flessenschraper" or "flessenlikker") was specifically designed. Despite the fact that vla is now normally sold in cartons, these scrapers are still common in Dutch family kitchens.