Walk into a Dutch supermarket in September and something looks wrong.

Summer has barely ended. It might still be warm outside. Sinterklaas will not arrive for almost two months.

And yet there is an entire shelf of kruidnoten.

Normal ones. Chocolate ones. Caramel sea salt ones. White chocolate ones. Sometimes flavours nobody appears to have asked for.

If this is your first autumn in the Netherlands, the obvious question is: aren’t these supposed to be for December?

Yes.

And also, apparently, no.

Kruidnoten belong to the Sinterklaas season, but the Dutch retail version of that season starts surprisingly early. By September, finding kruidnoten in a supermarket is completely normal.

There is another complication. Most Dutch people will happily call them pepernoten, even though pepernoten are technically a different thing.

So before your first Sinterklaas season gets confusing, here is how it works.

Take one of the small, round, crunchy biscuits that fill Dutch supermarkets every autumn.

That is a kruidnoot.

Kruidnoten are hard and crunchy, with a flavour similar to speculaas. The spice mix usually contains ingredients such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom.

Now look for something softer, darker and more irregular in shape.

That is a traditional pepernoot.

Pepernoten have a softer, chewier texture and are closer to ontbijtkoek or taaitaai. Traditional versions use ingredients such as rye flour, honey and anise.

They are genuinely different products.


The Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal and Onze Taal both make the same distinction: kruidnoten are the crunchy speculaas-like biscuits, while pepernoten are softer pieces of spiced cake.

And then everyday Dutch ruins the clarity.

Because they do.

You can correct people if you enjoy that sort of thing, but you will be busy.

In normal conversation, pepernoten is widely used for both products. Even Dutch dictionaries reflect that broader use.

There are a few reasons for the confusion.

Pepernoten have a longer history. Sinterklaas songs talk about pepernoten. Over time, the smaller and crunchier kruidnoot became the more common Sinterklaas snack, but the familiar name stayed.

KRO-NCRV's Keuringsdienst van Waarde traces versions of spiced biscuits back centuries and notes that kruidnoten eventually became particularly suitable as strooigoed, sweets scattered or handed out during Sinterklaas celebrations.

So if a Dutch colleague says:

“Wil je een pepernoot?”

and offers you a small round biscuit, there is no need to explain that technically it is a kruidnoot.

Take the biscuit.

This argument returns every year.

Someone spots kruidnoten while it is still warm outside. Someone takes a photo. Someone complains that Sinterklaas starts earlier every year.

The interesting part is that the last claim does not seem to be true on a national scale.

Radar asked several major manufacturers about it. Bolletje said it has supplied supermarkets in the final weeks of August for years. Peppernuts Holland said larger chains generally start around the last week of August. Van Delft described week 36, around the beginning of September, as the traditional start of its season.

The same discussion came back in September 2026. Van Delft again said that its main season has started around week 36 for decades.

Individual shops sometimes put them out much earlier. In 2026, sightings appeared during July, while wider availability at large chains followed in August.

So yes, July is absurdly early.

But seeing kruidnoten in September is not new.

The answer is less romantic than you might hope.

People buy them.

Van Delft told Radar exactly that when asked why shops do not simply wait until November. There is demand, so the season starts earlier.

Kruidnoten also work unusually well as a long seasonal product.

They are inexpensive. They keep well. You can put a bowl on a desk and watch it mysteriously empty during the afternoon. And unlike chocolate products, ordinary kruidnoten do not become impractical simply because September happens to be warm.

Retailers have also turned the kruidnoot into much more than one traditional biscuit.

The plain version still exists, of course. So do milk, dark and white chocolate.

Then you get into flavours such as caramel, cappuccino, cheesecake and whatever someone in a product meeting approved this year.

Radar spoke to retail experts about this expansion in 2025. Their explanation was fairly straightforward: kruidnoten have become an impulse product where unusual flavours give shoppers another reason to try a bag, even though traditional varieties still account for much of the sales.

In other words, the modern kruidnoot season is partly Sinterklaas tradition and partly a very successful snack business.

This depends on what you mean by start.

The biscuits start appearing first.

Then comes the intocht, the ceremonial arrival of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands.

In 2026, the national arrival takes place on Saturday 14 November in Grave. Many towns and cities hold their own local arrivals around the same period.

For children, this is when the season properly begins.

In the weeks after the arrival, children may zet hun schoen, put out their shoe in the hope of finding a small present or some sweets the next morning.

Schools, shops and homes become increasingly Sinterklaas focused.

And then comes the important date:

5 December: Pakjesavond.

Pakjesavond is the main gift giving evening associated with Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. In 2026, 5 December falls on a Saturday.

That is the date worth remembering.

Not because the supermarkets will remind you. They started doing that months ago.

Pakjesavond literally means “presents evening”.

For many Dutch families, this is the main Sinterklaas celebration.

How people celebrate depends on the family and the age of the children.

With young children, presents are often central to the evening.

With adults, Sinterklaas can become much more elaborate. Families or groups of friends sometimes draw names and make surprises.

A Dutch Sinterklaas surprise is not simply a surprise present.

It is often a homemade construction built around the recipient, usually accompanied by a humorous poem.

The present might be hidden inside.

If your new Dutch colleagues tell you that the office is “doing surprises”, do not assume you only need to buy a gift and put it in a bag.

Ask questions.

You may have an evening of cardboard and glue ahead of you.

Strooigoed is the mix of small Sinterklaas sweets traditionally handed out or scattered during celebrations.

Kruidnoten are the obvious part.

You might also find sweets or small pieces of confectionery mixed in.

The word comes from strooien, to scatter.

You will see the connection in older Sinterklaas traditions and songs. Today, someone is more likely to put a bowl on the table than throw an entire bag across their living room.

Which is sensible.

Kruidnoten under a sofa have a surprisingly long life.

If you think there is only one type, visit a larger supermarket or specialist shop in autumn.

Chocolate covered kruidnoten are everywhere.

Milk chocolate. Dark chocolate. White chocolate.

Then come the flavoured versions.

There is no cultural obligation to understand why every one of these exists.

You are free to form strong opinions.

Dutch people do.

This is another reason the season starts early. People no longer buy one bag of traditional kruidnoten for Pakjesavond. For many households and offices, they have become an autumn snack that happens to disappear again after Sinterklaas.

That is also why someone might tell you in September that they refuse to buy them “this early”, while the person standing next to them is already on their fourth bag.

Both responses are normal.

No, but the flavour is closely related.

Kruidnoten use a spice profile similar to speculaas. That is why the taste may already seem familiar if you have tried speculaas biscuits.

The form is different.

Kruidnoten are small enough to eat by the handful, which is both their main advantage and their main problem.

A packet rarely feels like a serious amount of food until you look inside and realize half of it is gone.

Some care enormously.

Most manage to continue with their lives.

If you want to speak precisely:

kruidnoot
small, crunchy, speculaas-like biscuit

pepernoot
softer, irregular, cake-like Sinterklaas sweet

If you want to understand normal Dutch conversation, remember that pepernoten is often used for both.

This is useful language learning in miniature.

The technically correct word and the word people use every day are not always the same.

You need both.

You will hear these more often as autumn continues.

Sinterklaas
Saint Nicholas and the name of the Dutch celebration around him

de kruidnoot
the small crunchy spiced biscuit

de pepernoot
technically the softer traditional sweet, but often used for kruidnoten too

strooigoed
small Sinterklaas sweets handed out or scattered

de intocht
the arrival parade

Pakjesavond
the main Sinterklaas gift evening on 5 December

je schoen zetten
to put out your shoe for Sinterklaas

de chocoladeletter
a large chocolate letter, another common Sinterklaas treat

het gedicht
the poem, often written to accompany a Sinterklaas gift

de surprise
a handmade Sinterklaas creation containing or accompanying a present

Be careful with the last one.

The Dutch word surprise in a Sinterklaas context does not mean exactly what the English word suggests.

If you are new to all of this, start with ordinary kruidnoten.

They are the reference point.

Then try chocolate kruidnoten.

After that, you are on your own.

There are enough flavours available now to turn this into a research project nobody asked for.

Traditional pepernoten are worth trying too, mostly because you will immediately understand why the kruidnoot versus pepernoot discussion exists. They look different, feel different and taste different.

Ask a Dutch person which one is the “real pepernoot” and you may also get a free lecture.