HISTORY

On the beautiful nameplate of mill De Huisman is written: ‘Here a chicken fancier got a house man to rider’. This sentence says everything about the history of the mill. In fact, two mills and one paper warehouse are involved in the creation of the current mustard mill De Huisman.
Firstly, the warehouse is originally from the warehouse De Haan and secondly the eight-sided, the hood and the vanes on the old mustard and snuff mill De Huisman. Finally, the grinding tools of the spice mill Het Indisch Welvaren. The paper warehouse De Haan was already on the Kalverringdijk, but De Huisman and Het Indisch Welvaren were originally on the Blue Path in Zaandam. In the fifties the two mills had to disappear there in connection with the remediation plans of the Municipality of Zaandam. The old Huisman was moved to the Kalverringdijk in 1955 and two years later the spice mill followed. Actually, the current spice mill De Huisman is a happy combination of a warehouse and two windmills.
Whoever views De Huisman now can only come to one conclusion: you are looking at something special.
When the old mill De Huisman was once built and by whom has remained unknown. Snuff milling was the main activity of the mil, but when the raw material tobacco was temporarily difficult to obtain, it was switched to the manufacture of mustard. This Zaanse mustard became so famous in a few years that even though there was snuff ground again, De Huisman became known as the ‘Mustard Mill’.
Since 1961 the famous Zaanse Musterd was made in De Huisman, as it used to be, and was sold in large Cologne pots by boys at home for a few cents.

In 2011 the mill was completely restored to original setup! Now you can smell the grinded cinnamon and cloves as you enter the mill.

More history: Click here

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