Mosbolletjies is a traditional

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

Cape Dutch Cape Dutch, also commonly known as Cape Afrikaners, were a historic socioeconomic class of Afrikaners who lived in the Western Cape during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The terms have been evoked to describe an affluent, apolitical se ...

sweet-bun or bread traditionally made in the wine producing areas of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of South Africa. The name is

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

in origin and is a combination of ''mos'' (Afrikaans for partially fermented grape juice) and ''bolletjies'' (Afrikaans for "balls" or "buns"). Mosbolletjies can be dried to make

rusks A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the UK, the name also refers to a wh ...

. The buns are typically served with tea or coffee.

History

The bun originated from

French Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss politica ...

refugees who settled the town of

Franschhoek Franschhoek (; Afrikaans for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'') is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. Formerly known as Oliphants hoek (as there were vast groups of ...

in 1688 and introduced

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

to the region. Mosbolletjies were typically made during the wine making season when its key ingredient was readily available.

Composition

Traditionally

grape must Must (from the Latin ''vinum mustum'', "young wine") is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of t ...

left over from the production of wine was used to as a

leavening agent In cooking, a leavening agent () or raising agent, also called a leaven () or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture. An alterna ...

and added to dough. Spices such as aniseed are added and the mixed dough is then baked. In modern times grape juice and yeast are typically used instead of grape must. The dough of the buns are rolled into balls and packed tightly into a baking tray giving it a consistent series of bumps that once baked make individual pieces easy to pull off. It is synonymous to and American dish called Monkey Bread.

References

{{Bread, expand Sweet breads Yeast breads Buns South African cuisine South African snack foods South African confectionery

History

Composition

See also

References