A long-cherished wish came true for the US ambassador to the Netherlands on Saturday. Shefali Razdan Duggal ate a real Bossche Bol at the renowned shop of Jan de Groot in Den Bosch. “So good!” beams the ambassador after taking the first bite, while wiping the whipped cream off her cheek.
She clearly knows how to eat the Bossche Bol, because she eats the delicacy out of hand and tilted.
“When it comes to chocolate… resistance is futile as can be seen by the evidence on my face!”, she laughs on Twitter with a reference to the movie Startrek. “I loved tasting the famous Bossche Bol in Den Bosch!”
‘sheklade sphere’
The Bossche Bol is a household name throughout the Netherlands. According to city archivist and Den Bosch expert Rob van de Laar – who has been studying the history of Bosch’s pastries for years – the Bossche Bol was created when confectioner Henri van der Zijde came to Den Bosch from The Hague in the early twentieth century. “He settled on the Vischstraat and came up with his own variant. First, the bun was filled with cream. Van der Zijde filled the bun with whipped cream for the first time. That version formed the basis for the bun that we still use today. always know.”
Until the 1920s, the pastry was simply known as a chocolate ball. Rob found out where the title ‘Bossche Bol’ comes from. That name was created by mayor Frans van Lanschot. He advertised for Den Bosch on the radio and renamed the chocolate ball Bossche Bol for this. But a real inhabitant of Den Bosch still just says ‘sjeklade bol’.”
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