Monday 10 January 2011

"Zeeuwse bolus": a Dutch pastry with Portuguese origins

In the last entry, I shared with you the recipe of "Bolo Rei", our traditional Portuguese Christmas, New Year's Day and Kings Day cake.

Yesterday, I received a very nice email from Jacoba, with the most amazing tip:
" Something that strikes me is that in Zeeland we have a specialty of dough, rolled up, sugared with cinnamon and it is called a 'bolus'. I wonder whether the name is derived from your pastry?"

Zeeland is the lovely and beautiful Dutch province located in the south-west of the country and consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg.

I became so curious, I went to Wikipedia searching for information...and look what I found!!:

"The bolus was first created in Zeeland in the first half of the 17th century by Sephardi Jew bakers. There are signs of the Portuguese Jewish community that inhabited Zeeland at the Jewish cemetery in Middelburg. These Jewish bakers created the predecessor of the Zeeuwse bolus. Later bakers from Zeeland perfected the art of the bolus, sometimes using steam ovens to keep the cinnamon pastry tender."



When I looked at this photo, I thought " I've already eaten this in Lisbon!!".

I was so glad with this discovery! Thank you, dear Jacoba, :-)

According to Wikipedia, there is a competition on the Tuesday of the 12th week of the year called the "Bolusbaking Championships Zeeland"! I need to see this, definitively! It's organised by the Dutch Bakery Centre. The winner receives the Bolus Trophy and becomes the "Best Bolus Baker" for a year.
The jury - two bakers and two Zeelandia employees-chooses the best ten products and the winner is chosen from these by the audience.
I will go there to help to choose the winner!! :-)) I don't mind it at all ;-))
Definitively!

12 comments:

Margarida Elias said...

Que interessante! Será que o "bolus" é bom? O meu marido deve gostar porque ele gosta muito de canela...

Presépio no Canal said...

@Margarida: E o que vou saber quando la for ;-) Eu tambem gosto muito de canela :-)

Unknown said...

Oh, fantastic! I had read about Zeeuwse bolus, but had no idea it had a sephardi/ Portuguese origin. You have to go for the festival, sure!!

Jacoba said...

Ha ha, Sandra! You have already done it, posted a nice story on the 'bolus'. It is truly amazing, is it not? And what a wonderful idea to go to Zeeland to taste it.
Have fun! And will we read all about it when you have been there?
x0x0
Jacoba

Presépio no Canal said...

@Jacoba:You will, you will! :-) I want to know if it tastes like the bolo/pao/tranca de canela [cinnamon] which I used to eat in Portugal ;-)
Beijinhos!!

ana said...

Tem um aspecto estranho mas deve ser bom, também gosto muito de canela!
Bjs :)

Presépio no Canal said...

@ Ana, com um cha, entao, deve ser uma delicia :-)
Bjs!!

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh this looks SO GOOD! I LOVE DOUGH in any shape or form! Sandra dearest, your words on my blog post today were so touching....to think that I can make others' dreams come true is such a tall order, but a joy to at least give ideas to others to make them think....what a sweet thing to say....have a lovely, lovely week! Anita

Presépio no Canal said...

@Anita :-) :-)
You too, my dear, sweet dreams. :-)

Ana said...

Já parece a história dos Fios de Ovos, como doce tradicional da Tailandia ;)

Ah! E este bolo de canela pode-se encontrar também em algumas pastelarias de Coimbra, mas em forma de oito. Sao deliciosos!

Presépio no Canal said...

@Ana, Ola!! Como estas? :-)
A serio? Nao sabia dessa historia da Tailandia!! Realmente, o legado Portugues nunca deixa de me surpreender!! Agora que falas nisso... a nossa relacao com a Tailandia e bem antiga, sim senhora...
Fiquei curiosa para ver... e provar;-)
Ja provaste? Estiveste por la? :-) Todas essas experiencias de encontro de culturas me parecem fantasticas ;-)

Beijinhos grandes e obrigada pela partilha, ;-)

Sandra

Love Adventure Happiness said...

Nos Açores chamam-se Canelas e é delicioso!