mosbolletjie, noun

/ˌmɔsˈbɔləki//ˌmɒsˈbɒləki/
Forms:
mosbolitje, mosbolletjeShow more Also mosbolitje, mosbolletje, mossbolletje, mossbolletjie, mostbolletje, mostbolletjie.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African Dutch, DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch mosbolletje, from Dutch most (see mos noun) + bolletje little ball.
A sweetish bun, made with a yeast of partially fermented grape- or raisin-juice, often flavoured with aniseed, and eaten fresh or as a rusk; mos-biscuit, see mos noun sense 2. Occasionally also mosbol (plural mosbolle/-bɔlə/).
1890 A.G. Hewitt Cape Cookery 51Moss Bolletjes...When it has risen work in the rest of the flour, sugar, fat and anise seeds; knead it well and bake either in loaves or bolletjes.
1891 H.J. Duckitt Hilda’s ‘Where Is It?’ 143‘Moss Bolletjes.’ (An old Dutch recipe..) ‘Moss Bolletje’ — so called from ‘Moss,’ juice of the grape in its first stages of fermentation, and ‘Bolletje,’ a bun.
1902 H.J. Duckitt in M. Kuttel Quadrilles & Konfyt (1954) 13We made ‘Moss Bolletjies’, a delicious bun which every housekeeper prides herself on making a good supply of, as the rusks..are so much appreciated.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) (Glossary) 318Mostbolletjes, Small square buns in which the must from grapes is used as leaven.
1928 N. Stevenson Afr. Harvest 130The tempting smell of the onions, and some mosbolitjes which Aunt Aletta had freshly baked.
1945 N. Devitt People & Places 15Favourite old Cape Dutch confections were tameletjes..and most bolletjes, the latter a sort of flavoured bun. The word ‘most’ means the juice of the grape in its first fermentation — bolletje is a bun.
1968 M. Muller Green Peaches Ripen 21All day long she rang the bell, demanding cookies, watermelon konfyt, mosbolletjies.
1976 Sunday Times 10 Oct. (Mag. Sect.) 4We’re in the co-op shop in Bredasdorp buying mosbolle and raisin bread.
1979 Heard & Faull Our Best Trad. Recipes 90The Mosbolletjie, Introduced by the French refugees who came to settle in the Franschhoek district of the Cape in 1688.
1981 Flying Springbok Sept. 57Another great traditional South African stand-by is the ‘Mosbolletjie’, or must-rusk. This semi-cake-semi-bun comes in two speeds..the bun itself, soft and beguiling and very, very filling..and the bun when it has been dried into a rusk.
1985 Style Feb. 103Caught in the pale ark of colonialism and the covered coathanger, perhaps the WASP’s only redemption against the vast hinterland of home fires and mosbolletjies and chicken soup, is the hope that, failing all else, their ancestors could at least be naughty.
1991 Weekend Post 10 Nov. 7 (advt)Bakery: Mosbolletjies 6’s 99c.
A sweetish bun, made with a yeast of partially fermented grape- or raisin-juice, often flavoured with aniseed, and eaten fresh or as a rusk; mos-biscuit, see mos noun sense 2. Occasionally also mosbol (plural mosbolle/-bɔlə/).
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Afrikaans
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mosadi, nounn.Mosilikatze, nounn.
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