Bossche Bol

The Bossche bol is a choux pastry ball about ten centimetres across, filled entirely with whipped cream that is deliberately not sweetened, and covered in a dark chocolate coating that is thin and slightly bitter - the balance between the two is the whole point, and a bol made with sweet cream or milk chocolate is regarded locally as a failure. It belongs to 's-Hertogenbosch and is made properly nowhere else, though versions are sold across Brabant under other names. Bakkerij Jan de Groot, near the station, is the best-known maker and produces them in very large numbers daily; there are queues and the shop has become a fixture of any visit to the city. They are eaten fresh and do not keep - the cream goes and the pastry softens within hours - and eating one without covering yourself in chocolate is not really possible.

Highlights

• A fist-sized choux ball - about ten centimetres, filled with cream.
• Unsweetened cream - the balance against the bitter chocolate that defines it.
• Made properly in one town - versions elsewhere are not the same thing.
• Queues at Jan de Groot - the best-known maker, near the station.

When to go

All year. An hour.

Good to know

They do not keep - eat the same day. It is a large and messy pastry and there is no tidy way to do it. Popular bakeries have queues and sell out. Versions sold outside the city vary widely.

Nearby

The Binnendieze boat trips and St John's cathedral are in the same city.