Hello again readers. Happy nearly spring to you all!

Easter is, as you know right around the corner, and I think we are all ready to enjoy some time with loved ones, and eat some treats. Especially this year.

To that end, I’ve been thinking about Easter dinner … and so has Steve. Being of Polish dissent, he has some specific requests for food. Of course there will be favourites like pierogi, kielbasa, and  bigos.

Most certainly there’ll be paczki. Pronounced poonch kee – in case you were wondering, and given that I will be looking to buy some for Easter, it is paczki that I would like to talk about today.

Fun fact … Paczki is the Polish word for package, and is a delicious doughnut dating back to the Middle Ages. It is a treat associated with Easter but can be enjoyed any time … I’m at the Polish store.

The reason it is linked to Easter though, is because folks had to use up ingredients such as eggs, sugar and fruit, that they would not be able to consume during Lent. And, obviously they wanted to make something good, seeing as it would be the last treat for a while.

So what they came up with were delicious  “packages“ containing fillings such as custard or prune jam. You can get other filling flavours nowadays, but not in our house. We prefer the traditional ones.

In Poland, paczki  are consumed on Fat Thursday, or the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday … if that clears it up. If not, you can keep with North American custom, and dig in on Fat Tuesday– also known as Paczki Day.

Wow, a whole day dedicated to a specific doughnut? That must be a pretty good doughnut. Indeed.

In fact, according to Wikipedia, Paczki Day is even more popular in some U.S. cities than is St. Patrick’s Day! Yep, that’s what it said alright. But what could make a doughnut more popular than beer?

I decided to think on this a spell. Enquiring minds and all that.

I had a look at the ingredients from some recipes and discovered much the same ones as you’d expect, with the exception of a splash of rum or brandy, but not in significant enough quantities to catch a buzz or compete with St. Patrick’s Day.

So there has to be something else that makes paczki special.

I’m wondering if, unlike my family, most people do only eat them once or twice a year. Could the anticipation of the taste after a long time, somehow be enhancing the flavours?

Perhaps, but after much thought and finger tapping, I’m thinking it could be something else. Something rather more … ethereal. More to do with the spirit with which they were made, the history of love and celebration. Or, it could be about the Easter holiday itself.

It could be the last dietary hurrah, if you will, before a time of spirituality, pause and introspection. Paczki could be tasty tokens of a time when a treat wasn’t something you had every day. When the love and care that went into their preparation, was as sweet as the paczki itself.

I’d like to think this is the case …

It could also be nothing more complex than the fact that they are delicious. And they really are, well worth the consequences for me. Whatever the reason, there’s little debate about how much better paczki are than regular doughnuts. It’s not even a fair comparison.

How ever and whenever you next enjoy one, perhaps spare a thought and a thanks for the Polish immigrants who were thoughtful enough to bring along with them to the new world, a treat for us all to enjoy.

Happy Paczki Day!

Top image by Zozz_ from Pixabay