Is it PUNCH-key, PACH-kee? or POONCH-key?
However you pronounce the name of those wonderful Polish jelly-filled doughnuts that people eat just before Lent, Festival Foods has them! And not only do we have them, we have plenty of information about them! So … what’s a paczki? Well, paczki are flattened, sphere-shaped deep-fried pieces of dough filled with raspberry, prune, lemon, Bavarian cream or strawberry!
Paczki are topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and you can get them with icing or without. Traditionally, paczki were not filled, but the recipe has changed over the years to give us the variety we have today.
What’s the story behind Paczki? Paczki Day — which we celebrate on Fat Tuesday — precedes the beginning of Lent, marked on Ash Wednesday by Christians. Paczki traditionally was the way to use up all of the fat, sugar and fruit in the house. Those were forbidden during the strict Lenten season in many Polish households.
You can find them in our stores beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 10, continuing through Fat Tuesday, which is on Feb. 16. Our bakers will be frying night and day to make sure you’ve got the freshest possible treat. You can always call ahead an order to your local Festival Foods if you’re looking for a particular lineup of paczki for your office or family.