Packzi Day!

It’s Packzi Day!

I recognize many of you may not be aware of this, but it is.  As Mardi Gras is to New Orleans and pancakes are to the United Kingdom, and cronuts to Manhattan, so is the glory that is the packzi to those portions of the Midwest fortunate enough to have strong Polish enclaves.

But what is the packzi?  It is NOT a doughnut, never mind a cronut.  It is a glorious, sweet, pastry made of sugar, flour, lard (sorry vegan types!) and other such things you are not supposed to have in the house during Lent.  It’s filled with a variety of flavors.  The two most traditional are prune and rose hip.  The first one I ever had was lemon, but today we’ve got strawberry, raspberry, and custard.  I’ve seen apple and chocolate as well.

And they are pretty much available only one day a year, so the good bakeries have lines:

Those stacked trays by the window there?  Yep, loaded up with packzi.  No selfie here, but I was in line before 8:00 am, and I was maybe the fifth person back, and maybe ten people coming in the door behind me.  It’s all probably just as well, because this is not a small pastry.

So, Happy Packzi day wherever you may be, and may it be the start of a sweet spring and a sweet year.