As a Protestant, I’ve never thought of Carnival as part of the liturgical calendar, but I’ve heard it referred to several times in the last few weeks, often as part of Polish school activities. As the festive time before Lent, Carnival includes Fat Thursday (marking the last week before Ash Wednesday).
The Polish tradition includes eating pączki, similar to a jelly doughnut. My friend Klaudia told me that the most authentic filling is a rose jam, and that Poles also put this rose jam in tea. I couldn’t find anything rose in the the jam/jelly aisle at the supermarket, so I tried tea with a jam that I had in the fridge and it was wonderful, much more fruity than fruit flavored teas.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Jagna
This is one of my favorite days of the year 🙂
Anonymous
THE REAL rose jam actually is a slightly "luxurious" product here, it's not used on day-to-day basis generally, unless you live in the country and make your own 🙂 You probably could buy it easily in Alma/Piotr i Pawel/Krakowski Kredens, i.e. more "poshy" supermarkets/groceries. Nonetheless, expect it to cost slightly more than strawberry/peach/etc. mass product for a mere