An ' (, plural: ' ; also spelled ') is a braided ring-shaped

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

that is boiled and sprinkled with

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

and

sesame Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for ...

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the poppy plant (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

s before being baked. It has a white, sweetish, moist and chewy crumb underneath a crunchy golden-brown crust. Traditionally sold from street carts, it is a popular snack in the Polish city of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, where it has the status of a regional food with

protected geographical indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and Traditional food, traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), promote ...

. It is closely related to, but distinct from,

bagel A bagel (; ; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked. ...

bublik Bublik (also ''booblik'' or ''bublyk''; , plural: ; ) is a traditional Eastern European bread roll. It is a ring of yeast-leavened wheat dough, that has been boiled in water for a short time before baking.Savella Stechishin (1989). ''Tradition ...

s and

pretzels A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twisted ba ...

Etymology

The term ' is

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

. The Polish noun ', or ', derives from the verb ', "to parboil", which refers to the distinctive technique of boiling the dough before baking. The adjective ' denotes anything coming from or related to the city of Kraków.

Description

An ' is a ring-shaped baked product with a hole in the middle. It takes the form of an oval or, seldom, a circle. Its surface is formed by strands of dough, round or oval in cross-section, twisted into a spiral. The colour ranges from light golden to light brown, with a distinct sheen. A typical ' is in diameter, thick, and weighs . The visible strands of the spiral on the crust are firmish to the touch and the surface varies from smooth to slightly rough. The crumb inside is pale, soft and slightly moist. The taste is sweetish, which is typical of bakery products that are first parboiled and then baked. ' are traditionally decorated by sprinkling them with various ingredients, including coarse salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds,

nigella ''Nigella'' is a genus of 18 species of annual plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Southern Europe, North Africa, South Asia, Southwest Asia and Middle East. Common names applied to members of this genus are nigella, devil-in-a-bush o ...

seeds, mixed herbs or mixed spices (

paprika Paprika is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers, traditionally ''capsicum annuum''. It can have varying levels of Pungency, heat, but the peppers used for hot paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh than those used to produce ...

caraway Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Etymology The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...

pepper Pepper(s) may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plants ** Black pepper ** Long pepper ** Kampot pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanacea ...

), grated

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

flakes, etc.

History

The earliest known references to ' being baked in Kraków, Poland's former royal capital, appear in the accounts of the court of Queen Jadwiga and her consort King Vladislaus II Jagiełło. An entry dated to 2 March 1394 mentions the product using both its Polish name and its equivalent in Polish

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

, ', or "rings": "for the queen, for rings of ' 1 '". In 1496, King John Albert granted the bakers' guild of the city of Kraków a monopoly on baking white bread, including '. This privilege was subsequently confirmed by all Polish kings up to

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...

. Initially, ' could be made only during

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

by bakers specially designated for that purpose by the guild. The guild issued a decree in 1611 regulating the sale of ' inside the city walls and the choice of bakers who were allowed to sell them. A radical change took place in the 19th century. On 22 January 1802, a decree was signed which stipulated that any baker had the right to bake ' when it was his turn to do so. The bakers authorised to bake ' were selected by the drawing of lots. The custom of drawing lots probably ended in 1849, there being no evidence that it continued after that date. This could mean that, over time, the rules were relaxed and any baker could make ' on any day of the year, as is still the case today. protected geographical indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and Traditional food, traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), promote ...

Etymology

Description

History

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links