St. Martin's croissant () is a
croissant
A croissant (, ) is a French cuisine, French pastry in a crescent shape made from a laminated yeast dough similar to puff pastry.
It is a buttery, flaky, ''viennoiserie'' pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian cuisine, Austrian ''Kifli, ...
with white poppy-seed filling traditionally prepared in
Poznań
Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
and some parts of
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland.
The bound ...
region on the occasion of
St. Martin's Day (11 November).
On 30 October 2008, the name and recipe for ''rogal świętomarciński'' was entered in the
register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
.
History
In Poznań, the tradition of baking St. Martin's croissants on 11 November certainly existed in
1860
Events
January
* January 2 – The astronomer Urbain Le Verrier announces the discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan (hypothetical planet), Vulcan at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.
* January 10 &ndas ...
, when the oldest known advertisement for the pastry was published in ''
Dziennik Poznański''.
However, there is a popular legend that the tradition in its present form was born in November 1891.
As St. Martin's Day was approaching, the parish priest of St. Martin's parish, Fr Jan Lewicki, appealed to the faithful to do something for the poor, following the example of the patron saint. The confectioner Józef Melzer, who was present at the mass and worked in a nearby confectionery, persuaded his boss to revive the old tradition.
The wealthier Poznań residents bought the delicacy and the poor received it for free. The custom of baking in 1901 was taken over by the Association of
Confectioners. After the First World War, Franciszek Rączyński returned to the tradition of giving gifts to the poor, and after the Second World War, Zygmunt Wasiński saved the croissant from oblivion.
Ingredients
The filling must, according to the protected designation documentation, consist of "white poppy seeds, sugar, crumbs, egg pulp, margarine, raisins, nuts, fruit in syrup or candied fruit".
The croissant is coated with a sugar icing and sprinkled with nuts.
See also
*
Poznań Croissant Museum
*
Kifli
*
List of pastries
pastry, Pastries are small buns made using a stiff dough enriched with fat. Some dishes, such as pies, are made of a pastry casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweetness, sweet or Umami, savory ingredients.
The six basi ...
External links
*
References
{{pastries
1860 introductions
Polish pastries
Polish desserts
Poznań
Polish products with protected designation of origin
Culture of Greater Poland Voivodeship