Paczki Fat Tuesday Fun Facts

Did you know?

Paczki, pronounced POONCH-key, is actually plural. The singular is paczek, pronounced Pon-check. The name translates to “little package.”

• Powidla (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam are the traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry and apple. (BTW, in love with the lemon and chocolate and now they have PB&J at QD...YUM!)
• The paczki’s roots date back to the Middle Ages, when they were filled with pork fat and fried in lard.
• In Poland, paczki are eaten especially on Fat Thursday (the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday). Many Polish Americans celebrate Paczki Day on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday).
• Traditionally, the reason for making paczki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because they were forbidden to be consumed due to Catholic fasting practices during Lent.
• Paczki pack 400-500 calories and 25g of fat into a sugar-coated delights.(Mobile Cuisine & Heavy)

And speaking of calories...

Since there are a variety of recipes, individual paczki can run from 500-1000 calories. This can compare to:

• 10 packs of fun size chocolate M&Ms (one fun size M&M pack has 73 calories)
• 3 slices of pepperoni and cheese pizza from Little Caesar’s (one slice has 280 calories)
• 5 cans (12 ounces) of Coke (one 12 ounce can has 140 calories)
• 4-5 tacos from Taco Bell (one hard taco has 170 calories)
• 4 Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts (one donut has 190 calories) (Fox 17)

Want to work it off?

Here’s how to burn 750 calories, according to the American Council on Exercise:

• Walk for 85 minutes
• Swim for 60 minutes
• Cycle for 100 minutes
• Shovel snow for 60 minutes
• Jog for 65 minutes (Metro Times)