{"id":700,"date":"2018-12-24T12:42:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T11:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/?p=700"},"modified":"2020-05-29T01:48:40","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T23:48:40","slug":"pl100-blog-vol-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/","title":{"rendered":"#PL100 BLOG Vol.12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As winter sets in, there\u2019s nothing like sitting in a cosy caf\u00e9 with a warm drink. In Poland, December is the time of year to get a mulled wine or winter tea (herbata zimowa) \u2013 a fruity blend of fresh lemon, orange, ginger, and other Christmassy spices. It is, of course, also the time of year to eat something sweet. Luckily, Poland is a haven for the sweet-toothed, with all sorts of satisfying pastries and desserts that often go back hundreds of years to the Polish royal family. You might recognise Polish chocolate waffle bars like Prince Polo and Grze\u015bki, but did you know that chocolate first entered Poland in 1665 when the military commander and rising politician Jan Sobieski asked his newly-wedded wife Maria Kazimiera d\u2019Arquien to send him some from her native France? The chocolate must have done the trick \u2013 nine years later the nobleman was elected King Jan III Sobieski. Not all of the country\u2019s sugary delights have such regal roots, but in the spirit of the season, here\u2019s a brief guide to sweet Poland.

P\u0105czki \u2013 doughnuts<\/strong>

When I think of doughnuts, I instinctively imagine the multicoloured, glazed American variety or the German-style Berliner. It came as a surprise to me to learn that Polish doughnuts \u2013 called p\u0105czki (ponch-kee) \u2013 were in popular existence long before the Americas were settled and probably around a similar time to the first German dough-based treats. P\u0105czki emerged in Poland during the Middle Ages, starting off as tough dough balls before evolving into the lighter, springy versions that exist today.  Their fillings are gorgeous, incorporating the jam and custard flavours familiar to Brits, but also expanding into everything from stewed plum to advocaat liqueur. They\u2019re not only sweet either. One of the traditional p\u0105czki fillings is rose hip jam (r\u00f3\u017ca), which lends an unexpected tartness to offset the sugar glazing and orange zest on the outside. Best of all, p\u0105czki are cheap and plentiful in Poland \u2013 small doughnut bakeries sell warm p\u0105czki on many town high streets. In the winter months, a warm chocolate p\u0105czki is a delightful treat. But for those with a big appetite, the pre-Lent Fat Thursday (Poland\u2019s version of Shrove Tuesday) is the best time to explore p\u0105czki in all their doughy glory.

Ciasto \u2013 cakes<\/strong>

Polish bakeries can be intimidating places, simply because of the sheer number of cakes on offer. The same goes for regular food shops, which often have a counter serving all sorts of baked goods by the kilo. It\u2019s much easier to sate your sweet tooth in a caf\u00e9, where you\u2019ll usually come across three mainstays: szarlotka, beza and sernik. 

I always think of szarlotka as a hybrid of the British apple pie and apple crumble \u2013 its sweet apple filling is cased like a pie, but with a distinctly soft, crumble-like pastry. The name is the Polish way of saying \u2018charlotte cake\u2019, suggesting that it first came to Poland from France in the early 19th century. Today it\u2019s served everywhere, sometimes warm with cream or vanilla ice cream on the side. Beza feels like a strange cake to mention, as it\u2019s essentially a pavlova, which seems pretty un-Polish. My guess is that \u2013 as with other Polish dishes \u2013 French-inspired meringues arrived in Poland in the 18th century and were quickly combined with the country\u2019s abundant wild berries. The result is a popular, gooey pleasure. Sernik is probably my favourite Polish cake. In contrast to its American and British cousins, this Polish cheesecake is made from ricotta-like twar\u00f3g cheese and baked without a base. This means that sernik has a dairy richness with a soft crumbly texture \u2013 the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon coffee.

Christmas specials<\/strong>

It would be criminal to write about desserts in Polamd without mentioning its ice-cream (lody), a creamy treat made with local flavours (black sesame or pumpkin, anyone?). As it\u2019s winter and far too cold to even contemplate ice-cream, I\u2019ll move swiftly on to two Christmas specials: piernik and makowiec.

Gingerbread has a long history in Poland, dating back to 1380 and specifically to the town of Toru\u0144. Owing to the abundance of Polish flour and honey \u2013 and a location on the cross-continental spice trade route \u2013 bakers in Toru\u0144 developed gingerbread recipes that subsequently became iconic across the country (the pianist Chopin was an early fan). At Christmas, the piernik gingerbread cake is served, a real labour of love that takes weeks to mature properly. Small pierniki gingerbread cookies are also baked, shaped like stars and sometimes cased in chocolate \u2013 a quintessentially Christmas taste.

Makowiec is a staple of the Polish Christmas dinner, which takes place on 24th December (although it\u2019s also eaten at Easter). Unusual to a British palette, this cake is made from a yeast dough and looks like a strudel from the outside. Once you cut it open, you\u2019re greeted with layers of ground poppy seed, honey and dried fruit or nuts. In pre-Catholic Slavic traditions, poppy seeds symbolised a connection between the living and the dead, hence the serving of the cake on occasions related to Christ. The best makowiec is moist from the honey and sweet from the fruit, with the poppy seeds providing an intriguing taste and texture.
***

There\u2019s many more sweet treats to sample beyond the classics above. Christmas is the perfect time to enjoy them, alongside other traditions such as Saint Nicholas Day (Miko\u0142ajki) presents tucked under pillows, and the twelve dishes of Christmas Eve dinner (Wigilia). As 2018 \u2013 the centenary of Polish independence \u2013 draws to a close, I hope that you\u2019ve enjoyed my cultural tour of Poland. Perhaps in 2019 you can try it all out for yourself. Szcz\u0119\u015bliwego Nowego Roku!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As winter sets in, there\u2019s nothing like sitting in a cosy caf\u00e9 with a warm drink. In Poland, December is the time of year to get a mulled wine or winter tea (herbata zimowa) \u2013 a fruity blend of fresh lemon, orange, ginger, and other Christmassy spices. It is, of course, also the time of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-2","category-blogs"],"yoast_head":"\n#PL100 BLOG Vol.12 - Instytut Polski w Londynie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"#PL100 BLOG Vol.12 - Instytut Polski w Londynie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As winter sets in, there\u2019s nothing like sitting in a cosy caf\u00e9 with a warm drink. In Poland, December is the time of year to get a mulled wine or winter tea (herbata zimowa) \u2013 a fruity blend of fresh lemon, orange, ginger, and other Christmassy spices. It is, of course, also the time of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instytut Polski w Londynie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-24T11:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-28T23:48:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"276\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ochamanskij\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napisane przez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ochamanskij\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Szacowany czas czytania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"event\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/\",\"name\":\"#PL100 BLOG Vol.12\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717-300x207.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png\"],\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-24T11:42:00+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-28T23:48:40+02:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/#\/schema\/person\/53963c4c768e79692e296cb2619bf9f9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/\"]}],\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"startDate\":\"2018-11-11\",\"endDate\":\"2018-11-11\",\"eventStatus\":\"EventScheduled\",\"eventAttendanceMode\":\"OfflineEventAttendanceMode\",\"location\":{\"@type\":\"place\",\"name\":\"\",\"address\":\"\",\"geo\":{\"@type\":\"GeoCoordinates\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}},\"description\":\"As winter sets in, there\u2019s nothing like sitting in a cosy caf\u00e9 with a warm drink. In Poland, December is the time of year to get a mulled wine or winter tea (herbata zimowa) \u2013 a fruity blend of fresh lemon, orange, ginger, and other Christmassy spices. It is, of course, also the time of year to eat something sweet. Luckily, Poland is a haven for the sweet-toothed, with all sorts of satisfying pastries and desserts that often go back hundreds of years to the Polish royal family. You might recognise Polish chocolate waffle bars like Prince Polo and Grze\u015bki, but did you know that chocolate first entered Poland in 1665 when the military commander and rising politician Jan Sobieski asked his newly-wedded wife Maria Kazimiera d\u2019Arquien to send him some from her native France? The chocolate must have done the trick \u2013 nine years later the nobleman was elected King Jan III Sobieski. Not all of the country\u2019s sugary delights have such regal roots, but in the spirit of the season, here\u2019s a brief guide to sweet Poland.P\u0105czki \u2013 doughnutsWhen I think of doughnuts, I instinctively imagine the multicoloured, glazed American variety or the German-style Berliner. It came as a surprise to me to learn that Polish doughnuts \u2013 called p\u0105czki (ponch-kee) \u2013 were in popular existence long before the Americas were settled and probably around a similar time to the first German dough-based treats. P\u0105czki emerged in Poland during the Middle Ages, starting off as tough dough balls before evolving into the lighter, springy versions that exist today. Their fillings are gorgeous, incorporating the jam and custard flavours familiar to Brits, but also expanding into everything from stewed plum to advocaat liqueur. They\u2019re not only sweet either. One of the traditional p\u0105czki fillings is rose hip jam (r\u00f3\u017ca), which lends an unexpected tartness to offset the sugar glazing and orange zest on the outside. Best of all, p\u0105czki are cheap and plentiful in Poland \u2013 small doughnut bakeries sell warm p\u0105czki on many town high streets. In the winter months, a warm chocolate p\u0105czki is a delightful treat. But for those with a big appetite, the pre-Lent Fat Thursday (Poland\u2019s version of Shrove Tuesday) is the best time to explore p\u0105czki in all their doughy glory.Ciasto \u2013 cakesPolish bakeries can be intimidating places, simply because of the sheer number of cakes on offer. The same goes for regular food shops, which often have a counter serving all sorts of baked goods by the kilo. It\u2019s much easier to sate your sweet tooth in a caf\u00e9, where you\u2019ll usually come across three mainstays: szarlotka, beza and sernik. I always think of szarlotka as a hybrid of the British apple pie and apple crumble \u2013 its sweet apple filling is cased like a pie, but with a distinctly soft, crumble-like pastry. The name is the Polish way of saying \u2018charlotte cake\u2019, suggesting that it first came to Poland from France in the early 19th century. Today it\u2019s served everywhere, sometimes warm with cream or vanilla ice cream on the side. Beza feels like a strange cake to mention, as it\u2019s essentially a pavlova, which seems pretty un-Polish. My guess is that \u2013 as with other Polish dishes \u2013 French-inspired meringues arrived in Poland in the 18th century and were quickly combined with the country\u2019s abundant wild berries. The result is a popular, gooey pleasure. Sernik is probably my favourite Polish cake. In contrast to its American and British cousins, this Polish cheesecake is made from ricotta-like twar\u00f3g cheese and baked without a base. This means that sernik has a dairy richness with a soft crumbly texture \u2013 the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon coffee.Christmas specialsIt would be criminal to write about desserts in Polamd without mentioning its ice-cream (lody), a creamy treat made with local flavours (black sesame or pumpkin, anyone?). As it\u2019s winter and far too cold to even contemplate ice-cream, I\u2019ll move swiftly on to two Christmas specials: piernik and makowiec.Gingerbread has a long history in Poland, dating back to 1380 and specifically to the town of Toru\u0144. Owing to the abundance of Polish flour and honey \u2013 and a location on the cross-continental spice trade route \u2013 bakers in Toru\u0144 developed gingerbread recipes that subsequently became iconic across the country (the pianist Chopin was an early fan). At Christmas, the piernik gingerbread cake is served, a real labour of love that takes weeks to mature properly. Small pierniki gingerbread cookies are also baked, shaped like stars and sometimes cased in chocolate \u2013 a quintessentially Christmas taste.Makowiec is a staple of the Polish Christmas dinner, which takes place on 24th December (although it\u2019s also eaten at Easter). Unusual to a British palette, this cake is made from a yeast dough and looks like a strudel from the outside. Once you cut it open, you\u2019re greeted with layers of ground poppy seed, honey and dried fruit or nuts. In pre-Catholic Slavic traditions, poppy seeds symbolised a connection between the living and the dead, hence the serving of the cake on occasions related to Christ. The best makowiec is moist from the honey and sweet from the fruit, with the poppy seeds providing an intriguing taste and texture.***There\u2019s many more sweet treats to sample beyond the classics above. Christmas is the perfect time to enjoy them, alongside other traditions such as Saint Nicholas Day (Miko\u0142ajki) presents tucked under pillows, and the twelve dishes of Christmas Eve dinner (Wigilia). As 2018 \u2013 the centenary of Polish independence \u2013 draws to a close, I hope that you\u2019ve enjoyed my cultural tour of Poland. Perhaps in 2019 you can try it all out for yourself. 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It is, of course, also the time of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/","og_site_name":"Instytut Polski w Londynie","article_published_time":"2018-12-24T11:42:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-28T23:48:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":276,"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"ochamanskij","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Napisane przez":"ochamanskij","Szacowany czas czytania":"5 minut"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"event","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/","name":"#PL100 BLOG Vol.12","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/#primaryimage"},"image":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717-300x207.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png"],"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/01\/csm_Screen_Shot_2018-12-27_at_09.36.51_43c0f65717.png","datePublished":"2018-12-24T11:42:00+02:00","dateModified":"2020-05-28T23:48:40+02:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/#\/schema\/person\/53963c4c768e79692e296cb2619bf9f9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"pl-PL","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2018\/12\/24\/pl100-blog-vol-12\/"]}],"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","startDate":"2018-11-11","endDate":"2018-11-11","eventStatus":"EventScheduled","eventAttendanceMode":"OfflineEventAttendanceMode","location":{"@type":"place","name":"","address":"","geo":{"@type":"GeoCoordinates","latitude":"","longitude":""}},"description":"As winter sets in, there\u2019s nothing like sitting in a cosy caf\u00e9 with a warm drink. In Poland, December is the time of year to get a mulled wine or winter tea (herbata zimowa) \u2013 a fruity blend of fresh lemon, orange, ginger, and other Christmassy spices. It is, of course, also the time of year to eat something sweet. Luckily, Poland is a haven for the sweet-toothed, with all sorts of satisfying pastries and desserts that often go back hundreds of years to the Polish royal family. You might recognise Polish chocolate waffle bars like Prince Polo and Grze\u015bki, but did you know that chocolate first entered Poland in 1665 when the military commander and rising politician Jan Sobieski asked his newly-wedded wife Maria Kazimiera d\u2019Arquien to send him some from her native France? The chocolate must have done the trick \u2013 nine years later the nobleman was elected King Jan III Sobieski. Not all of the country\u2019s sugary delights have such regal roots, but in the spirit of the season, here\u2019s a brief guide to sweet Poland.P\u0105czki \u2013 doughnutsWhen I think of doughnuts, I instinctively imagine the multicoloured, glazed American variety or the German-style Berliner. It came as a surprise to me to learn that Polish doughnuts \u2013 called p\u0105czki (ponch-kee) \u2013 were in popular existence long before the Americas were settled and probably around a similar time to the first German dough-based treats. P\u0105czki emerged in Poland during the Middle Ages, starting off as tough dough balls before evolving into the lighter, springy versions that exist today. Their fillings are gorgeous, incorporating the jam and custard flavours familiar to Brits, but also expanding into everything from stewed plum to advocaat liqueur. They\u2019re not only sweet either. One of the traditional p\u0105czki fillings is rose hip jam (r\u00f3\u017ca), which lends an unexpected tartness to offset the sugar glazing and orange zest on the outside. Best of all, p\u0105czki are cheap and plentiful in Poland \u2013 small doughnut bakeries sell warm p\u0105czki on many town high streets. In the winter months, a warm chocolate p\u0105czki is a delightful treat. But for those with a big appetite, the pre-Lent Fat Thursday (Poland\u2019s version of Shrove Tuesday) is the best time to explore p\u0105czki in all their doughy glory.Ciasto \u2013 cakesPolish bakeries can be intimidating places, simply because of the sheer number of cakes on offer. The same goes for regular food shops, which often have a counter serving all sorts of baked goods by the kilo. It\u2019s much easier to sate your sweet tooth in a caf\u00e9, where you\u2019ll usually come across three mainstays: szarlotka, beza and sernik. I always think of szarlotka as a hybrid of the British apple pie and apple crumble \u2013 its sweet apple filling is cased like a pie, but with a distinctly soft, crumble-like pastry. The name is the Polish way of saying \u2018charlotte cake\u2019, suggesting that it first came to Poland from France in the early 19th century. Today it\u2019s served everywhere, sometimes warm with cream or vanilla ice cream on the side. Beza feels like a strange cake to mention, as it\u2019s essentially a pavlova, which seems pretty un-Polish. My guess is that \u2013 as with other Polish dishes \u2013 French-inspired meringues arrived in Poland in the 18th century and were quickly combined with the country\u2019s abundant wild berries. The result is a popular, gooey pleasure. Sernik is probably my favourite Polish cake. In contrast to its American and British cousins, this Polish cheesecake is made from ricotta-like twar\u00f3g cheese and baked without a base. This means that sernik has a dairy richness with a soft crumbly texture \u2013 the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon coffee.Christmas specialsIt would be criminal to write about desserts in Polamd without mentioning its ice-cream (lody), a creamy treat made with local flavours (black sesame or pumpkin, anyone?). As it\u2019s winter and far too cold to even contemplate ice-cream, I\u2019ll move swiftly on to two Christmas specials: piernik and makowiec.Gingerbread has a long history in Poland, dating back to 1380 and specifically to the town of Toru\u0144. Owing to the abundance of Polish flour and honey \u2013 and a location on the cross-continental spice trade route \u2013 bakers in Toru\u0144 developed gingerbread recipes that subsequently became iconic across the country (the pianist Chopin was an early fan). At Christmas, the piernik gingerbread cake is served, a real labour of love that takes weeks to mature properly. Small pierniki gingerbread cookies are also baked, shaped like stars and sometimes cased in chocolate \u2013 a quintessentially Christmas taste.Makowiec is a staple of the Polish Christmas dinner, which takes place on 24th December (although it\u2019s also eaten at Easter). Unusual to a British palette, this cake is made from a yeast dough and looks like a strudel from the outside. Once you cut it open, you\u2019re greeted with layers of ground poppy seed, honey and dried fruit or nuts. In pre-Catholic Slavic traditions, poppy seeds symbolised a connection between the living and the dead, hence the serving of the cake on occasions related to Christ. The best makowiec is moist from the honey and sweet from the fruit, with the poppy seeds providing an intriguing taste and texture.***There\u2019s many more sweet treats to sample beyond the classics above. Christmas is the perfect time to enjoy them, alongside other traditions such as Saint Nicholas Day (Miko\u0142ajki) presents tucked under pillows, and the twelve dishes of Christmas Eve dinner (Wigilia). As 2018 \u2013 the centenary of Polish independence \u2013 draws to a close, I hope that you\u2019ve enjoyed my cultural tour of Poland. Perhaps in 2019 you can try it all out for yourself. 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