Perfect Duluth Day

Annual Food Queries: Throwback; Paczki

I’m looking for two seasonal foods:

1. Any stores with Mountain Dew Throwback still in stock … a gas station, a grocer — anything. This is number 1 priority.

2. Pepsi Throwback. Same deal. The no-HFCs is attractive to me.

3. I’m looking for “poonchskis” or “paczki” — a donut common among Polish folks. A pÄ…czek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. PÄ…czki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough.[2]

Although they look like bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidła (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam[2][3] are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry and apple.[4]