Ask Chef Walter: Saint Joseph’s Day Zeppole – Walter Potenza

by Chef Walter Potenza, contributing writer

SAINT JOSEPH’S ZEPPOLE

The Feast of St. Joseph began in Sicily when the island was hit by drought and famine in the Middle Ages.

Friends:

Two days after we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Italians and Italian Americans celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19.

San Giuseppe becomes the Patron Saint of Carpenters, house buyers and sellers, fathers, confectioners, wheelwrights, working people, and numerous countries and cities, including Austria, Canada, Mexico, Sicily, the cities of Turin and Florence in Italy. The man has incredible responsibility and juggles his duties as a husband, laborer, and ambassador. Quite a task!

Let’s go back in history and find out what happened. 

The Feast of St. Joseph began in Sicily when the island was hit by drought and famine in the Middle Ages. The people of Sicily asked their Patron Saint, Joseph, to intervene, and if he did so and ended the drought, they would have a feast honoring him. A pretty good deal, right?

When the rain fell without interruption for an entire week and the crops grew, the people of Italy celebrated that their prayers had been answered. Then, they began to prepare their feast in St. Joseph’s honor and make good on the agreement.

The people of Sicily created an altar with three levels representing the Holy Trinity. The Altar was draped in white and decorated with fresh flowers. The tables were full of food, seafood, and wine harvested from the rain. Once they were done preparing the Altar, the people of Sicily invited the poor to share in the festival’s prayers and food. A noble gesture that has remained unaltered through time.

On March 19th each year, St. Joseph’s Day Altars are erected to continue the homage and devotion to St. Joseph’s intervention during the drought. As in the first feast, the Altar is set up in three tiers honoring the Holy Trinity a statue of St. Joseph is placed on the top tier, surrounded by flowers and candles.

Below his statue is a blanket of foods from pasta, olive oil, fava beans, and Saint Joseph’s Day baked goods. Symbolic St. Joseph’s dough pastries filled with a fig mixture shaped like a monstrance, hearts, baskets, fish, and St. Joseph’s staff are also placed on the Altar.

Meat of any type is forbidden on the Altar due to St. Joseph’s Day occurring during the Lenten season.

St. Joseph’s day loaves of bread, or Pane di San Giuseppe and Cuccidati, are baked to be placed on the Altar. The bread is made into various shapes, such as wreaths representing the crown of thorns and St. Joseph’s staff representing his walking stick.

Along with Saint Joseph’s day loaves of bread, there are loaves shaped like doves and others wrapped around dead eggs called dough babies. In addition, pastries such as Zeppole di San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph’s Day cream puffs) and small fried dough balls called Struffoli are made and dipped in honey.

Cookies such as biscotti, Italian love knots, sfinge di San Giuseppe, lamb cakes, and bible-shaped cakes appear on the Altar. However, the zeppole style we consume in the USA, with pastry cream topped with a cherry, is purely a local invention. Below is the original recipe, which does not include cream filling.

Have fun!

Zeppole original recipe

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Meet Chef Walter!

There is a constant, recognizable thread in the career of Walter Potenza to elevate the level of Italian culinary culture in the United States. Besides his unquestionable culinary talent and winning business perspective, Chef Walter has been a relentless educator with passion and knowledge who defeats stereotypes. His life, career, and values are a model, an example to follow by any chef of Italian gastronomy working outside Italy.

Chef Walter appears regularly on National and International Networks such as Food Network, ABC, CBS, NBC, RAI, FOX, and Publications such as NY. Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Saveur, Gourmet, and several Italian media outlets.   And now – RINewsToday!