Sold in numerous stalls and stores around town and even honored by its own museum, the St. Martin’s croissant has become one of the city’s primary identifiers.
Loved by locals, around three million are sold each year in Poznań. But just what is it, and how does it differ from its French equivalent?
Compared to the dainty French delicacy, the far more fearsome Poznań version can strike fear into a man. Each one features 81 layers with generous additions of margarine or butter wrapped within these folds.
With every St. Martin’s croissant weighing between 150 and 250 grams and packing around 1,200 calories, the key ingredients of these hefty objects include white poppyseed, with other extras numbering raisins, biscuit crumbs, eggs and almonds.
Considered ‘the Pride of Poznań’, the St. Martin’s croissant has evolved to become a bona fide cultural and culinary treasure. In 2008, it was inducted into the European Union’s list of protected regional products, and nowadays strict guidelines must be followed by those wishing to describe their croissants as being of the St. Martin variety.
Yet while these guidelines are clear, the history of this croissant has a little more mystery.
The first recorded mention of this indulgence comes in the form of a newspaper advert in 1860, yet nothing is known of them before this date. What is commonly presented as fact, though, is that they achieved mainstream success 31 years later, thanks to a baker called Józef Melzer.
Melzer was reportedly a regular attendee of Poznań’s St. Martin’s Church, and it was here that he listened to the sermons of Father Jan Lewicki, who often beseeched his congregation to follow in the footsteps of Martin of Tours. This Roman legionnaire was celebrated for his acts of goodwill and later made a saint. It is Martin of Tours that today’s parade venerates.
With the words of Father Lewicki ringing in his ears, Melzer is said to have dreamt on the eve of the annual St. Martin’s Day parade—a tradition dating back to the 16th century—that the saint entered the city riding a brilliant white horse. However, along the way, his steed lost one of its golden horseshoes.
On waking, Selzer took inspiration from his dream to bake horseshoe-shaped croissants to hand to the poor on the occasion of St. Martin’s Day.
Today, these tales entwine into one, and as Poznań celebrates St. Martin via a flamboyant march starring an abundance of centurions on horseback, croissants, too, will play a prominent role, with around 250 tons set to be sold on this day alone.
