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Concept
Sufganiyah
Summary
Sufganiyah (סופגנייה or סופגניה ˌsufɡaniˈja; plural: sufganiyot, סופגניות ˌsufɡaniˈjot, or in Yiddish pontshke פּאָנטשקע) is a round jelly doughnut eaten in Israel and around the world on the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried, injected with jam or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. The doughnut recipe originated in Europe in the 16th century, and by the 19th century was known as a Berliner in Germany. Polish Jews, who called it a ponchik, fried the doughnut in schmaltz rather than lard due to kashrut laws. The ponchik was brought to Israel by Polish Jewish immigrants, where it was renamed the sufganiyah based on the Talmud's description of a "spongy dough".
On Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil. The tradition of eating deep-fried pastries on Hanukkah was considered ancient even in the time of the 12th-century rabbi Maimonides, whose father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef, wrote that "one must not make light of the custom of eating sofganim [fritters] on Chanukah. It is a custom of the Kadmonim [the ancient ones]". These sofganim were likely syrup-soaked fried cakes, akin to modern zalabiya in the Arab world.
The Hebrew word sufganiyah is a neologism for pastry, based on the Talmudic words sofgan and sfogga, which refer to a "spongy dough". The word is built on the same root as the Modern Hebrew word for sponge (ספוג, sfog), which is derived from Ancient Greek σπόγγος spóggos. Sfenj, a Moroccan doughnut, comes from the same root.
A popular Israeli folktale holds that the word "sufganiyah" comes from the Hebrew expression "Sof Gan Yud-Heh" ("סוף גן יה"), meaning "the end of the Garden of the Lord" (referring to the Garden of Eden). According to the legend, when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden by the Lord, He cheered them up by feeding them sufganiyot. No known commentator on the Tanakh supports this interpretation.
According to food historian Gil Marks, the recipe for a filled jelly doughnut was first published in a 1485 cookbook in Nuremberg.
Official source
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