Kitchen of Kiki: Why Shrovetide buns ?

February 12, 2013

Why Shrovetide buns ?

Fastelavnsboller med marcipan fyld / Shrovetide bun with marzipan filling

Why Shrovetide Bun ?

Shrovetide bun are connected with fasting, which starts 49 days before Easter. And in the fast you are not supposed to eat meat and wheat flour as well as not drink milk or alcohol. So before the fast started there was big parties, where you would indulge in these foods. Fastelavnssøndag (Shrovetide Sunday) and the following Monday were the last days, where you could eat meat. The following Tuesday was the last day of eating wheat flour, where here buns were baked and eaten. This White Tuesday is also known as Pandekagedagen (Pan Cake Day) again relating to the use of wheat flour in pan cakes.

Another funny thing is, that I noticed the very first advertisements for buying Shrovetide buns in the local news paper right New Year. There is 6-8 weeks from New Year to Shrovetide, but it has been possible to fill your stomach with Shrovetide buns from the bakers in many last weeks. Here is an interesting article about Shrovetide Buns (in Danish).

However, the taste of Shrovetide buns from the bakers are nothing compared to your own home-made buns, where you can adjust the filling to your personal taste preference.

The traditional Danish "fastelavns"/Shrovetide song is like this:

Fastelavn er mit navn Shrovetide is my name

Boller vil jeg have Buns I would like to have

Hvis jeg ingen boller får If I get no buns

Så laver jeg ballade When I will make trouble

Boller op, boller ned Buns up, buns down

Boller i min mave Buns in my tummy

Hvis jeg ingen boller får If I get no buns

Så laver jeg ballade When I will make trouble

In case you have become mouth watering I will been this blog post with a few recipes on Shrovetide bun, as this is the very last you can eat wheat flour, if you are fasting before Easter !