Fassnachts, or fastnachts, depending on your spelling preference, is a PA German tradition baked up at churches and stores across Berks County leading up to Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday (Feb. 13) – the day before Lent begins.
Keith Brintzenhoff of Kutztown, who teaches a course on PA German culture at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center’s one-room schoolhouse in Kutztown, shared some insights into the PA German tradition.
“Fascht Nacht originally meant night of fasting. Before the season of Lent starts, when you have to give up some things, especially food (hard for us Dutchies), you would use up whatever you had left over, especially lard,” said Brintzenhoff.
He explained that the dough had to be allowed to sit overnight to rise, and then the fastnachts was deep fried the next day.
“They were usually rectangular, sometimes triangular, but NEVER round. Warm is best, but anytime later is fine,” he said. “Some people used powdered sugar on top, but most people would slice them open, and fill them with a sweet syrup. You could use honey, molasses, and even jelly, but by far the most common filling was Turkey Table Syrup, which is still sold in grocery stores. I saw some today at Weis, with some fassnachts.”
As for spelling, Brintzenhoff said it varies by region, group and individual.
“My choice is fassnacht, since double ‘s’ makes the ‘a’ short, although some people like fastnacht, closer to the German, and the word for fasting. Nacht (which means night) should always be spelled like that,” he said.
Brintzenhoff also explained the historical purpose of eating this PA German treat the day before the start of Lent.
“The purpose was to use up extra food, especially lard, and prepare for the Lenten season. This was very important to early settlers, who put much more faith in religion (pun intended),” he said.
Churches across Berks County baked and sold Fastnachts leading up to Shrove Tuesday.
St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Birdsboro made homemade fastnachts on Feb. 10, which were picked up Feb. 11.
“Fastnachts is a new tradition to St. Mark’s,” said Pastor Jim Farnsworth. “It’s something I’m starting this year. My family has been making them for many years on our own and I remember eating them as a kid. My mom would get them from Charlie’s Bakery in Wernersville (which is no longer there).”
His family started making them with another family and their children using their grandmother’s recipe. Since that time, they have adjusted the recipe to make it their own and to simplify it since they are always busy.
“The recipe isn’t written down but more of a throw this in and then this and add more of this until it looks right. Basic ingredients are flour, sugar, yeast, milk, eggs, salt and lard or oil for deep frying,” he said.
St. Mark’s hosts a monthly soup group at the church and classes in bread making and making apple dumplings.
“So it was brought up to the group about making the fastnaughts – primarily as a class for those attending and then to make some fastnaughts and deliver them to our shut-ins and older members. I believe that having the food ministry allows our shut-ins to know that we are thinking about them and it just keeps them connected to the church,” said Farnsworth.
Since then, several people in the congregation have asked to purchase the fastnachts so St. Mark’s opened it up to the community.
“We make our fastnachts in the shape of triangles to represent the three sides of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost). By doing this, we are keeping a faith foundation in this local tradition,” said Farnsworth. “The tradition is to have them for Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday.) We pig out on the fastnaughts and then give up sweets for Lent.”
Farnsworth said 20 people of all ages gathered to make more than 70 dozen fastnaughts on Feb. 10.
“We like having our youth there for these events because we are passing on traditions to them, teaching them life skills of cooking and baking and fostering inter-generational relationships.”
Members of the community as well as the congregation placed advanced orders for the treats.
“This is a new tradition at St. Mark’s that we hope will continue for years to come because it brings us together to celebrate the season of Lent and it keeps this traditional PA Dutch treat alive,” he said.
A fastnacht sale was also held at Friedens UCC, Oley. This was their first year hosting the sale.
“We use one of the recipes passed down through generations of one of our church families. Our recipe makes use of potatoes and yeast,” said Friedens sale team leader Brian Ott.
Fastnachts were made on the weekend before Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 10-11. Approximately 18 people worked in shifts.
Barbara Covey reported, “We made and sold almost 300 bags of the pastries, which we don’t feel is too bad for our first attempt at doing this. We look forward to helping people in need with the proceeds.”
Proceeds from the sale support the Church’s missions in the community. One of their primary missions is to support the Oley Valley Food Pantry.
Regarding spelling, Ott said that he has seen it spelled “Fastnacht” and “Faschnacht” most often.
“We hope that members of the community can join us in keeping alive a small part of our Pennsylvania Dutch heritage while enjoying a wonderful treat and helping some of our less fortunate neighbors,” said Ott.
Frecon Farms, 501 S. Reading Ave., Boyertown, makes traditional fastnachts from potato dough, which were available for pick up or pre-order Feb. 5-13 at Frecon’s Farm Market in Boyertown.
“We’ve refined our recipe over the last four years to offer, what we’ve been told, are some of the best around and we’re very proud of that,” said Josh Smith of Frecon Farms.
He said Frecon Farms is looking to do with the Fasnacht program – like their growing program, cider & bakery – is reconnect people with the foods they’re eating – whether past, present or future.
“Most of the great moments of life are shared over great food and we’re very proud to be able to be a part of them – whether through fastnacht stories, UPick fruit or a cooking class. We’re just looking to share our experience with our customers,” said Smith.
Fastnachts in Berks County have very deep roots, said Smith.
“They are one of the most emotionally charged foods you can come by. Everyone has their own interpretation of them and if you asked 10 people you’d most likely get eight different answers about how a true fastnacht is made. Plain, powdered sugar, filled, glazed, fried in lard or shortening, rectangle or square. They’re one of those foods – like pie crust – that always has a wonderful story, and debate attached.”
