Is it pizza? No, it's potica!
Priprava Jerbasa, ok. 1940, Maksim Gaspari (1883 -1980).
Potica – pronounced po-teet-sah – is without a doubt the most popular Slovenian dessert. No important holiday goes by without potica on the table-most of the time that is walnut potica, though between 100 and 120 kinds of savory and sweet potice exist. Beside walnut the most popular sweet potica fillings are poppy seeds, carob, raisin, honey and tarragon. Tarragon is traditionally used as a spice in preparation of savory dishes, but Slovenia is one of the few countries where it is predominantly used in sweet dishes. Among savory potice, ocvirkovka or pork crackling potica (pork cracklings are crisp pieces of residue left after hog fat has been rendered) is the most common. The word potica as well as some regional names for potica, like povtica, potvica, etc. are descended from the word povitica. Povitica is derived from the verb 'poviti', which means to wrap in or to envelop, and it signifies a type of pastry that you roll. This type of dessert is common in many eastern European countries as well as in regions bordering Slovenia, for example, in Friuli in neighboring Italy, they prepare a sweet bread called gubana, in Austria, a roll called Kärntner Reinling.
The word potica first appears in Primož Trubar's Catechism in 1575, however, Trubar uses the older word for potica, povitica. Potica is also mentioned in his 1577 New Testament.
»Ty stari Vyčeniki, S. Avguštin prepoviduio na te Svetnike klicati inu nim Cerqve, Altarie zidati, Epiphanius en škoffie pisal pred Anajst stu leit, zubper te žene, kir so divici Mary pogače, povitice pekli, inu ni offrovali, letaku.«
»These old scholars, St Augustin forbade to pray to saints and build them altars and churches. Epiganius, a bishop, also wrote 110 years ago against these women who baked and offered virgin Mary potice and cakes.«
Catechism, Primož Trubar
The title page of the Glory of the Duchy of Carniola.
The first recipe for potica appeared in Johann Weikhard von Valvasor’s (Janez Vajdkar Valvasor in Slovenian) Glory of the Duchy of Carniola in 1689. His description of potica as a Christmas pastry is the oldest preserved about this sweet bread. It is very different from the potica we know today, though. His recipe states that the dough was rolled to be so thin as a sheet of paper (leading some to suspect that it was prepared with unleavened dough). Over the dough coarsely crushed walnuts with honey were sprinkled and then the potica was rolled up. It didn’t bake in a potičnica (earthenware potica pan with a hole in the middle), but rather the dough log was shaped into a spiral, as if a snake had coiled the inside of a round pan, so that it resembled a loaf of bread. Here you can read about an attempt to recreate the potica of Valvasor (in Slovenian, though easily translated into English with google translate). Valvasor also notes that potica was prepared by farmers as well as noble people and city dwellers. This demonstrates that in the second half of the 17th century making potica was already widely spread.
Fast-forward to the late 18th century and the next report about potica, this time in the work of Anton Tomaž Linhart in his Versuch einer Geschichte von Krain und der übrigen südlichen Slaven Oesterreichs (1788-1791). Linhart mostly summarized Valvasor’s descriptions and adapted them to his time.
»Sledove praznovanja, boshizha, posvečenega hišnemu miru in gostoljubju, najdemo še v božičnih navadah. Ta praznik so slavili osem dni. V vsaki hiši je bila posebna, s platnenim prtom pogrnjena miza, bogato obložena z jedačo in pijačo. Kranjska Potiza, kruh iz tenko razvaljanega in v obliko krone zvitega testa z medom in orehi, ter popertnik, ploščat kruh, ki ima navadno zgoraj iz testa pleten venec, okrašen z raznimi okraski, so najbrž ostanek te stare častitljive navade. Ti dve vrsti kruha sta še dandanašnji v navadi in vsak gospodar ju osem dni postavlja pred goste.«
»The traces of the celebration of Christmas, dedicated to the peace at home and hospitality, can be found in Christmas traditions. This holiday was celebrated for eight days. In each house there was a special, with a linen tablecloth covered table, richly laden with food and drinks. The Carniolan potica, bread from thinly rolled-out-dough with honey and walnuts, shaped into a crown, and popertnik, a flat bread that usually has a braided wreath on the top, and is decorated with various decorations, are a part of this venerable tradition. These two types of bread are still common today and every master of the house places them in front of his guests for eight days.«
Versuch einer Geschichte von Krain und der übrigen südlichen Slaven Oesterreichs, Anton Tomaž Linhart
The first cookbook in Slovenian by Valentin Vodnik was published in 1799. Surprisingly, it does not include a recipe for potica. However, he does use the word potica twice in his work. The first time he uses it when introducing the words puding and kipnik into Slovenian (that was one important contribution of the cookbook – Vodnik replaced German and other foreign words with Slovenian equivalents), and the second time, when giving instructions on how to prepare rice sausages. He states that the dough for sausages must be rolled up like a potica. This is the third mention of potica after Valvasor and Linhart.
The first drawing depicting potica appeared in 1891 in Jurij Šubič's Velikonočni žegen. Potica is in the Easter basket that is prepared to be taken to the church for a blessing.
In his Pratika, Vodnik composed a short poem about every month of the year and in the September stanzas, wrote, terice pogačo, potvico jedo. Terice are the women who helped process the flax plants. Because the work was exhausting, they were treated with potica and other special foods at mealtimes. These stanzas are important since they demonstrate that at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, potica was not only enjoyed for Christmas, but also for other special occasions, like harvests.
From the 19th century onwards, as the quality of life improved, potica is mentioned more and more frequently. Janez Trdina writes in his diary that in Dolenjska (a region in southeastern Slovenia) potica is enjoyed for every bigger festival or celebration. For example, in his description of the celebration of St. Martin in November, he writes that for dinner, there is as much wine as can be drunk, cooked beef, a roast (pork or lamb), salad, also chicken, štruklji, potica.
19th century is also a time when potica recipes start appearing in cookbooks. In 1858 Katharina Prato’s Die süddeutsche Küche was published.
Prato's walnut potica recipe.
On one of her trips to Carniola Prato tasted some Slovenian dishes and included the recipes in her book. Prato mentions Špehovka or bacon potica (Speckpotize), ocvirkovka or pork crackling potica (Grammelpogatscherin), poppy seed potica (Mohnpotize) and walnut potica (Nusspotize). Walnut potica recipe is accompanied by a picture depicting potica as shaped into a spiral without the central hole, much like in the description of Valvasor (see the picture on the right).
The most successful Slovenian cookbook, Slovenska kuharica by Magdalena Knafelj Pleiweis, was published in 1868. Pleiweis mentions different types of potica - honey, almond, chocolate, poppy seed, walnut, hazelnut, raisin, and bacon potica among others. It is visible from the recipes that during this time, potice were already baked in earthenware potičnice. Logs of rolled up dough with filling that were not baked in pans with a hole in the middle, are called štruklji in her book. Pleiweis' book has been so successful thanks also to Felicita Kalinšek and many others, who are carrying on the work of Pleiweis and are expanding the Slovenska kuharica with every edition.
A picture from Bogataj's Potice iz Slovenije depicting the evolution of potica and potica molds.
Slovenia submitted the application for the protection of Slovenska potica (Slovenian potica) to the European Commission in early 2018 and on April 22 2021 it was protected as a traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG).
The protected potica may be prepared with five different traditional fillings: walnut, walnut and raisin, raisin, tarragon or tarragon with farmer's cheese. The mould for baking potica is called potičnica, which gives potica the shape of a ring with a hole in the middle and with smooth or fluted sides.
This recognition by the European comission, and generations of descendants of Slovenians in the US, Kanada and elsewehere helped the knowledge of potica to gradually spread around the world.
Even the Pope is a fan of potica! When the then presidential couple, Donald and Melania Trump, visited the Vatican in 2017, the pope asked Melania, who is of Slovenian descent, »What are you feeding him, potica?« Melania misunderstood and asked »Pizza?« before answering »yes«. The pizzagate was solved with the help of a Slovenian journalist, who said »I cannot tell you whether she said pizza, but he definitely said potica.« Apparently, Pope Francis always brings up potica when he meets Slovenians.
If this post leaves you craving potica, check out the recipes on this link.
Bogataj, Janez. Slovenska Potica - vseh sladic kraljica. Ljubljana: Založba Hart, 2018.
Bogataj, Janez. Potice iz Slovenije. Ljubljana: Založba Rokus Klett, 2013.
Bogataj, Janez. Taste Slovenia. Ljubljana: Rokus Gifts & National Geographic, 2007.
Z Valvasorjem za mizo: Potica, stara 330 let
Is it pizza? No, it's potica: the pope gives Melania Trump food for thought