What Is a Kolache?

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For years kolaches have only been popular in concentrated parts of America, but now that companies are beginning to sell kolaches as part of their breakfast menus people are beginning to wonder what exactly kolaches are and where they came from.

1 What is a Kolache?

A kolache is a rounded pastry that can be filled with different sweets, fruits or meats. Kolaches are largely known as an ideal choice of breakfast pastry but people also enjoy kolaches as a dessert depending on the flavor. In some cultures, kolaches are an alternative to other treats with afternoon tea or coffee.

2 History

Kolaches date as far back as the 1700s in eastern Europe and came to America with the Czechs who settled in Texas. Particularly in the city of West, Texas there is a large Czech population. Over the years the town of West has become known as the “must-stop for kolaches” due to the preservation of their ancestors' recipes.

3 Traditional Kolache

Czechs traditionally had five popular flavors of kolache: pineapple, apricot, prune, cottage cheese and poppy seed. They also had “pigs-in-a-blanket,” which was a piece of sausage wrapped in the pastry.

4 Kolaches Today

According to the popular chain-restaurant, Kolache Factory, its most popular kolache is its sausage and cheese kolache. There are also kolaches filled with ham, vegetables or jellies. While kolaches originally had runny fillings, kolache entrepreneurs have worked to make kolaches more self-contained and neat to eat for people on the go.

5 Areas of Popularity

Besides Texas, kolaches are also popular in areas of Oklahoma, while Montgomery, Minnesota claims to be the kolache capital of the world.

Jessica Huff is a college student working towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism. In her spare time, she began writing professionally in 2009 in order to further her career as a young journalist. So far, Huff has written a variety informative articles for eHow on topics such as holidays, gift ideas and social etiquette.

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