( or , ; : , Hebrew: , , or in Yiddish ) is a round, jelly doughnut–like pastry, eaten around the world during 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 and a Religieuse in France. Polish Jews, who called them ponchki, fried the doughnuts in schmaltz rather than lard due to kashrut laws. The ponchik was brought to Israel by Polish Jewish immigrants, where it was renamed the based on the Talmud's description of a "spongy dough".
Background
thumb|right|Various sufganiyot for sale at a bakery in [[Tel Aviv]]
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<!---So that the quote stays the same--->. 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 word is built on the same root as the Modern Hebrew word for sponge (, sfog), which is derived from . Sfenj, a Maghrebi doughnut, comes from the same root.
A popular Israeli folktale holds that the word "sufganiyah" comes from the Hebrew expression "Sof Gan Yud-Heh" (""), 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. Although this method is still practiced, an easier technique commonly used today is to deep-fry whole balls of dough, and then inject them with a filling through a baker's syringe (or a special industrial machine). sometimes raspberry), and topped with powdered sugar. Fancier versions are stuffed with dulce de leche, chocolate cream, vanilla cream, cappuccino, In 2014 one Jerusalem bakery produced sufganiyah dough saturated with flavored vodka.
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File:Deep-frying sufganiyot.jpg|A baker deep-fries sufganiyot at the Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem.
File:Sufganiyot at Mahane Yehuda shuk.jpg|Powdered and iced sufganiyot for sale in Jerusalem before Hanukkah 2014
File:Sufganiyot-roladin.jpg|Sufganiyot from Roladin, an Israeli bakery chain
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Mini sufganiyot
In 2016, Israeli bakeries began downsizing sufganiyot to appeal to health-conscious consumers, following an anti-junk food campaign by Health Minister Yaakov Litzman. The usual size, packing 400 to 600 calories (1,700 to 2,500 kJ), now appears in size with different fillings and toppings, earning the name "mini".
Popularity
In Israel
Until the 1920s, sufganiyot and latkes were of comparable popularity among Jews in Mandatory Palestine during the Hanukkah holiday. The Histadrut, Israel's national labor union, formed in 1920, pushed to replace the homemade latke with the sufganiyah as Israel's quintessential Hanukkah food to provide more work for its members. Commercial bakeries began selling sufganiyot days and weeks before Hanukkah began, lengthening the employment period. Their effort was successful, and sufganiyot became the most popular food for Hanukkah in Israel. By the 21st century, more Israeli Jews report eating sufganiyot on Hanukkah than fasting on Yom Kippur.
Today sufganiyot are sold by Israeli bakeries as early as September. Angel Bakeries, the largest bakery in Israel, reportedly fries up more than 25,000 sufganiyot every day during the eight-day Hanukkah festival itself. Each batch uses of dough and makes 1,600 sufganiyot. Local newspapers add to the excitement by rating the "best sufganiyah in town".
The Ministry of Defense buys upwards of 400,000 sufganiyot for its soldiers each Hanukkah. As the troops overwhelmingly prefer jelly-filled doughnuts, the Defense Ministry purchases 80% with jelly filling and 20% with chocolate filling. The doughnut chains Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme purvey sufganiyot in their kosher-certified outlets.
Savory varieties
Savory sufganiyot also exist. In 2018, The Jerusalem Post reported on a new trend of savory sufganiyot in Manhattan eateries, in which the dough is filled with chicken schnitzel, lamb bacon, liver, or pastrami. Other savory varieties include:
- Panzerotti in Italy, filled with mozzarella and tomato sauce.