It is called “Polacca” (Polish), however it has only the name in common with Warsaw and it surroundings. We are talking about a dessert born in the province of Caserta, among the Norman streets of the town of Aversa. A soft dough halfway between brioche and croissant contains a very rich filling of custard and sour cherries in syrup.
The Polacca dessert is so called because the original recipe seems to come from a Polish nun, who arrived to a monastery in Aversa in the early 1900s. In 1926 the happy meeting took place with the pastry chef Nicola Mungiguerra, who after some improvements created the dessert as we know it today. Even now the Mungiguerra family continues to carry on this tasty tradition, preparing Polacche whose secret is precisely that thin dough, neither too soft nor too crunchy, which contains the heart of cream.
Ph. Enrico Nocera
Competing with a rich pastry tradition like that of nearby Naples is not easy. In fact, the Polacca is not as famous as the babà, the sfogliatella or the pastiera, just to give a few examples. Furthermore, for a long time the Mungiguerra family kept the recipe of the perfect Polacca secret and still today it is very difficult to reproduce its original shape and taste, since Polacche are often prepared with too high an edge or with a consistency that is too similar to brioche.
Ph. Enrico Nocera
Tasting this delight of Campania pastry is worth the trip to Aversa, a city of noble origins, much underestimated from a cultural and tourist point of view. Defined as the “city of a hundred churches”, this ancient duchy hides unsuspected and, in this case, delicious secrets. Taste the Polacca for breakfast, together with a good coffee, or after lunch, with a Sorrento limoncello.