06/05/2022
Today is Grundlovsdag, Denmark’s Constitution Day, when Frederik the VII established Denmark as a constitutional monarchy in 1849. In honor of that, we’re taking a closer look at Wisconsin’s most famous tie to Danish culture: the kringle. Kringles are large, oval-shaped pastries filled with fruit, nuts or other filling like cream cheese. They get their buttery, flaky taste and texture from lamination, stacking multiple layers of butter-rolled, yeast-risen dough. In 2013, kringle became the official state pastry of Wisconsin.
Danish immigrants brought kringle recipes with them when they came to Wisconsin in the mid to late-1800s. Several Danes opened bakeries, introducing kringles to the rest of Wisconsin. Originally, kringles were made in a giant pretzel shape. However, this caused problems with overlapping thick pieces of dough so most bakers changed the kringle to ring shape. At one time, Racine had the largest Danish immigrant community in the country. Today, Racine is known as the “Kringle Capital of the World,” because of its large number of kringle producing bakeries that ship all over world.
📸: June 2022
