Andruty kaliskie

Andruty kaliskie are thin, round wafers made in Kalisz, Poland. They are faintly sweet, and the dry, thin wafer breaks lightly when you bite into it. They have no cream filling and are eaten as they are, one at a time.

The wafers described by the Ministry of Agriculture are 15–17 centimeters in diameter but only about 1 millimeter thick. The edges are not perfectly circular, and the pale wafer shows lighter and darker patches of browning.

Dropping batter onto a hot plate

A batter of wheat flour, water, sugar and rapeseed oil is mixed, left to rest, and then baked between hot upper and lower plates. According to the description of the production method in the registration application, the baker drops batter with a spoon onto the heated lower plate and immediately presses the upper plate down onto it. The baking time depends on the temperature of the plates but is about 30–45 seconds. The thin wafers are removed with a spatula and stacked, and their edges are trimmed.

Because the thin, dry wafers break easily and absorb moisture readily, they are packaged where they are made. They were once wrapped in paper bands, but sealed bags later came into use, which made it easier to keep out moisture. A local workshop explains that when wafers are baked by hand one at a time, each one turns out slightly differently, even with the same equipment.

Walks in the park and memories of the wafers

In Kalisz, these wafers have long been associated with walks in the park. In the park, where families gathered on Sundays and holidays, there were stalls and kiosks that sold the wafers along with drinks. Records of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture note that a 1959 photograph of children eating andruty in the park still exists.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. and Mrs. Donat sold the wafers at a kiosk near the old greenhouse, and their daughter Jadwiga later continued making and selling them. The workshop of Mr. and Mrs. Cichy, who also made the wafers in that period, has been passed on to their daughter and her husband. The walk to the park and the thin wafers bought there also stayed in the memories of people who later left the town.

Local producers say that wafer molds were listed in a property inventory from 1812. The existence of these molds offers a clue to how wafers were made at the time and how they may be connected to today’s andruty.

Glossary