Lochel's Bakery churning out fastnachts for Mardi Gras
HATBORO, Pa. (CBS) -- For many, Fat Tuesday, also known as Fastnacht Day, is a chance to indulge in some tasty treats ahead of the start of Lent. At Lochel's Bakery in Hatboro, customers are lining up to pick up the traditional fastnachts.
It's stuffed with mashed potatoes and fried.
Workers at Lochel's Bakery spent hours Tuesday morning to get thousands of fastnachts out.
On Monday, the bakery sold about 10,000 fastnachts.
"For days, we've been making all the icings, prepping the doughs, making all the creams that go in and the jelly and the buttercream," owner Kathleen Lochel said, "but this part of it doesn't get done until the day of. Because you can't really prep this, they're fresh. The pre-stuff we did. A lot of work."
"So my husband and I took over the bakery in 2005. We have my brother-in-law here, my nephew here. We have a lot of extended friends that we call family, they come and help too," Lochel added. "We have a lot of help, a lot of friends come and help us. It's a lot of work, but it's very rewarding to know people are flocking here for this."
Lochel said she believes people flock to the bakery every year for two years.
"They come back year after year because A, it's tradition. B, they know that we make them here," Lochel said. "They're not frozen, they're not coming out of a box and it's a celebration. They start fasting at lent and they want the fastnachts."
Also known as "Shrove Tuesday"
The day before Ash Wednesday has many names: Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras in French, Fastnacht Day in Germany, or "Shrove Tuesday" among the Pennsylvania Dutch.
The name "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the term "Shrovetide," referring to the pre-Lent season. "Shrovetide" comes from the word "shrive," meaning to hear confessions, according to the New Advent Catholic encyclopedia.
No matter what you call the day, it's a longstanding Christian tradition to eat to your heart's content -- especially sweet treats that use butter, eggs or lard that will be abstained from during Lent.
Many in the United Kingdom refer to this day as "Pancake Day".
