Cover photo: A Maltese Mouthful

It’s St. Joseph’s Day today, which means one important thing for the sweet-toothed among us: tons of freshly-made zeppoli.

Zeppoli, or sfineġ, are beautiful mounds of choux pastry deep-fried like a donut, filled with sweet ricotta and sprinkled with powdered sugar. These funky fritters are commonly topped with crushed hazelnut, and provide a mouth-watering soft and chewy bite. 

There are some variations to the classic recipe

One pastry maker in Mosta said that the sfineġ in the Rabat area are often coated in a batter before frying, and in some areas coating the zeppoli with honey is a must.

But there’s one variation that has no place among the hallowed trophy hall of Maltese desserts like kannoli or mqaret

And that’s the savoury version of sfineġ with anchovies in the centre

Yep – there’s a fishy zeppoli as well

The aforementioned pastry maker said there used to be a van in the Mgarr area selling sfineġ with anchovy filling, so if you are not into anchovies, you might want to get your zeppoli elsewhere.

Warning: extremely fishy content ahead

If you plan on buying some zeppoli today, make sure you double check for that creamy sweet ricotta goodness. Otherwise, you might as well have bought a ftira. 

Tag someone who hates anchovies

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]