Pusharatas, a sweet Croatian treat, are a Mississippi Coast tradition

There are many foods synonymous with the Coast, including po-boys, gumbo and shrimp and grits.

The pusharata is also a popular Coast food, especially at Christmas when the ladies auxiliary of the Slavonian Lodge in Biloxi sells thousands of the Croatian pastries each year on the day before Christmas Eve.

The Slavonian Lodge on Wednesday hosted a pusharata tasting and cooking demonstration for the Leadership Gulf Coast class. The demonstration was one of many activities for Leadership Gulf Coast class’ culture and heritage day.

“Pusharata is a Yugoslavian pastry,” Patsy Kuluz said. “It’s a small fried donut that’s filled with fruit and covered with a powdered-sugar glaze.

“It’s time-consuming because all of the fruit and nuts have to be chopped, but once you get the prep done, it’s nothing to mix it all together.”

The basic recipe for a pusharata calls for flour, sugar, spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon and grated fruit that includes apples, oranges and lemons, as well as raisins. The ingredients are mixed together to form a batter that is scooped into balls and fried in hot oil. The fried pastry is then covered in powdered sugar and set on a rack to cool.

But Kuluz said the pusharata process is also a social event.

“You have to have someone mix the dough and someone to fry it and then someone to glaze them,” she said. “I would never attempt it by myself. You also have to have nice cool, dry weather because (otherwise) the glaze won’t dry on them. It’s part of my heritage — we had them at my wedding and at my daughter’s wedding.”

The pastries have also become popular Christmas staples for many Coast residents.

“We sell them at festivals and at Christmas and people seem to like them,” she said. “Most of our regular customers know we sell them on Dec. 23 — that’s a big commitment to do this two days before Christmas, but that’s the time that people really want them.”

Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich was also at the Slavonian Lodge on Wednesday to discuss his Croatian heritage.

“My grandparents came here in 1903 to work in the seafood-processing industry,” he said. “By 1923, the fishing industry was dominated by Croatian-Americans.”

Gilich said he was also there for the pusharatas.

“Pusharatas were always served at Christmas and weddings and other events,” he said. “Pusharatas have become one of our more popular pastries. I’m glad to see they’ve stayed alive on the Gulf Coast.”

Although the pastries are popular on the Coast, some members of the leadership class had never tasted one until Wednesday.

“But they are wonderful,” Kelli Lyons said after her first taste. “I love the almond glaze.”

When asked if he had any advice for pusharata novices, Gilich said to eat them as soon as possible.

“You have to eat them the day they are made or they will turn as hard as a baseball,” he said.

Pusharata recipes

PUSHARATAS

• 5 pounds self-rising flour
  
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
  
• 6 orange peelings, grated
  
  
• 3 whole apples, grated
  
  
• 6 lemons peelings, grated
  
  
• 3 cups raisins
  
  
• 1/2 cup whiskey
  
  
• 3 tablespoons vanilla
  
  
• 1/2 gallon milk
  
  
• 2 cups pecans, chopped finely
  
  

Mix flour and sugar together first. Then combine grated apples, oranges, lemons, pecans and raisins (not grated) together. Add these ingredients into the flour and sugar and mix well together. Add milk, whiskey and vanilla to the ingredients. Mix well together. In teaspoonful lumps, deep fat fry pusharata batter until golden brown.

Glaze:

• 6 boxes powdered sugar
  
  
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  
  
• 4 cans evaporated milk
  
  

Mix sugar, extract and milk. Glaze pusharatas while they are still hot from frying. Yield: About 300 pusharatas.

— Submitted by Ann Smith

Ginger Freemyer went to wlox.com for Miss Deenie’s Pusharatas. Deenie Kuljis died in 2006, but the Slavonian Auxiliary still uses this recipe.

MISS DEENIE’S PUSHARATAS

• 5 pounds self-rising flour
  
  
• 2- 1/2 cups sugar ( 1/2 cup for the fruit, below; 2 cups for the flour mixture)
  
  
• 2 cups raisins
  
  
• 3 tablespoons nutmeg
  
  
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
  
  
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
  
  
• 2 tablespoons whiskey
  
  
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
  
  
• 4 large apples
  
  
• 4 large oranges
  
  
• 1 lemon
  
  
• 6 cups chopped pecans
  
  
• 1/2 gallon milk
  
  
• Sugar glaze
  
  

Combine the dry ingredients: flour, 2 cups sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking powder. Peel and core the apples. Peel and pit the oranges and lemon. Mince the fruit or run it through a blender or a food processor, but don’t liquefy; combine with 1/2 cup sugar. Combine wet ingredients: whiskey, vanilla and milk. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Then mix in fruit, raisins and pecans.

Heat 1/2 to 1 gallon cooking oil in a deep fryer. Drop balls of dough (the ladies use a special scoop or just a standard coffee teaspoon) into hot fat, being careful not to crowd the pieces. Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels. Coat with sugar glaze.

Sugar glaze: Combine 2 or 3 cans of evaporated milk with 6 pounds confectioner’s sugar and almond extract to taste. Start with the sifted sugar and add the milk gradually, stirring all the while, till you reach a glaze consistency. Add the extract a small amount at a time, to taste, and remember that the extract adds moisture, too.

-- Submitted by Ginger Freemyer

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 3:17 PM.