Rob Bozzo, one of three brothers who own the Sanremo Bakery in southern Etobicoke, said if the pastry is made the traditional way, it will take several hours to make, which is one reason why Sanremo keeps zeppole sales limited to the month of March — to take the time it needs and offer it near the date of the actual celebration.

“The customers, they know what to expect here,” he said. “They wait for it and in March, they’re lined up to buy them.”

Bozzo said where some people might bake the pastry, Sanremo fries the zeppole in two oils at different temperatures, using a more traditional method. Bozzo said the pastry contains a lot of eggs, flour, sugar and water.

“Something good is not always healthy,” he said with a laugh.

For those who might not like cherries or custard cream, they also sell another version of it with a ricotta filling or with strawberries and cream.

For Sharon DiCecco, a patron of Sanremo, it’s important to focus on the origins of St. Joseph’s feast day and the Italian tradition of celebration and thanksgiving on March 19.

“This tradition was created in thanks to a cessation of a drought in the middle ages,” she said.

According to Sicilian tradition, DiCecco said, Italians prayed to St. Joseph and when the rain came, attributed it to his intercession. In celebration of their rescue from near starvation, they created a feast of different breads, pastas or simple pastries, avoiding meat because of Lent. Eventually, the zeppole dessert became a trademark of the day, although debate reigns over the city where it originated.

It is common today for people to give zeppole as a gift on the feast of St. Joseph.

“I think it’s fascinating how this gathers the community together,” she said. “It creates a chance to converse about these things and it brings St. Joseph to our table.”

Perhaps comparable to a little Italian Thanksgiving, the treat is an example of how humans try to  experience and honour God and His saintly followers through the senses.

“The minute we walk into church, we dip our hands in holy water, we raise our voices in song and speak the prayers, we touch each other at the kiss of peace and we taste the Eucharist — all of our senses are used,” DiCecco said. “And all of these feast days, they offer a stage for us to do that too, to remember those who have gone before us.”