Despite a somewhat hazy history, there is absolutely no question that the Zeppole (ZAY-poe-lay) Italian pastry is beyond popular in Rhode Island, with local bakeries churning out tens of thousands last Wednesday in preparation for St. Joseph’s Day.

Accounts differ on how the pastry became associated with that holy feast day, as do accounts about the evolution of the pastry itself.  But here in Rhode Island, the zeppole takes the form of a frilly round pastry bursting with rich custard filling, wreathed in whipped cream and topped with a maraschino cherry.

And although March 19 (St. Joseph’s Day) is the ‘official’ day to partake in the confection, most Italian bakeries across the state sell them from late January through Easter – and a few make them available all year long. Last week we visited popular pastry shops in Warwick, Cranston and Johnston, where it was a veritable frenzy of zeppole-making.

At the Original Italian Bakery in Johnston, it seemed that there were zeppole, or parts of zeppole, everywhere. There were huge wooden bakery tables lined with split zeppole shells waiting for their fillings, buckets of cooked custard filling in the refrigerators and a huge mixer churning out homemade whipped cream.

“By the time we’re done with zeppole season, we don’t want to want to eat them,” said one employee, noting that the desire to indulge in the sought-after sweet goes away relatively quickly when you are surrounded by them day after day.

Donald DePetrillo, owner of the Original Italian Bakery, can make them in his sleep – something he gets very little of. He typically sells zeppole from around the time of the Super Bowl until Easter Sunday and estimates that the total tally for the season is around 66,000. He already had countless orders for this week and said that it’s not unusual to sell 8,000 zeppole on St. Joseph’s Day alone.

A baker and bakery owner for 58 years, DePetrillo, says he typically starts work around 11:30 pm and stays until about 2 pm.  Like other bakeries, his busy store on Atwood Avenue near the Cranston line, has gotten creative with the zeppole fillings and now sells more than just the traditional ones filled with a sweet, cooked yellow custard.

The newer, non-traditional fillings – all of which are popular – include chocolate, pistachio, ricotta cheese, and a raspberry spread combined with whipped cream.  There is nothing modest about the zeppole.  They are bursting with their rich fillings and ringed with generous amounts of whipped cream.

Even the dough is rich.  It is typically an egg dough called pâte à choux, and is the same dough used for cream puffs and eclairs. It is a soft dough that is spooned into pastry bags and piped onto baking sheets with crimped tips to give the zeppole its characteristic frilly look.

At DeLuise Bakery on Oaklawn Avenue in Cranston, baker Joe Gardner says zeppole are not the most difficult pastry to make but require “a process” and are certainly labor intensive.  Most Italian bakeries in Rhode Island proudly point out that each zeppole is made by hand – from piping out the dough to filling and topping them.

Gardner noted that while frying the pastry is the traditional way to cook a zeppole shell, most are now baked, creating a slightly healthier version – if the word healthy can be applied to such a bodacious pastry.

He said that customers want them pretty much all year long, although the special filling flavors, such as Bailey’s Irish cream, are only available during prime zeppole season.

At Antonio’s Bakery on West Shore Road in Warwick, trays and trays of zeppole bursting with a variety of fillings lined the glass display cases.

“Thousands, we sell thousands a day at this time of year,” said manager Shannon Monahan, as customers were ordering them by the boxful. Antonio’s has many of the varieties that other bakeries have but are also proud of their strawberries and cream zeppole creation.

If you like zeppole history, which is mostly anecdotal, the origin of the pastry is humble.  Some accounts say it started out as a friendly pancake-like creation, ostensibly because St. Joseph at one time sold pancakes to help support his family.  Others say that its original form was nothing like its current, ruffled incarnation.  It was supposedly simple balls of fried dough dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Some accounts say that the simpler-shaped zeppole of ancient times were meant to signify the carpentry tools of St. Joseph and the crumbs symbolized saw dust.   One of the few facts that many – but not all – accounts agree upon is that while the earliest forms of zeppole may date back thousands of years, they began to become popular in the 1800’s when Neapolitan baker Pasquale Pinaturo began selling them in the streets every March 19.

The zeppole’s current popularity is apparently at its peak in southern Italy, Rhode Island, Boston and parts of other East Coast cities where there are sizeable populations of Italian Americans.

As fascinating as the history may be, sleep is more on the minds of area bakers who are surrounded by zeppole and lines of people who want to buy them.

“I’ve seen enough this year,” said Gini Nani at DeLuise with a laugh.  “I don’t need to see any more for a while.”