For recipe see "Fritters"

The word, zeppole, refers to a variety of foods, anything from pastries to fried yeast dough. It seems prior to World War II the word "zeppole" usually referred to a fried yeast dough -- sometimes it was sweetened, and sometimes it was not. However, nowadays, in North America as well as in Italy, the word, zeppole, often refers to pastries served on The Feast Day of San Giuseppe. In the 1940s when Mrs. Carmella Romano was growing up in Cantalupo, Molise "zeppole con alici" were made for Christmas Eve and only for Christmas Eve (No other time!). Nowadays, she makes them whenever the mood hits her. She recalls that her late mother also made zeppole for The Feast Day of San Giuseppe but that fritter differed substantially from the one made for Christmas Eve. As she was not particularly fond of the San Giuseppe zeppole popular in her home town she did not continue to do it when she immigrated to Canada. In any case, she doesn't have a recipe for it. For the Feast Day of San Giuseppe Mrs. Romano buys her zeppole at an Italian pastry shop. And those zeppole are less like fritters, and more like cup cakes.... The zeppole con alici shown in the photo were made by Mrs. Romano; the photo was taken by Mary Melfi.

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