Sweet Poland’s Kielbasa is King

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Two varieties of sausages sold by Sweet Poland ( have been awarded the prestigious five-star rating by the August 2010 The Rosengarten Report in Issue 72:
First is Kielbasa Czosnkowa. Says Rosengarten:

“Kielbasa Czosnkowa, no matter who makes it, is garlic sausage. Now garlic, of course, comes with the kielbasa territory; all kielbasa is flavored with at least some garlic. But when the producers go out of their way to call the sausage “Kielbasa Czosnkowa” … let the vampires beware! This contest-topping sausage from Sweet Poland, one of the tippy-top producers in the tasting, would have kicked pork butt whether it had the garlic or not. I received a chunk of a long coil, medium-circumference (about 1 1/4”), with a wrinkled orange-copper exterior. Inside, the meat is a fairly coarse whitish-pink, with excellent whorl. But the flavor’s the thing!
“Great smokiness (real, and not over the top), with a meat-stock kind of umami character underlying everything. The fat bubbles up beautifully when you grill this guy, and adds a buttery meatiness. Then there’s the garlic! Let’s not forget the garlic! This sucker actually has big chunks of sweet garlic in it—which play beautifully off all the other flavors! This is not one of those scary-dry purist kielbasas; this is an amazing sausage that all kielbasa-lovers can get behind, the ideal post-supermarket extension I was looking for! Don’t let your grill go down for the season without sizzling up a few of these!”

Rosengarten’s second pick was Sweet Poland’s Kielbasa Zwyczajna:

“Believe it or not … kielbasa #2 also came from the Sweet Poland company! Zwyczajna means common, or ordinary, in Polish. Used on a kielbasa label, it meansa basic, cured, smoked sausage … the ordinary one. Ha! Ain’t nothing ordinary about this Sweet Poland product.It’s a little fatter than the one above, and comes tiedoff at 14”. It’s a bit darker on the outside, a fairly dark-brown paper-bag color with orange tones. Another pale pink interior, this one with larger globs of pink meat and white fat. But here’s the true brotherhood: like the Sweet Poland garlic sausage, this is your dream-upgrade kielbasa, the thing you’d hope to graduate to from supermarket if you wanted to go far, but not necessarily all the way. It’s juicy, snappy, beautifully made, with a mild-but-pronounced smoke … and it picks up a sexy bounciness if you cook it on the grill. The two Sweet Poland kielbasa kielbasas allow you to feel bountifully upgraded, without having to learn too many new tricks. This one’s the bargain of the five-star category.”

The Rosengarten Report is produced by journalist, television personality, and cookbook author, David Rosengarten, who has covered great food products, restaurants, wines, beer, coffee and tea, gastronomic travel destinations, and related subjects for over 25 years. He has written hundreds of articles and contributed hundreds of original recipes to publications such as Gourmet (where he was Restaurant Critic from 1996 to 2000), The New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Harper's Bazaar, Departures, The Wine Spectator and Newsday. Rosengarten is perhaps best known for his work as the host of Taste, the award-winning Food Network television show devoted to the principles of good taste in food and wine.

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HOW TO ORDER

If you live outside of Brooklyn, the best way to obtain Sweet Poland’s kielbasa is on-line at In addition to Czosnkowa and Zyczajna kielbasy, Sweet Poland also stocks the highly-rated Krakowska, Zywiecka, Krajana, Kabanosy, and Easter sausages. It also offers a variety of pierogi, including “Ruskie” (pierogi with cheese and potato), sauerkraut and mushrooms, and potato and onion, in addition to uszka (dumplings) with mushrooms. Sweet Poland sells a variety of Polish candies and sweets including Wedel chocolates, uniquely delicate “Ptasie Mleczko” (bird’s milk) and delicious “Sliwka naleczowska” (prunes in chocolate). Among other Polish staples you will find Polish bread and cakes, wild mushrooms, relishes, soups and many other delights of the Old Country.

Sweet Poland started as a Polish bookstore, so Polish-language books are just a link away at PolBook.com.