Traditionally sold from street carts, it is a popular snack in the Polish city of Kraków, where it has the status of a regional food with protected geographical indication.

The Polish noun obwarzanek, or obarzanek, derives from the verb obwarzać, "to parboil",[2] which refers to the distinctive technique of boiling the dough before baking.

[3] The visible strands of the spiral on the crust are firmish to the touch and the surface varies from smooth to slightly rough.

[3] The earliest known references to obwarzanki being baked in Kraków, Poland's former royal capital, appear in the accounts of the court of Queen Jadwiga and her consort King Vladislaus II Jagiełło.

[3][5] In 1496, King John Albert granted the bakers' guild of the city of Kraków a monopoly on baking white bread, including obwarzanki.

The guild issued a decree in 1611 regulating the sale of obwarzanki inside the city walls and the choice of bakers who were allowed to sell them.

[3] Obwarzanki were sold from stalls which opened before 6 a.m. so that the inhabitants of Kraków could buy them freshly baked early in the morning.

It has also won an award at the Nasze Kulinarne Dziedzictwo (Our Culinary Heritage) competition, and received a prize at the 2003 Polagra Farm international fair in Poznań.