Lye pretzel with the typical "pretzel loop"
A pretzel is a bread pastry of Medieval European origin (some accounts say Italian or French[1][2][3]) or German that has the shape of a three looped knot or twisted braid. Pretzels are either soft or hard. Hard pretzels have evolved into a variety of shapes from knotted loops to straight "pretzel sticks" (called Salzstangen in German, Ropi in Hungarian). The pretzel dough is made from wheat flour, water, sugar, and yeast, sprinkled with coarse salt. Pretzels are typically glazed with lye and salted.[4] Pretzels can be found in a variety of shapes and sizes. Traditional soft pretzels are about the size of a hand. Most hard pretzels are only 2 millimetres (0.079 in) thick. Hard pretzels which are approximately 1 centimetre (0.39 in) thick are called Bavarian pretzels.
Pretzels as a food are associated with different backgrounds, cultural purposes and ingredients that include a variety of glazes and coatings. Pretzels made of sour or yeast dough are assumed to be of Christian Medieval European origin, possibly initially to replace pagan customs. Today, they are still used in southern Germany and adjoining German-speaking regions on Christian holidays and in local customs.
A bread pretzel popular in southern Germany and adjoining German speaking areas as well as in some areas of the United States, is basically made from wheat flour, water and yeast, glazed with lye, usually sprinkled with coarse salt, hand-sized and made for consumption on the same day. To avoid confusion with any other pretzel kind, German speakers call this variety "Laugenbrezel" (lye pretzel). The sweet pastry varieties have no special purpose or background, come in many different textures, toppings and coatings and are part of the wider selection of pastries and cookies. The crispy hard pretzels, e. g. pretzel sticks and a variety of shapes basically made from the same ingredients have evolved from the same lye pretzel by baking out excess moisture thereby increasing shelf life and a crispy taste. They originate in the United States and have become popular in many countries.[5][6][7][8]
Pretzel Shapes, Flavors, Toppings
Looped Sticks Waffle Squares Nibblets Ice Cream Cones Novelty Shapes for special events
Chocolate (Milk, Dark or White) Yogurt Frosting Mustard (Yellow, or Spicy Brown)
History
There are numerous accounts on the origin of the looped pretzels as well as the origin of the name. Most of them agree that they have religious and/or Christian backgrounds and were invented by monks. According to The History of Science and Technology, by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans, in 610 A.D. "...an Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola' ("little rewards")". However, no source is cited to back up these details. Another source locates the invention in a monastery in southern France.[6][7][8] The looped pretzel may also have evolved from a Greek ring bread which was served in monasteries for the Last Supper 1,000 years ago.[5] In Germany there are stories that pretzels were the invention of desperate bakers.[9] Meyers Konversationslexikon from 1905 suspects the origin of pretzels in a ban of heathen baking traditions, such as in form of sun wheels, at the Synod of Estinnes in the year 743. The pretzel may have emerged as a substitute.[10] The German name "Brezel" may derive also from Latin bracellus (a medieval term for "bracelet"),[11] or bracchiola ("little arms").
The pretzel has been in use as emblem of bakers and formerly their guilds in southern German areas at least from the 12th. century to this very day.[9] A 12th-century illustration in the Hortus deliciarum from the southwest German Alsace (today France) may contain the earliest depiction of a pretzel.
Kepler's 'Panis Quadragesimalis
diagram.
Within the Catholic church, pretzels were regarded as having religious significance for both ingredients and shape. Pretzels made with a simple recipe using only flour and water could be eaten during Lent, when Christians were forbidden to eat eggs, lard, or dairy products like milk and butter. As time passed, pretzels became associated with both Lent and Easter. Pretzels were hidden on Easter morning just like eggs are hidden today and are particularly associated with Lent, fasting, and prayers before Easter.[12] The classic pretzel's three-hole shape begins to take form. The three holes represent the Christian Trinity of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit," and pretzels are thought to bring luck, prosperity, and spiritual wholeness.[citation needed] The wedding phrase "tying the knot" got its start when a pretzel was used to tie the knot between two prominent families.[citation needed] The pretzel's loops stood for everlasting love.[citation needed]
In 1609, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler stated that "[if] one puts all of this information together in one bundle, and at the same time believes that the sun truly moves across the Zodiac over the space of a year, as Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe believed, then it is necessary to concede that the circuits of the three above planets through ethereal space are, as it were, a complex of several movements, that they are actually twisted; not like piled-up cord, with coils in a sequential order, but rather in the image of a lenten bread, as the following diagram shows..." (panis quadragesimalis or lenten bread is a pretzel).[13]
Pretzels in German-speaking countries
Variety of Southern German lye breads (
Laugengebäck)
Pretzel baking has taken most firmly root in Southern Germany and adjoining German speaking areas and pretzels have been an integral part of German baking traditions for centuries.
The custom of using lye in baking is thought to have evolved by accident in the 19th century.[14] Lye pretzels are popular in southern Germany, Alsace, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland as a variety of bread, a side dish or a snack and come in many local varieties. Almost every region and even city has its own way of baking them. Examples for pretzel names in various German dialects are “brezn”, “bretzel”, “brezzl”, “brezgen”, "bretschl", "silserli" and "sülzerli". [15] Baked for consumption on the same day, they are sold in every bakery and in special booths or stands in downtown streets. Often, they are sliced horizontally, buttered, and sold as Butterbrezel or come with slices of cold meats or cheese. Sesame, poppy, sunflower, pumpkin or caraway seeds, melted cheese and bacon bits are other popular toppings. In Bavaria, they accompany a main dish such as Weisswurst sausage. The same dough and baking procedure with lye and salt is used to make other kinds of "lye pastry" (Laugengebäck): lye rolls, buns, croissants and even loaves (Laugenbrötchen, Laugenstangen, Laugencroissants, Laugenbrot).[16] [17]
In southern Germany and adjoining German-speaking areas Pretzels have retained their original religious meanings and are still used in various traditions and festivals. On January 1, people give each other lightly sweetened yeast pretzels for good luck. These New-Years-Pretzels are made in different sizes and can have a width of 50 centimetres (20 in) and more. Sometimes children visit their godparents to fetch their New Years pretzel. On May 1, love-struck boys used to paint a pretzel on the door of the adored. On the other hand, an upside-down pretzel would have been a sign of disgrace. Especially Catholic areas, such as Austria, Bavaria or some parts of Swabia, know the “Palm Pretzel” made for Palm Sunday celebrations.[18][19] An old tradition on Palm Sunday dating back to 1533 is the outdoor pretzel market (Brezgenmarkt) in the Hungerbrunnen Valley near Heldenfingen.
On Laetare Sunday in Luxembourg, the fourth Sunday in Lent, there is a festival called "Pretzel Sunday". Boys give their girlfriends pretzels or cakes in pretzel form.[20] The size symbolizes how much he likes her. In return, if a girl wants to increase his attention, she will give him a decorated egg on Easter. The pretzel custom is reversed on Pretzel Sunday during leap years.[21] This custom also still exists in some areas of the Swabian Alb.[22] On the same occasion in Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate, people have parades carrying big pretzels mounted on colourful decorated poles.[22]
Fountain in Speyer with pretzel boy statue
In Germany, the lye pretzel is the theme for a number of festivals. The city of Speyer prides itself to be the “Pretzel town” and around the second weekend of July, from Friday to Tuesday, it holds an annual funfair and festival called "Brezelfest", which is the largest beer festival in the Upper Rhine region and attracts around 300,000 visitors. This includes a parade with over 100 bands, floats and clubs participating from the whole region and 22,000 pretzels are thrown among the crowds.[23] On the market square of Speyer, there is a fountain with a statue of a boy selling pretzels. The pretzel booths on the main street are permanently installed and were specially designed when the whole downtown area was re-done for the 2000th anniversary.[24][25] One-day pretzel fests and markets in other German towns are in Kirchhellen,[26] a borough of Bottrop, or in Kornwestheim.[27] The pretzel shape is used for a variety of sweet pastries made of different kinds of dough (flaky, brittle, soft, crispy) with a variety of toppings (icing, nuts, seeds, cinnamon). Around Christmas they can be made as soft gingerbreads (“Lebkuchen”) with chocolate coating.
Pretzels in the United States of America
USA Philadelphia PA Style Soft Pretzel
In the 18th century, southern German and Swiss German immigrants introduced the pretzel to North America. The immigrants became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch and in time, many handmade pretzel bakeries populated the countryside and the pretzel's popularity spread.[28] The Anderson Pretzel Factory, opened in Lancaster in 1889, calls itself the world's largest, producing 65 tons of pretzels daily. In 1935, the Reading Pretzel Machinery Company introduced the first automatic pretzel twisting machine.[28] The first machine-produced soft pretzel was created at Federal Baking Company in 1978.[29]
Soft pretzels are also popular in some other regions of the United States. Cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York are renown for their soft pretzels.[30][31] It became a staple Philadelphia food for snacking at school, work, or home and considered by most to be a quick meal.[29] Street vendors used to sell pretzels on street corners in wooden glass enclosed cases.[32] The average Philadelphian today consumes about twelve times more pretzels than the national average.[33]
Pennsylvania today is the center of American pretzel production.[30] Southeastern Pennsylvania, with its large population of German background, is considered the birthplace of the American pretzel industry and many pretzel bakers are still located in the area. Pennsylvania produces 80% of the nation's pretzels,[34]
The annual United States pretzel industry is worth over $550 million.[35] The average American consumes about 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg) of pretzels per year.[36]
The privately run “Pretzel Museum” opened in Philadelphia in 1993. [30] In 2003 Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell declared April 26 “National Pretzel Day” to acknowledge the importance of the pretzel to the state's history and economy.[37] Americans use the phrase "Pretzel Logic" in reference to political thinking in government actions that are looped without an outcome. The pretzel as an icon was embraced by the Philadelphia Recreation Department. A facility formerly identified as Manayunk Park located on the 4300 block of Silverwood Street was renamed by the City in 2004 as "Pretzel Park."[38] The park design has pretzel like pathways and includes a public art work symbolizing a pretzel.[39][40]
Pretzel Bakers of United States of America (Historical Timeline)
1861: Sturgis' Bakery in Lititz, Pennsylvania becomes the first commercial pretzel bakery in the United States.[41]
1884: Bachman's pretzel bakery is founded in Reading, Pennsylvania.[42]
1889: The Anderson Pretzel Factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania is founded. They made pretzels by hand from 1889 until 1955, when machines were added.[43]
1909: Snyder's of Hanover is founded in Hanover, Pennsylvania.[41]
1922: Federal Baking Company was founded in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Italian American Edmund Nacchio, following his mother's bakery recipe.[29]
1935: The Reading Pretzel Machinery Company introduced the first automatic pretzel twisting machine.[28]
1946: Tom Sturgis Pretzel Company is founded in Reading.[44] By Reading's bicentennial two years later, there are at least 15 pretzel bakeries in the Reading/Berks area.[29][45]
1963: The largest pretzel of its time, weighing 40 pounds and measuring 5 feet across, is baked by Joseph Nacchio of the Federal Baking Company.[28]
1978: The first machine-produced soft pretzel was created at Federal Baking Company.[29] 1993: The Pretzel Museum opens in Philadelphia, operated by the Nacchio family.[46]
2003: Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell declares April 26 National Pretzel Day to acknowledge the importance of the pretzel to the state's history and economy.[47]
Pretzels in other countries
Although not as popular as among German speakers and Americans, the looped pretzel is known in other European countries and in other countries around the world. In the Czech Republic the pretzel is known as “preclík”, in Finland as “viipurinrinkeli”. The Spanish, French and Italians call it “pretzel”, “bretzel” or “brezel”, the Dutch favor sweet variants called "krakeling", Norwegian and Danish call it a "kringle", in Polish it's “precel”, in Hungarian "perecz".[48]
Party pretzels
Crispy pretzels originate in the United States where, in 1850, the Sturgis bakery in Lititz, Pennsylvania, became the first commercial hard pretzel bakery. Party pretzels can be shaped as sticks (around 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick and 12 centimetres (4.7 in) long), loops, braids, letters or little pretzels have become a popular snack in many countries around the world. Unlike the soft pretzels, these ones are durable when kept in an airtight environment. In Europe, party pretzels are usually sprinkled with salt but also with sesame seed, poppy seed or cheese. In the U. S. they come in many varieties of flavors and different coatings such as yoghurt, chocolate, strawberry, mustard, cheese and others and chocolate-covered hard pretzels are popular around Christmas time. In the Philadelphia area, crumbled hard pretzels are a common accompaniment to ice cream as a cone or topping.
Gallery
Typrical Speyer pretzel on top of one covered with cheese
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Pastry pretzels with almonds
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See also
References
- ^ Hartel, AnnaKate (2008). Food Bites. Springer. p. 111. ISBN 0387758445. http://books.google.com/books?id=PMOrW3zkirwC&pg=PA111&dq=history+of+pretzels&lr=&ei=AUExSpzcG4aCywTz2PiKDg.
- ^ Grunes, Barbara (2007). The Best Bake Sale Ever Cookbook. Chronicle Books. pp. 80. ISBN 0811850757. http://books.google.com/books?id=juPycXQouOgC&pg=PA80&dq=history+of+pretzels&lr=&ei=AUExSpzcG4aCywTz2PiKDg.
- ^ Silverman, Sharon Hernes (2001). Pennsylvania Snacks. Stackpole Books. pp. 30. http://books.google.com/books?id=q0KyXgBhuZMC&pg=PA30&dq=history+of+pretzels&lr=&ei=AUExSpzcG4aCywTz2PiKDg.
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b http://www.bad-bad.de/restaur/kuechenkunde/brezel.htm (in German)
- ^ a b Hartel, AnnaKate (2008). Food Bites. Springer. p. 111. ISBN 0387758445. http://books.google.com/books?id=PMOrW3zkirwC&pg=PA111&dq=history+of+pretzels&lr=&ei=AUExSpzcG4aCywTz2PiKDg.
- ^ a b Grunes, Barbara (2007). The Best Bake Sale Ever Cookbook. Chronicle Books. pp. 80. ISBN 0811850757. http://books.google.com/books?id=juPycXQouOgC&pg=PA80&dq=history+of+pretzels&lr=&ei=AUExSpzcG4aCywTz2PiKDg.
- ^ a b Silverman, Sharon Hernes (2001). Pennsylvania Snacks. Stackpole Books. pp. 30. http://books.google.com/books?id=q0KyXgBhuZMC&pg=PA30&dq=history+of+pretzels&lr=&ei=AUExSpzcG4aCywTz2PiKDg.
- ^ a b http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte#kapitel1
- ^ Brezel in Meyers Konversationslexikon von 1905 bei Zeno.org (in German)
- ^ E.g. OED s.v.: "[G. pretzel, bretzel, in OHG. brizzila = It. bracciello Florio) a cracknel; usually taken as ad. med. L. bracellus a bracelet; also a kind of cake or biscuit (Du Cange).]"
- ^ Catholicculture.org
- ^ Astronomia Nova, p. 3 CMU.edu:
- HÆC omnia si quis fasciculo uno componat, simulque credat, solem revera moveri annuo spacio per zodiacum, quod credidere Ptolemæus & Tycho Braheus; tunc necesse est concedere, trium superiorum Planetarum circuitus per spacium ætherium, sicuti sunt compositi ex pluribus motibus, esse revera spirales; non ut prius, fili glomerati modo, spiris juxta invicem ordinatis; sed verius in figura panis quadragesimalis, in hunc fere modum.:"..."
- ^ http://www.mstarz.de/brezel.htm
- ^ http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte#kapitel16
- ^ http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte#kapitel1
- ^ http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte#kapitel16
- ^ http://www.brezel-weber.de/html/palmbrezel.html
- ^ http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte
- ^ Heinrichs, Ann. Luxembourg. New York: Scholastic, Inc, 2005, p. 105. ISBN 9780516236810
- ^ Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. Festivals of Western Europe. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1958, pp. 106-7. ISBN 9781437520156
- ^ a b http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte#kapitel13
- ^ http://verkehrsverein-speyer.de/content/view/31/43/
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ http://www.brezelfest.de/
- ^ http://www.kornwestheimer-kultursommer.de/fotoarchiv/070922brezelfest/web/
- ^ a b c d The History of the Pretzel
- ^ a b c d e New York Times, Lead, November 13, 1988
- ^ a b c The Pretzel Museum
- ^ New York Times, Lead, November 13, 1988
- ^ Historical Photo Archives of Philadelphia Pretzel Vendors
- ^ Pretzel Museum
- ^ National Pretzel Day, April 26
- ^ Reuters top ten news
- ^ Lancaster, Pa. Newswire
- ^ National Pretzel Day, April 26th
- ^ City Council of Philadelphia Ordinance March 18, 2004
- ^ Philly Public Art - Pretzel Statue
- ^ Manayunk Council Local Park History
- ^ a b Snyder's History of Pretzels
- ^ Bachman pretzel
- ^ The Anderson Pretzel Bakery
- ^ Tom Sturgis pretzels[dead link]
- ^ Reading
- ^ The Pretzel Museum
- ^ National Pretzel Day, April 26th
- ^ http://www.brezel-baecker.de/brezelgeschichte#kapitel16
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Baked goods depicting religious iconography |
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