Pretzel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the baked snack. For other uses, see pretzel (disambiguation).
A pretzel is a baked snack that is ordinarily twisted into a unique knot-like shape. The pretzel is usually made from wheat flour with yeast; the dough is briefly dipped in lye water before baking, and usually salted.
Contents |
[edit] History
Sources differ as to the time and place of the pretzel's origin. Many sources say it originated in southern Germany (where it remains very popular and is known as Brezn." In northern Germany, where it is less popular, it is known as Brezel'); others say it comes from the ancient Rome or even Celtic times. One documented account taken from the book History of Science and Technology (by Bryan Bunch, with Alexander Hellemans) has it that in 210 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, pretiolum ("little reward")." Other sources derive the name from Latin bracellus (a medieval term for "bracelet"),[1] or bracchiola ("little arms"). "Telephone books and other historical records from the early 1900's show that the Pretzel was often referred to as the "Bretzel" in the U.S. at that time.
Within the Catholic church, Pretzels are regarded as having religious significance and are particularly associated with Lent.[1] In his Astronomia Nova, Johannes Kepler states that if we assume that the Earth is the center of the universe, we must accept that the planets travel in a loopy path "with the appearance of a lenten bread (panis quadragesimalis)" i.e. a pretzel.[2]
There are also several stories about the origin of the pretzel shape. One legend holds that a baker accused of larceny was offered the opportunity to cancel his sentence if he could make a piece of bread through which the sun could be seen thrice; the ingenious baker twisted his dough into a pretzel before baking. Another common story says that the shape represents the position of arms of a monk in prayer and that the three holes represent the Christian Holy Trinity. A sign with three rings was an old symbol to mark a bakery in Germany, but sources differ as to whether the signs were made to imitate the pretzel or the pretzel was made to imitate the signs. According to some sources, the bagel originated as a variation on the pretzel. However, stories told of the pretzel are likely apocryphal, and the actual origin of the pretzel seems to be a mystery.
[edit] Varieties
There are both soft and hard pretzels. Soft pretzels are more traditional. They are best eaten fresh-baked and hot. They are common in Germany. The cities of Philadelphia and New York (in the United States) are also famous for their soft pretzels. In German-speaking Switzerland, thick soft pretzels sliced horizontally are sometimes used to make sandwiches.
A pretzel, however, doesn't have to have salt. Hard pretzels are more common than soft pretzels in most of the United States, as they can be mass-produced, packaged and stored. In the United States, hard pretzels are often consumed as a "beer snack." Chocolate-covered hard pretzels are also popular, especially around Christmas time.
Pretzels can be found in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many hard pretzels are about 3–4 inches (8–10 cm) wide and 2–3 inches (5–8 cm) tall. However, some companies sell mini-pretzels about a quarter that size. Traditional soft pretzels are about the size of a hand. Hard pretzels are also frequently sold as straight "pretzel sticks."
Hard pretzels are also available with a sweet candy coating of chocolate, strawberry and other flavors. A popular variation is "yogurt-covered pretzels", with a coating based on yogurt. Some consumers consider them a healthy snack because of this, but the coating can also contain added fats and sugar. There are also other kinds of pretzels such as mustard, which are pretzels dipped in mustard.
The annual United States pretzel industry is worth over $550 million. The average American consumes about 1.75 pounds (0.79 kg) of pretzels per year. Southeastern Pennsylvania, with its large ethnic German population, is considered the birthplace of the American pretzel industry and many pretzel bakers are still located in the area. The average Philadelphian consumes about twelve times more pretzels than the national average.[2]
Some German bakeries produce a soft bread roll made of pretzel dough called Laugenbrötchen.
[edit] Trivia
- U.S. President George W. Bush famously choked on a pretzel in January 2002 while watching an NFL football game, momentarily losing consciousness.[3]
- Pretzel has also come to be used as a colloquial term for a difficult body position for a contortionist.
- The Sturgis Pretzel House of Lititz, Pennsylvania was the first pretzel bakery in the United States.
- Annual consumption of pretzels in the U.S. is two pounds (0.9 kg) per person per year. In the mid-Atlantic states, it's 4 pounds (1.8 kg) — and in Philadelphia, it's more than 20 pounds (9 kg).
- In an episode of The Simpsons, The Twisted World of Marge Simpson, Marge buys a snack franchise called the Pretzel Wagon.
- Pretzels are also popular in the Czech Republic as a bar snack. Some bars supply large (6"/150mm) pretzels on a rack on each table, and the waiter counts how many pretzels have been consumed and adds this to your bill. The Czech word for pretzel is precel (same pronunciation).
- The line from the fictional Woody Allen film from Seinfeld, "These pretzels are making me thirsty." has become part of American pop culture, and can often be heard by people eating pretzels.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ E.g. OED s.v.: "[G. pretzel, bretzel, in OHG. brizzilla = It. bracciello (Florio) a cracknel; usually taken as ad. med.L. bracellus a bracelet; also a kind of cake or biscuit (Du Cange).]"
- ^ Astronomia Nova, p. 3:
- 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.
- "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 etherial space are, as it were, a complex of several movements, that they are actually twisted; not like a knotted wire, with twists in a sequential order, but rather in the image of a lenten bread, as the following diagram shows..."
- ^ "Bush makes light of pretzel scare", BBC News Online, 2002-01-14.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
