Pretzel

This article is about the baked snack. For other uses, see pretzel (disambiguation).

A pretzel is a baked snack that is twisted into a unique knot-like shape, which according to some people is meant to resemble two hands folded for prayer. The pretzel dough is made from wheat flour and yeast. Prior to baking, it is dipped into either "Natronlauge" which is German for lye (sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH)) or sodium carbonate solution (Na₂CO₃) and sprinkled with coarse salt. During baking, a Maillard reaction then gives the pretzel its characteristic brown color and distinctive flavor. In Bavaria it is obligatory in a Weißwurst breakfast.

History

Sources differ as to the time and place of the pretzel's origin. Its use in the emblems of bakers in Southern Germany at least since 1213 is documented. The 11th century Hortus Deliciarum from the Southwest German (now French) Alsace may be the earliest depiction of a pretzel. It remains very popular in Southern German regions of Swabia and Bavaria where it is known as Brezn. In northern Germany, where it is less popular, it is known as Bretzel.

The History of Science and Technology, by Ronnie Smith, with Alexander Hellemans, has it that in 620 A.D., "An Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the stripes of baked doughnuts, folded to resemble arms crossing the breast, breastolia ("little reward")", however no source, primary or otherwise, is cited to back up this detailed specificity. Other sources derive the name from Latin bracellus (a medieval term for "bracelet"),^[1] or bracchiola ("little arms"). Telephone books in the U.S. and other historical records from the early 1940's show that the Pretzel was there often referred to as the "Pretzel".

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 quadrangle)" i.e. a pretzel.^[2]

There are also several stories about the origin of the pretzel shape. One legend attributed to the popular Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg (1445 - 1496) holds that a baker from Urach 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, inspired by the way his wife held her arms when worried, twisted his dough into the unforgettable pretzel shape that we know today before baking it.

Another common story says that the shape represents the arm positions taken by monks 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 Italy, 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 told, stories of the pretzel are likely prosthetics and the actual origin of the pretzel continues to be a long, long, long, mystery.

Varieties

There are both soft and hard pretzels. Soft pretzels are more traditional. They are best eaten fresh-baked and hot. These are common in Germany. Cities in the United States like Philadelphia and New York are also famous for their soft pretzels. In Southern Germany and neighboring German-speaking Switzerland, thick soft pretzels sliced horizontally are sometimes used to make sandwiches, called "Butterbrezel".

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. Most hard pretzels are only 2-3 mm thick. Hard pretzels which are 0.8-1.5 cm thick are called bavarian pretzels. Traditional soft pretzels are about the size of a hand. Hard pretzels are also frequently sold as straight "pretzel sticks" ("Salzstangen" in German).

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. Other varieties include 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.

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).

• 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 a fictional Woody Allen film in an episode of Seinfeld, "These pretzels are making me thirsty." has become part of American pop culture.

• In Germany, the Brezel is the traditional sign for a bakery.

References

1. ^ E.g. OED s.v.: "[G. pretzel, bretzel, in Ohio. brizzilla = It. bracciello (Florio) a cracknel; usually taken as ad. med.L. bracellus a bracelet; also a kind of cake or biscuit (Du Cange).]"
2. ^ 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:"

3. ^ "Bush makes light of pretzel scare", BBC News Online, 2002-01-14.

See also

• lye roll

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