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In the beginning, there was dough. Lots of extra dough, in the kitchen of a monastery near Rome in 510 AD (or maybe Southern France in 610 AD). A monk had finished baking the unleavened bread for Lent, and didn't know what to do with all the little strips of left-over dough. At this point (it's handy to assume) he asked for guidance, folding his arms across his chest in prayer as was the custom of the day. This, legend has it, was the inspiration for the tractional shape of the pretzel.
Go figure. The Latin word for the treat was "brachiola"--little arms. In German, the term translates as "bretzel," which soon become our "pretzel."
It's 1529--do you know where the marauding Turks are? The pretzel bakers of Vienna sure did. Seems the intruders tried to use the cover of night to tunnel beneath the city walls. Our hard-working heroes, baking late into the evening, heard the racket and saved the day.
The love you bake. At least one medieval marriage ritual involved the humble pretzel. The bride grabbed one loop, the groom the other; they each made a wish and pulled. Whoever got the bigger piece would have the dream come true. Arms were linked, the pieces eaten. And their mothers wept like babies.
The tie that binds. "Den Gyldene Krinklan," (The Golden Pretzel), is not an award for Denmark's champion contortionist. It's the guild of Scandinavian bakers formed back in 1600.
Exhibit P.: Consider, jurors, the curious case of Jochem Wessels. He was the pilgrim taken to court in 1652 for selling inferior pretzels to the citizenry of Beverwych, NY. He had been saving the best ones for the high-paying Indians, but was forbidden to continue by the authorities. The case is still in appeal.
Hard luck story. The Pennsylvania Dutch, with origins in "bretzel"-loving Germany and Austria, were the keepers of early America's pretzel flame. And, when a baker kept the flame on too long, the hard pretzel was born. For centuries pretzels had been soft, like bread. Suddenly they were crisp and crunchy, like today's counterpart. "Delicious," said the apprentice. "Shelf life!," said the baker.
Baseball has Cooperstown. We have Lititz, Pennsylvania, and the Sturgis Pretzel House, the first commercial pretzel bakery in America. It was opened in 1861. A nod to the East, please, upon opening your next bag.
Straight up, no salt. The pretzel industry was hit hard by Prohibition, what with people not wanting to hang out in pretzel bars and all. Repeal meant beer, and beer meant pretzels. And wacky publicity stunts, like flying a two-foot wide pretzel into Columbus to celebrate Ohio's first legal glass of brew.
A bowl isn't super unless it's filled with pretzels. Reading, Pennsylvania lays claim to the moniker The Pretzel Capitol. A fitting home, then, to the annual Pretzel Bowl--a charity football game begun in 1951 to benefit the local Shriners Hospital. Festivities have included the Miss Pretzel Twist baton-twirling contest, and the dropping from a helicopter of pretzel bundles tied to tiny parachutes. The game, by the way, is played with a football.
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