Back on April 7, we celebrated Beer Day, so before the month of April gets away, it’s appropriate we celebrate pretzels — and — today’s the day. April 26th, National Pretzel Day. This day of celebration began in 2003 when Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell declared April 26 “National Pretzel Day.” This was a gesture to acknowledge the importance of the pretzel to state’s history and economy.
The Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants introduced pretzels to North America in the 19th century. Many handmade pretzel bakeries were located throughout central Pennsylvania and were very popular. Later, soft pretzels became very popular in areas such as Philadelphia, Chicago and New York.
Today, the average Philadelphian consumes about twelve times as many pretzels as the national average. As you may have guessed, Pennsylvania is the center of American pretzel production for both hard and soft pretzels — producing 80% of the nations’s pretzels. Philadelphia opened a privately run Pretzel Museum in 1993.
Like most things that have been around a long time, the true origin of pretzels is hard to pin down. Most “experts” do agree that the pretzel has Christian origins. The most popular story, or legend, is that the pretzel was invented by an Italian monk in the year 610 A.D., to reward young children for learning their prayers. He supposedly folded strips of bread dough to resemble the crossed arms of praying children. He called his creation pretiola, which meant “little rewards.”
In the Catholic church, pretzels held religious significance because of their ingredients. When made with a simple recipe of only flour and water, they could be eaten during Lent. According to my extensive research — over time, pretzels became associated with both Lent and Easter. In fact, pretzels were often hunted on Easter morning just like kids hut eggs today.
It wasn’t until pretzels were introduced to America that hard pretzels came into existence. The first commercial hard pretzel bakery opened in Lititz, Pennsylvania in 1850. We visited the bakery and I became an official pretzel twister — as you can see from the picture.
Happy Pretzel Day to all….
— 30 —