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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u2014 producing 80% of the nations\u2019s pretzels. Philadelphia opened a privately run Pretzel Museum in 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like most things that have been around a long time, the true origin of pretzels is hard to pin down. Most \u201cexperts\u201d 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<\/em>, which meant \u201clittle rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u2014 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t 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 \u2014 as you can see from the picture. Back on April 7, we celebrated Beer Day, so before the month of April gets away, it\u2019s appropriate we celebrate pretzels \u2014 and \u2014 today\u2019s the day. April 26th, National Pretzel Day. This day of celebration began in 2003 when … Continue reading
Happy Pretzel Day to all\u2026.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"