My mom is never far away from pretzels. They are her all-time favorite snack and bags can be found in her car, her purse, and her bedroom. She goes through random pretzel phases - when I was young she only ate Rold Gold thin twisted and now she prefers Snyder's nibs and sticks (dip them in cream cheese for a PartyFamily classic snack time treat). If you love pretzels like she does, or if you haven't munched on the chip alternative, do so today because it's National Pretzel Day. Pretzels are believed to be the world's oldest snack and date back to 610 AD France. Back then, monks baked thin strips of dough into the shape of children's arms folded in prayer and then sprinkled the end result with a little bit of salt. The pretzel, which has many forms and textures (I prefer the crisp over the big, soft doughy ones you get at the mall), evolved from the soft chewy version into the crunchy hard variety due to a baker's error. Apparently the story goes that a baker accidentally put the dough in the oven before he allowed it to rise. He forgot about the pretzels baking in the oven (pretty crappy baker, right?) and baked them for much too long causing the pretzels to be hard and crunchy... and wildly popular.
What kind of pretzel do you enjoy?
