The Pretzel Story

Recently, Emma and I went with some friends to "America's Oldest Pretzel Bakery" to see how pretzels were made in Colonial times. We were able to take a tour of the pretzel bakery and try out making our own pretzels.

The tour guide took us to the room where the pretzels were twisted and baked to perfection. He taught us exactly how to roll and twist the pretzel into the original shape. Emma needed a little help at first, but she quickly got the hang of it and took her job seriously.

The tour guide told us the history of the traditional shape of the pretzel. Many hundreds of years ago (way before Colonial times), Monks gave pretzels to children as a reward for learning their Bible verses and saying their prayers. The pretzels were made out of leftover dough for bread. They rolled out the dough into a long and skinny rope shape. Then they would shape the dough into a "U" that symbolizes our arms reaching out to God in prayer. They would then cross the top of the "U" shape and fold down the dough, like the children would cross their arms during prayer in those days. This would leave the dough shape with three open sections, representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Emma was so very proud of herself for learning to twist pretzels and for receiving her Official Pretzel Twister certificate!