Pretzels and Pennsylvania – A Twisted Tale!

Get ready to celebrate because this year marks the 20^th anniversary of National Pretzel Day! This is a holiday, first declared in Pennsylvania, where pretzel lovers throughout the nation pay homage to their favorite twisted treat on Apr. 26. With reportedly 80 percent of pretzel production from 45 factories here in the Keystone State, it’s only fitting this national day of pretzel commemoration originated in PA!

A Bit of Pretzel History

While Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians have fully embraced pretzels for centuries, the pretzel’s origin story begins in Europe, specifically Italy (or perhaps France, no one is quite sure), during the seventh century. As the story goes, a monk wanted to craft a treat for young children. Using some leftover bread dough and being a monk, he came up with a design suggesting arms in prayer. Voila! The mighty, but humble pretzel, it was invented by a monk, after all, was born!

It wasn’t long before pretzel’s fame took off, crossing the Alps and becoming a highly prized treat especially in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. The pretzel was so loved by German bakers, it was even added to the bakery guild’s crest in the 12^th century. Fast forward to the 17^th and 18^th centuries when people from Germany started to settle in southeastern Pennsylvania, bringing their homeland’s traditions and recipes with them. It wasn’t long before home kitchens throughout the area were churning out pretzels for a family treat.

Julius Sturgis and The First U.S. Pretzel Factory

The production of pretzels likely would have remained the purview of home kitchens but for the entrepreneurial spirit of one Pennsylvania baker who saw the pretzel’s potential as a promising commercial enterprise. Julius Sturgis was that baker and entrepreneur. According to family lore, Sturgis was given a pretzel recipe by a man who was down on his luck in thanks for a meal. After Sturgis’s first batch was a hit with his family and then became a much sought-after item sold in his bakery, Sturgis decided to go all out, built an addition onto his home in Lititz, and opened the first commercial pretzel factory in 1861. And the rest, as they say, is history!

The Sturgis family involvement with pretzels didn’t end in Lititz. Following in his famed grandfather’s footsteps and keeping the Sturgis family tradition of pretzel making alive, grandson Marriott (aka “Tom”) opened his own pretzel factory in the city of Reading in 1946. Now located in nearby Shillington, the Tom Sturgis Pretzels factory continues to produce pretzels using time-honored techniques in this modern world.

Reading PA: The Pretzel Capital of the U.S.

The city of Reading and the surrounding area has long been synonymous with pretzel production. At one time, there reportedly more than two dozen pretzel factories in operation, earning Reading the title, “Pretzel Capital of the U.S.” While the city may no longer be the only game in town (or the U.S.). when it comes to today’s pretzel production, a fair amount of pretzels are still lovingly made here by a variety of companies including Bachman, Tom Sturgis, Unique Pretzels, and Faller’s.

If making and baking marvelous pretzels weren’t enough, Reading can also lay claim to being home to the first automated pretzel twisting machine. Up until 1935, pretzel twisting was still being done by hand with expert pretzel makers twisting roughly 240 pretzels an hour. The Reading Pretzel Machinery company changed all that. Instead of individual pretzel workers twisting 250 pretzels an hour by hand, the new machine could twist roughly that same amount in a minute, leading to the really large-scale commercial production of pretzels.