Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-12-28
PRerzsLs MADE BY HAND.
The Only s"rt tho Epicurcan Teuton VIII
Deign TO Cou.ume

Deign To Consume.
There Ii no use In trying 10 mako pretzels
by machine said Washington baker man
20 reporter. "fve attempted il. and it's a
dead failure The Germans won't buy any
but the hand made, which. for some reason
nobody has been ever able TO make out, are
sweeter and OF better flavor, even when the
dough used Is precisely the same In both
Then, again, the ones turned out by hand
have delicate sort Of skin which the ma
chime made lack. A curious thing it Is, too
since theirs Is no difference in material, tho
kneading IL the same, and the only variation
In process Is between stamping with steel
dyes and twisting into shape with the hands"
Did you ever see pretzel madel Then
just look here" continued the baker man
grabbing as he spoke a small hunk OF orii-
nary bread dough from n heap on the able
close by. He rolled the hunk rapidly over
the board with both hands unta it was a
long, thin, cylindrical strip. Then taking
each end OF the strip between thumb and
forehnger he curled IL With two or three
quick motions into tbs shape OF n perfect
pretzel The whole process required perhaps
four seconds, but be was not trying 20 do 1t
rapidly.
"But n pretzel isn't made OF ordinary
dough, !" suggested the newspaper man.
ats material is simply Hour and water,
with six pounds Of hard added for each bar
rel Of -four. The prstzel dough is made up
Just like bread dough aud the factory hand
turns the prctzels out one by one in precisely
the way showed you. As fast a. they are
given shape, like this one lhave just made,
they are thrown into kettles of boiling I've,
kept at the temperature necessary by steam
jackets A moment later they are fished out
with swimmers and thrown upon bed Of
salt. Finally, with what salt adheres 20
them, they are picked up gingerly and laid in
ovens, with the unSalted sides down When
they are done they are ready for consiImp-
ton, usually with beer. No method has thus
Tar been discovered Of salting pretzels other
wise than by hand, 80 delicately must they
be handled at this stage OF the performance"
"But how are they cut by machineryf'
"Like ordinary crackers. The dough Is
rolled out In thin sheets and laid upon an end
loss belt, which carries them along beneath
steel die that cuts out half dozen or more
pretzel shaped pieces at each hammer ike
stroke. The pretzels produced in this way
look exactly like the hand made, and, being
Of the same material, ought to be quite rs
good, but they are not The rest Of the pro-
cess has % b. performed by hand anyway.
| fancy that the Germans are preiudiced also
against machine made pretzels because they
regard them as against honest manual labor
Anyway they sell for 3 cents pound less in
the market than the hand made ones bring.
Pennsylvania is the great prctzel making state.
IL Is an enormous industry in Scranton,
Philadelphia, especially in Pottstown, and all
through the coal mining regions, which are
thickly settled with Germans. The people
employed In manufacturing them are ali OF
that race, and, in fact, wherever you find
pretzels In the world the German Is found
also. To the Teuton they are, In conjunction
with beer, what ambrOsia was 20 the gods,
with nectar on the side. Washington Star.