Catoctin clarion., 1889-10-24
Mechnrtown, Frederick County, Maryland Thursday October a. 1889
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pRErzELS MADE ~ HAND.
Tho Only ssrt the Epiourean Tsuton VIII
DciSn to Consume.

Tho Only Bert tho Epicurean TSut0n VIII
Dcign to Consume.
"1here is no use in trying TO mako pretzels
by machine" said Washington baker man
TO reporter. "I've attempted II. and it's Z
dead failure Tho Germans won't buy any
but the hand made, which, for some reason
nobody has been ever able TO make out, are
swecter and Of better flavor, even when tho
dough used is precisely the same in both.
Then, again, the ones turned out by hand
have delicate sort Of skin which the ma
chine made hack. A curious thing It Ia, too,
since there is no difference In material, the
kneadng is tho same, and the only variation
in process is between stamping with steel
dyes and twisting into shape with the hands"
"Did you ever SEQ pretzel madoa Then
just look here" continued the baker man,
grabbing as he spoke small hunk Of ordt-
nary bread dough from a heap on the table
clo.,s by. He rolled the hunk rapidly over
the board with both hands until it was q
long, thin, cylindrical strip Then taking
cash end Of the strip between thumb and
forefnger he curled it with two or three
quick motions into the shape of a perfect
pretzel The whole process required perhaps
four seconds, but he was not trying to do 1t
rapidly
"But a preLZcI 1SlJ maze OF ordinary
dough-" suggested the newspaper man.
"Its material Is simply -four and water,
with six pounds Of lard added for each bar
rel OF -four. The pretzel dough is made up
Just Ike bread dough, and the factory hand
turns the pretzels out one by one in precisely
the way showed you. AS fast as they arc
given shape like this one have just made
they are thrown into kettles of boiling lye,
kept at the temperature necessary by steam
jackets A moment later they are fished out
with skimmers and thrown upon bed OF
salt Finally, with what salt adheres to
them, they are picked up eingerly and laid in
ovens, with the unsalted sides down. When
they are done they are ready for cons'lmp-
ton, usually with beer. No method has thus
far been discovered of sailing pretzels other
wise thnn by hand, so delcately must they
be handled at this stage of the performance"
"But how arc they cut by nachineryT'
"Like ordinary crackers The dough IS
rolled out In tl1in sheets and laid upon an end
less belt, which carries them along beneath
steel die that cuts out half n dozen or moro
pretzcl shaped pieces at each hammer like
stroke The pretzels produced in this way
lool! exactly like the hand made, and, being
of the same material, ought to bo quite as
good, but they arc not. Tho rest of the pro
cess has to be performed by hand anyway.
fancy that the Germans are prejudiccd also
agninst 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 pretzel making state.
1t is an enormous industry in Scranton,
Philadelphia, especially in Pottstown, and all
through the coal mining regions, which arc
thickly settled with Germans. The people
employed in manufacturing them are all 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 amhrosia was to tho gods,
with nectar ON the side. e."-Washington Star.