Pretzel History
The tasty baked snack food that we know as the pretzel had its origin in southern Europe about 610 AD. The first pretzels were soft pretzels. These dough treats were given to the children as rewards for learning their prayers. The familiar shape of a twisted pretzel represents arms crossed over the chest in prayer. Pretiola (as they were called back then) means “little rewards” in Latin.
Eventually soft pretzels came to America via Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The first American commercial pretzel bakery was founded by Julius Sturgis in Lititz, PA in 1861. At that time, the crispy (hard) pretzel was developed by Julius.
But legend has it, that in the late 1800’s, a hobo, possibly a European emigrant, passed through the town of Lititz, Pennsylvania, and stopped at the local bake shop to beg for a handout. In return, the tramp gave the baker his “secret recipe” for hard, crisp pretzels. Or perhaps, as another story goes, a tired young apprentice fell asleep one day and his pretzels baked to a crisp.
Eventually, the “secret recipe” or technique got into the hands of Julius Sturgis. Sturgis liked the recipe so much that he opened his own shop in 1861 to produce crisp, hard pretzels. That small shop, at the rear of a stone house in Lititz, became America’s first commercial pretzel bakery.
From 1861 to the present, the Sturgis family has operated in continuous pretzel production with the exception of two years during World War II when bakery employees were drafted into military service.
Julius Sturgis and most of his 14 children operated the family business for many years. Several of Julius’ sons branched out and established their own pretzel bakeries. And their sons have continued the Sturgis family tradition.
Today, the fifth generation of direct descendants of Julius Sturgis is producing pretzels here at Tom Sturgis Pretzels. Our company was established by Julius Sturgis grandson “Tom” M.D. Sturgis in 1946. Great-grandson Tom Sturgis, Jr., and great-great grandson Bruce Sturgis provide hands-on, daily guidance for the bakery. Five generations of pretzel baking have made the Sturgis family the “First Family of Pretzels.”
Pretzels were originally made by hand from start to finish. As technology progressed, parts of the procedure were mechanized. Through all these changes (from hand twisting at a top speed of 40 pretzels per minute to extrusion of thousands of pretzels per minute) pretzels remain a favorite, healthy snack food for young and old.
Although pretzel machinery has changed a great deal over the years, Tom Sturgis Pretzels still bakes some of our pretzels on a soapstone hearth surface which produces the highest quality pretzels available.
