Skip to content
Have you ever wondered who invented the chocolate pretzel
Have you ever wondered who invented the chocolate pretzel?
Chocolate covered pretzels inspire lots of affection. They have been a favorite treat for both the young and the old for generations. The combination of salty, sweet, and crunchy never goes out of style. Chocolate pretzels are widely available to vary degrees of quality. Taking a blissful bite of this freshly made treat might make one wonder, who invented the chocolate covered pretzel?
While there is no way to verify who invented the chocolate pretzel exactly, there are some clues. History provides a timeline of events, and legend offers the story of how two chance ingredients met and created a product so good that 400 plus years later, we're still eating it.
We can ascertain that pretzels were invented around 610 AD by Christian Monks to reward children for learning their prayers.
Chocolate made its way to Europe after Columbus's 4th trip to the Americas in 1502. Over the next 42 years, chocolate would transform from a drink with a "frothy scum" on top, to medicine and ultimately sweetened drinking chocolate and a treat.
Legend has it that in 1544 a baker in Hamburg Germany named Herr Franz Joseph Liebniz partnered up with a chocolatier to produce the timeless combination. An act of collaboration so brilliant, but undocumented. The first documentation of chocolate covered pretzels was around 40 years later in a first-ever cookbook by Marx Rumpolt.
Today there are many varieties of chocolate-covered pretzels, from the chocolate pretzels created in a way to last on the shelf for months to the freshly made pretzel from your local chocolatier meant to last no more than a week.
There are different flavor pretzels like Peanut butter, White Chocolate, Butter Scotch, Milk chocolate, Dark chocolate, and sugar-free varieties. Chocolate covered pretzels also are sold with all types of toppings. Our favorite chocolate pretzels are from Muellers in Philadelphia.
The Science of Milk Chocolate: How it Affects Your Body
Avoiding Disaster in the Kitchen: How to Combat Chocolate Bloom
Leave a comment