Pretzel | Definition, Origin, & Facts | Britannica

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External Websites

• MedicineNet - How Healthy is Eating Pretzels?
• The Spruce Eats - History of Pretzels
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - A comparison of satiety, glycemic index, and insulinemic index of wheat-derived soft pretzels with or without soy
• Healthline - Are Pretzels a Healthy Snack? Here�s What a Dietitian Says
• Mansoura University - Journals of Agricultural Sciences - Some Technological Studies on Pretzel (PDF)
• Food and Wine - The Religious History of Pretzels

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pretzel, a brittle, glazed-and-salted cracker of German or Alsatian origin. Made from a rope of dough typically fashioned into the shape of a loose knot, the pretzel is briefly boiled and then glazed with egg, salted, and baked. Pretzels are customarily eaten as a snack with beer.

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In many large cities the soft pretzel is a familiar commodity sold hot, often with mustard, from the pushcarts of street vendors. Dry, nut-brown hard pretzels in a variety of configurations, including thick and thin knots, sticks, and nuggets, are commercially packaged in the United States and elsewhere and marketed on a wide scale.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.