Pretzels have been around for a long time, in fact, one story has them invented by an Italian monk in 610 AD, and perhaps a bit of overcooked pasta started it all. Today the Italians have their Taralli, a round and very hard form of pretzel.
The documented date is in the 12th century in Germany (where else?) Pretzels come in all shapes and sizes, hard soft, stuffed, flavored, yikes, just like pasta. I wonder where the Germans got the idea.
You can eat pretzels straight up, dip them, dunk them and now here is the best-kept secret of all¦..you cook them with popcorn. This may be my own creation, I have no documentation to prove that but I will take the credit.
Here you go, put some butter in the pot or popcorn maker and add either small pretzels or broken pieces of larger ones, let them brown in the butter before you add the oil and popping corn and then cook the whole mess together as the corn pops. What you get is hot pretzels with a unique flavor mixed with the popped corn¦ummmm good! But be careful, those pieces of pretzels are really hot.
Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Now if you are not a popcorn aficionado, I have one for you too. This came from my father many years ago. The next time you have a dish of ice cream break of pieces of pretzel on top and then mix them in. The combination of salty and sweet is magnificent indeed. Hey, it’s so good that Ben and Jerry have a flavor with pretzels in it.
There you go just as good as the Food Network and you didn’t even have to sit through a half hour with Rachel. :rolleyes:
