Federal Pretzel Baking Company
Federal Pretzel Baking Company of South Philadelphia was the first large scale manufacturing soft pretzel factory in Philadelphia and the United States of America. The impact of the recipe, production, and distribution established it as a new standard cuisine of Philadelphia during the 1900s.[1]
History
- 1922
- Maria and Giuseppe Nacchio owned a small Italian American vitalian artisan bread bakery where Maria Nacchio would make bakery styled soft pretzels for added variety. The bakery was located in the heart of an Italian American neighborhood enclave in South Philadelphia. During the 1920s her son Edmund took the recipe and started to bake them in large quantities combining workers who would hand twist the pretzels and appling conveyor systems of equipment imported from Germany that could be used for mass production for soaking and baking, and later machine twisted and stamped cut shaped pretzels. The mass production operation thereby became established as Federal Pretzel Baking Company. The company was forwarded by the four brothers; Edmund until his death in 1947, and continued by Joseph, Carmine, and Anthony followed by their daughters until the year 2000.
- 1940
- The Federal government Department of Agriculture consulted the American Institute of Baking and with advanced bakers of America like the Nacchio family to address the shortage of wheat flour during the World War they innovated alternative ingredients and baking techniques using corn flour as a percentage subsititute composing a mix of flour(s) for breads and other baked goods like pretzels.[2]
- 1963
- The record for the largest pretzel ever baked was baked by Joseph Nacchio of Federal Baking, Philadelphia, PA. : It was 40 lbs,pounds 5-feet across. This record was repeated with the largest pretzel appearing in a Hollywood movie at 20 lb., 4’ pretzel shown in the 1963 film production of “It’s a Mad, Mad, and Mad World.”.[3]
- 1978
- First machine produced soft pretzel. Federal Baking Company used the original 1922 recipe but the last hand-twisted pretzel was made in 1978.[4]
- 1993
- The Pretzel Museum opened by members of the Nacchio family to highlight the area’s preference for Federal Baking's more unique shaped pretzels being baked soft and unlike the dominant more circular hard pretzels produced in western Pennsylvania. Three locations for the museum was first at Washington and Delaware Avenue, then 7th and Markets streets next to Ben Franklin's historic house, and finally a full design located just north of the historic district of center city Philadelphia. Champion hand pretzel twister Helen Hoff demonstrated producing 57 pretzels per minute at this first museum dedicated to the Philadelphia soft pretzel. [5] The Museum was closed prior to 1999.
- 2000
- The family owned and operated company was continued by the various family members for four generations until it was sold to a comgolmerate business, J & J Snack Foods Corporation in the year 2000.
Philadelphia Soft Pretzel [6]
A Soft Pretzel is doubled looped bread dough, baked with a soft inside and then topped with coarse salt. The pretzels are often slathered with yellow or brown mustard. Federal Baking estimated it at a quart for each 200 pretzels sold.[7] During the 1900s street vendors for 80 years sold them on street corners in wooden glass enclosed cases[8] or employed young boys to make extra cash who walked through the streets carrying baskets loaded with soft hot pretzels yelling aloud the phrase "Fresh Pret-zels". The soft pretzel became a staple Philadelphia food for snacking at school, at work or home, party trays and considered by most to be a quick meal.[9][10]
See also
Pretzels
References
External links
|
|
|
|
|
|
Philadelphia-based Fortune 500 corporations
(by 2009 rank) |
|
|
Delaware Valley-based Fortune 500 corporations
(by 2009 rank) |
|
|
| Other notable Philadelphia-based businesses |
|
|
| Notable Philadelphia-based professional partnerships |
|
|
| Other notable Delaware Valley-based businesses |
|
|
Notable Delaware Valley-based
US headquarters of foreign businesses |
|
|
Notable Delaware Valley-based
division headquarters of US corporations |
|
|
