If your go-to breakfast (or any-time-of-the-day) item is a bagel, then you may be excited to learn that today, Feb. 9 is National Bagel Day.
In a recent release, Ted Swain, the Senior Brand Manager of Thomas' Bagels, said: "Bagels have been a breakfast staple in American households for many years, so this has become one of our favorite days to celebrate ... We know our consumers love a warm, chewy bagel topped with their favorite topping."
According to Bimbo Bakeries USA, the maker of Thomas' Bagels, bagels actually have a history that dates all the way back to 1610. Having been a breakfast staple for many years, we thought it would be fun to provide some bagel trivia:
- The origins of the bagel have been long debated, but most historians agree that the chewy circular bread debuted in 1610 in Krakow, Poland.
- Why is there a hole in the middle of bagels? In the past, vendors threaded the hole-shaped bread onto dowels and hawked them on street corners.
- In Germany, variations of the word bagel are: beigel, meaning ring, and bugel, meaning bracelet.
- Bagels are the only bread that are boiled before they are baked.
- In the early 1900s, bagel makers worked in teams of four. Two people would make the dough and shape the bagels, one boiled the bagels and the fourth baked them.
- Thomas' top five most popular bagels are the traditional size versions of Plain, Everything, Cinnamon Raisin and Blueberry and the Mini Bagel in Plain.
- Thomas' is the largest producer of grocery store bagels in the US. In 2014, Thomas' sold more than 160 million bagels.
- To make Thomas' popular Limited-Edition Pumpkin Bagels, it takes 133,500 pounds of pumpkin puree.
- It would take 2,231 bagels to go once around Grand Central Station Main Concourse's inside perimeter, 790 feet!
- It would take 37,271 bagels to cover the length of Boston's historic Freedom Trail, 2.5 miles long!
(Infographic and trivia facts courtsey of Bimbo Bakeries USA)