Product Spotlight
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Product Spotlight NOT a Donut! WITH A STORIED HISTORY DATING BACK TO 17TH CENTURY EUROPE, BAGELS HAVE BECOME ONE OF AMERICA’S MORE POPULAR MODERN-DAY BREAD PRODUCTS. BY GALEN HAAR f you walk into on the outer a bakery and ask for crust. There are “the round baked good with also a number of dif- the hole in it,” chances are you ferent dough types such as Iwould get one of two things…either a into the form of a ring. Typically, it is whole-grain or rye. donut or a bagel. Although both meet first boiled for a short time in water The bagel – also called the “roll- the description, you could end up and then baked, resulting in a dense, with-a-hole,” “roll with personality” or greatly disappointed, as they are very chewy, doughy interior with a browned “concrete doughnut” – is several cen- different products. A bagel is made and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are turies old. The basic shape facilitates from yeasted wheat dough and is shaped often topped with seeds or salt baked even cooking and makes it possible to 13 JANUARY/FebRUARY 2010 AIB UPDATE MARCH/APRIL 2010 AIB UPDATE 13 Product Spotlight thread the product on a stick or string Nutrition Facts similar in shape, they are wholly dif- to allow for a convenient method of Serving Size 1 large bagel ferent in character. Donuts are sweet transport. The boiling step helps to and crumbly, with over 10 grams of preserve the bagel’s freshness, allowing fat; bagels are chewy and low in fat. it to be stored for longer periods than Amount Per Serving Donuts are fun, with sugary smiles, most other breads. These attributes sales peaking at Halloween; bagels are may have helped promote the bagel’s Calories 354 serious, ethnic and harder to digest.’ early popularity. However, determin- Calories from Fat 1* I’d agree on all counts.” ing the real history of this product was % Daily Value* Since Mr. Weinzweig’s article sug- quite the challenge. gested some nutritional characteris- One popular legend credits the Total Fat 2.1g 3% tics, I thought it would be interesting bagel’s origin to a Viennese baker Saturated Fat 0.3g 2% to see what a nutrition facts panel in 1683. As legend goes, the baker for an average bagel may look like. Trans Fat 0.0g created a roll shaped like a horse’s Compared to the measurements of stirrup (called a Steigbuegel) to honor Polyunsaturated Fat 1.2g similar nutritional characteristics for the Polish cavalry that helped save Monounsaturated Fat 0.5g donuts, diet-conscious consumers that city from invading Turks. Other would probably opt for the bagel. sources reveal that bagels may have Cholesterol 0mg 0% been available in ancient Egypt, Rome Sodium 590mg 25% GLOBAL IMPACT and China centuries before then. We Total Carbohydrates 70.2g 23% Bagels are truly a global food. Many do know that in 17th-century Poland, countries have their own unique ver- the King issued a decree that elimin- Dietary Fiber 3.2g 13% sions of this bakery product. In Rus- ated the exclusive right of members Sugars 7.2g sia it is called “bubliks,” in Finland, of the “Krakow Bakers Guild” to “vesirinkeli.” Turkey calls it “simit,” Protein 13.7g produce bread products. This meant Austria, “beugel” and in Romania it is that Jews could finally bake breads the “covrigi.” While the name and its for themselves. The bagel attained place in the local dietary scheme may Vitamin A 0% a special status for European Jews. change, it appears that basic physical Elders included bagels among the Vitamin C 0% characteristics, round with a hole, gifts to be given to midwives follow- Calcium 12% remain the same worldwide. ing the successful delivery of a baby. Modern bagels may vary signifi- Iron 31% Since circular objects were thought to cantly from those made from older confer protection, bagels were served * % Daily Value based on a 2000 calorie diet and more traditional recipes. Today’s to celebrate circumcisions. They fig- bagels may not be boiled before bak- ured as well in rituals following death. ing and may be made from dough These little rolls traveled eastward that produces a less dense, less chewy with German Jews, then crossed the product. Dough flavors and various ocean to the United States with the waves increase in production capacity, combined toppings are often added. Bagels may be of Jewish immigrants who arrived in the with the advent of frozen products, soon garnished with a variety of spreads and late 1800s and early 1900s. allowed the bagel to become a common they can even be used as rolls to make The United States bagel industry was product throughout the U.S. Bagel chain sandwiches. You can find dozens of recipes firmly established on the Lower East Side stores sprung up across the country and to make bagels with many different fla- of New York City by the early 1900s, the lowly bagel was transformed from vors, textures and other characteristics. and a very powerful union controlled ethnic bread to an American staple. Despite their similar shape and the the industry for years. Then, in 1963, a In his article, A Secret History of the fact that they are sometimes sold in sweet man named Daniel Thompson invented Bagel, Ari Weinzweig writes: “William Sa- goods shops, bagels are definitely not do- a bagel-making machine and sold his firewrot e in the New York Times in 1999, nuts! Their true history may be a mystery invention to the owner of a soon-to-be ‘A sea change in American taste took place and the traditional bagel may be buried famous bagel company in New Haven, at the beginning of this decade. The bagel among all those newer varieties, but they Connecticut. Using this machine, the overtook the donut in popularity. Today remain one of the more popular modern- company could make bagels in a fraction we spend three-quarters of a billion dol- day bread products. AIB of the previous time. The strangle-hold lars a year on bagels, only a half-billion on that New York City and the union had donuts.’ As Mr. Safire, who is Jewish, also The author, a 25-year veteran of the food process- on bagel production was broken. This wrote, ‘Although these baked goods are ing industry, is an auditor for AIB International. 14 MARCH/APRIL 2010 AIB UPDATE .