Lithuania | 1 Lats

Pretzel. This type of baked pastry is made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. According to legend, in 610 AD an Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, ‘pretiola’ (‘little rewards’). Progressively the looped pretzel expanded in other European countries like in Lithuania and especially in Germany. The German name “Brezel” seems to derive from Latin “bracellus”, a medieval term for bracelet. Later it became the emblem of the Baker’s Guild.