A waffle is a batter Batter is a liquid mixture, usually based on one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or eggs. Beer is a common component. Often a leavening agent is included to aerate and fluff up the batter as it cooks, or the mixture may be naturally fermented for this purpose as well as to add flavour or dough Dough is a paste made out of any cereals or leguminous crops by mixing flour with a small amount of water and/or other liquid. This process is a precursor to making a wide variety of foodstuffs, particularly breads and bread-based items (e.g., dumplings), including flatbreads, and pancakes, noodles, crusts, pastry, and similar items. This includes based cake Cake is a form of food, typically a sweet, baked dessert. Cakes normally contain a combination of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter or oil, with some varieties also requiring liquid and leavening agents (such as yeast or baking powder). Flavorful ingredients like fruit purées, nuts or extracts are often added, and numerous substitutions for the cooked in a waffle iron A waffle iron is a cooking home appliance used to make waffles. It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles. The iron is heated and batter is poured between the plates, which are then closed to bake the waffle. Most modern waffle irons are coated with a non-stick coating patterned to give a distinctive and characteristic shape. There are many variations based on the type and shape of the iron and the recipe used.

Other waffle-shaped foods exist, and are sometimes referred to as waffles because of their shape. Most are actually potato products.

Waffles are eaten throughout the world, particularly in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. Common toppings are strawberries, chocolate, sugar, honey, syrups and more. Waffles can be desserts and breakfasts.

Etymology

Wafer and waffle share common etymological roots. Wafre ("wafer") occurs in Middle English Middle English is the name given by historical linguists to the diverse forms of the English language in use between the late 11th century and about 1470, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William Caxton in the late 1470s by 1377, adopted from Middle Low German Middle Low German is a language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. It served as the international lingua franca of the Hanseatic League. It was spoken from about 1100 to 1600 wâfel, with the l changed to r. Modern Dutch Dutch ( Nederlands ) is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language and over 5 million people as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other wafel, French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in gaufre, and German German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 120 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers Waffel, all meaning "waffle", share the same origin. The Dutch form, wafel, was adopted into modern American English American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States as waffle in the 18th century.^[1][2]

History

Medieval origins

The modern waffle has its origins in the wafers In cooking, a wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, and dry biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream. Wafers can also be made into cookies with cream flavoring sandwiched between them. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the food's manufacturer or may be patternless. Many chocolate—very light thin crisp cakes baked between wafer irons—of the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in.^[1] Wafer irons consisted of two metal plates connected by a hinge, with each plate connected to an arm with a wooden handle. The iron was placed over a fire and flipped to cook both sides of the wafer. The irons were used to produce a variety of different flat, unleavened cakes, usually from a mixture of barley and oats, not the white flour used today.

In 14th-century England, wafers were sold by street vendors called waferers.^[3] The modern waffle is a leavened form of wafer.

Medieval waffle law

In medieval Europe, vendors were permitted to sell their waffles outside of churches on saints' days and during other special religious celebrations.^{[citation needed]} Competition at the churches eventually became very heated, and at times violent, so that King Charles IX of France imposed a regulation on waffle sales, requiring vendors to maintain a distance of at least deux toises (4 m/12 ft) from one another.^{[citation needed]}

Varieties of waffle

• American waffles^[4] are made from a batter leavened with baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical raising agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods such as muffins, cakes, scones and North American biscuits. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the and they may be round, square, or rectangular in shape. They are usually served as a sweet breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day. The word is a compound of "break" and "fast", referring to the conclusion of fasting since the previous day's last meal. Breakfast meals vary widely in different cultures around the world but often include a carbohydrate such as cereal or rice, fruit and/or vegetable, protein, sometimes food, topped with butter and various syrups In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars, but showing little tendency to deposit crystals. The viscosity arises from the multiple hydrogen bonds between the dissolved sugar, which has many hydroxyl (OH) groups, and the water. Technically and scientifically, the term syrup is also employed to, but are also found in many different savory dishes, such as fried chicken and waffles or topped with kidney stew.^[5] They may also be served as desserts, topped with ice cream and various other toppings. They are generally denser and thinner than the Belgian waffle. Waffles were first introduced to North America in 1620 by Pilgrims who brought the method from Holland. Thomas Jefferson brought a waffle iron from France, and waffle frolics or parties became popular in the late eighteenth century.

• Belgian waffles A Belgian waffle is a type of waffle identified by its larger size, lighter batter and higher grid pattern which forms deep pockets and has larger squares. In Belgium, there are a number of different types of waffle, including the Brussels waffle, the Liège waffle and the stroopwafel; what is known in North America as a "Belgian waffle", or Brussels waffles,^[6] are prepared with a yeast-leavened batter. It is generally, but not always, lighter, thicker, and crispier and has larger pockets compared to other waffle varieties. They are easy to differentiate from Liège Waffles by their rectangular sides. In Belgium, most waffles are served warm by street vendors and dusted with confectioner's sugar though in tourist areas they might be topped with whipped cream, soft fruit or chocolate spread (a practice considered 'unauthentic' by some local conoisseurs). In America, they are served in the same ways the American waffle is served. Despite their name, 'Brussels waffles' were actually invented in Ghent Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe. Today it is a busy city with a port in 1839.^[7] They were introduced to America by restaurateur Maurice Vermersch, who sold his Brussels waffles under the name "Bel-Gem Waffles" at New York's 1964 World's Fair.

• The Liège waffle^[8] (from the city of Liège Liège (French pronunciation: [ljɛːʒ]; Dutch: Luik , [lœyk] ( listen); Walloon: Lidje; German: Lüttich; Latin: Leodium; until 1949, the city's name was written Liége, with the acute accent instead of a grave accent) is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the administrative capital, in, in eastern Belgium) is a richer, denser, sweeter, and chewier waffle. Invented by the chef of the prince-bishop of Liège in the 18th century as an adaptation of brioche bread dough, it features chunks of pearl sugar, which caramelizes Carmelization is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor on the outside of the waffle when baked. It is the most common type of waffle available in Belgium and is prepared in plain, vanilla and cinnamon varieties by street vendors across the nation.

• Hong Kong style waffle, in Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China; the other is Macau. Situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million called a "grid cake" or "grid biscuits" (格仔餅), is a waffle usually made and sold by street hawkers and eaten warm on the street.^[9] It is similar to a traditional waffle but larger, round in shape and divided into four quarters. It is usually served as a snack. Butter, peanut butter and sugar are spread on one side of the cooked waffle, and then it is folded into a semicircle In mathematics , a semicircle is a two-dimensional geometric shape that forms half of a circle. Being half of a circle's 360°, the arc of a semicircle always measures 180°. A triangle inscribed in a semicircle is always a right triangle to eat. Eggs, sugar and evaporated milk Evaporated milk, also known as dehydrated milk, is a shelf-stable canned milk product with about 60% of the water removed from fresh milk. It differs from sweetened condensed milk, which contains added sugar. Sweetened condensed milk requires less processing since the added sugar inhibits bacterial growth are used in the waffle recipes, giving them a sweet flavor. They are generally soft and not dense. Traditional Hong Kong style waffles are full of the flavor of yolk An egg yolk is a part of an egg which feeds the developing embryo. The egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae. Prior to fertilization, the yolk together with the germinal disc is a single cell; one of the few single cells that can be seen by the naked eye. If the egg is fetilized by a male. Sometimes different flavors, such as chocolate Chocolate (pronounced /ˈtʃɒklɨt/ or /ˈtʃɒkəlɨt/) comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican peoples and honey melon, are used in the recipe and create various colors.

• Scandinavian style waffles, common throughout the Nordic countries The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories which include the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Svalbard and Åland. Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, although within the Nordic countries especially Sweden Sweden (pronounced /ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən, Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvær.jə]), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and water borders with Denmark, Germany and, are thin, made in a heart-shaped waffle iron. The batter is similar to other varieties. The most common style are sweet, with whipped The term "whipped cream" refers to cream that has been beaten until it is light and fluffy, as by whipping with a mixer, whisk, or fork or sour cream Sour cream or soured cream is a dairy product rich in fats obtained by fermenting a regular cream by certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, introduced either deliberately or naturally, sours and thickens the cream. Although sour cream is only mildly sour in taste, its name stems from the production of lactic acid by and strawberry or raspberry jam, or berries, or simply sugar, on top. In Norway After World War II, Norway experienced rapid economic growth, with the first two decades due to the Norwegian shipping and merchant marine and domestic industrialization, and from the early 1970s, a result of exploiting large oil and natural gas deposits that had been discovered in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. Today, Norway ranks as the, brown cheese is also a popular topping. As with crèpes, there are those who prefer a salted style with various mixes, such as blue cheese. In Finland Finland (pronounced /ˈfɪnlənd/ ), officially the Republic of Finland Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info), is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland, savory toppings are uncommon; instead jam Fruit preserves are fruits, or vegetables, that have been prepared and canned for long term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves traditionally involves the use of pectin as a gelling agent, although sugar or honey may be used as well. The ingredients used and how they are prepared will determine the type of preserves; jams, jellies and, sugar Sugar is an informal term for a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose characterized by a sweet flavor. In food, sugar almost exclusively refers to sucrose, which primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet. Other sugars are used in industrial food preparation, but are usually known by more specific, whipped cream The term "whipped cream" refers to cream that has been beaten until it is light and fluffy, as by whipping with a mixer, whisk, or fork or vanilla ice cream Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavourings and colourings are used in addition to the natural ingredients. This are usually used. The Swedish tradition dates at least to the 1400s, and there is even a particular day for the purpose, Vårfrudagen ("Our Lady's Day This article concerns the holiday. For the Lou Reed song, see Berlin . For notable women known as "Lady Day," see Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith"), which sounds like Våffeldagen (waffle day), and is therefore used for the purpose. This is March 25 (nine months before Christmas), the Christian holiday of Annunciation Annunciation is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she would become the Theotokos . Despite being a virgin, Mary would miraculously conceive a child who would be called the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her son Jesus, meaning "YHWH delivers". Most of Christianity observes this event.^[10]

• Stroopwafels (Dutch Dutch ( Nederlands ) is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language and over 5 million people as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other: syrup waffles) are thin waffles with a syrup In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars, but showing little tendency to deposit crystals. The viscosity arises from the multiple hydrogen bonds between the dissolved sugar, which has many hydroxyl (OH) groups, and the water. Technically and scientifically, the term syrup is also employed to filling. They were first made in Gouda Gouda (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣʌuda] ; population 70,828 in 2009) is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Gouda, which was granted city rights in 1272, is famous for its Gouda cheese, smoking pipes, and its 15th century city hall in the Netherlands The Netherlands (pronounced /ˈnɛðɚləndz/ ; Dutch: Nederland, pronounced [ˈneːdərlɑnt] ( listen)) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in North-West Europe. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany during the 18th or 19th century. The stiff batter for the waffles is made from flour In the culinary sense, flour is a powder made of cereal grains, other seeds, or roots. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history. Wheat flour is one of the most important foods in, butter Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, water and milk proteins, brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content, or it is produced by the addition of molasses to refined white sugar, yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with the 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all yeast species. Most reproduce asexually by budding, although a few do so by binary fission. Yeasts are unicellular, although some species with yeast forms may become multicellular through the formation of, milk Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce the risk of many diseases in the baby. The exact, and eggs An egg is a spheroid or ovoid shaped cell laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Eggs have been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen (egg white), and vitellus (egg yolk), contained within various thin membranes. Medium-sized balls of batter are put on the waffle iron A waffle iron is a cooking home appliance used to make waffles. It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles. The iron is heated and batter is poured between the plates, which are then closed to bake the waffle. Most modern waffle irons are coated with a non-stick coating. When the waffle is baked and while it is still warm, it is cut into two halves. The warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka, or the spice obtained from the tree's bark. It is often confused with other, similar species and the spices derived from them, such as Cassia and Cinnamomum burmannii, which are also often called cinnamon, is spread in between the waffle halves, which glues them together.^[11] They are popular in Belgium Belgium (pronounced /ˈbɛldʒəm/ , BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a and the Netherlands and sold in pre-prepared packages from local supermarkets.

Waffle toppings

Waffles can be eaten plain (especially the thinner kinds) or sprinkled with powdered sugar. Depending on the region they may be eaten with various toppings such as syrup (maple syrup, flavored syrup), butter, jam, fruits (e.g. bananas, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries), chocolate chips or dulce de leche. Ice cream cones are also a type of waffles or wafers.

See also

• Eggo
• Ice cream cone
• Pancake
• Pizzelle
• Krumkake
• Potato waffle
• Waffle fries

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Oxford English Dictionary
2. ^ Merriam-Webster
3. ^ References from Chaucer to wafers and waferers from The Miller's Tale and The Pardoner's Tale
4. ^ American waffle recipe
5. ^ Davidson, Alan (1999). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University press. pp. xx + 892. ISBN 0-19-211579.
6. ^ Brussels Waffle recipe
7. ^ Lonely Planet Encounter Guide Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp & Ghent 1st edition, 2008, page 151
8. ^ Liège waffle recipe
9. ^ Descriptions of Hong Kong Waffles
10. ^ Waffle Day in Sweden notice from Radio Sweden
11. ^ Stroopwafels. Traditional delicacys. Retrieved on 2008-01-02

External links

• Waffle recipes in the Cookbook wikibook

Categories: Quick breads | Sweet breads | Breakfast foods | Dutch loanwords | Belgian cuisine | American cuisine | Waffles | Fast food

See Also:

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Shopping: Food: Produce: Vegetables: Sea Vegetables: Directory
• Ergonomics: Encyclopedia
• Home
• DASH Diet
• Healthy Diet: Images
• Copper
• Nutrition
• Images
• Shopping: Food: Health Food: Grains: Directory
• Shopping: Health: Nutrition: Green Foods: Directory

Most Popular Pages:

• Home
• Healthy Diet Pyramid: Images
• Tony Gonzalez the All-Pro Diet: News
• Ice Cream: Encyclopedia
• Fitness
• Bean: Answers
• BMI
• Forensic Pathologist: Answers
• Seed: Encyclopedia
• Search Terms

Related 'Waffle' Searches: