People sometimes ask us why we’re in the wafer business. The short answer is that
it’s a labor of love. There’s something about the combination of crispy wafer sheets and
creamy filling that makes us want to munch and share!
We’re not the only ones who feel this way. A look back history shows that people
have been enjoying wafers for a long time, in a lot of places.
Timeline
In Europe, wafers can be traced to ancient Greece, though it seems likely that they
go all the way back to the Iron Age.
The Greek wafer concept and the name (obleios) caught on and spread, so that if you
lived in a sizeable town in Western Europe during the Middle Ages you probably
encountered street vendors selling wafers cooked between metal plates over an open fire.
Like nearly everything else, wafers started getting fancy in the Renaissance. During this
period, artisans made engraved plates so that floral patterns and more personalized designs
proliferated on wafer surfaces.
By the Age of Enlightenment, wafers had already made it to the New World with Dutch and English settlers.
In the 19th century, wafers were among the foodstuffs and other household needs to become industrialized.
North Americans’ first tastes of commercially produced wafers were British imports. But where
there’s a market, suppliers soon surface. By the late 1800’s, sugar wafers were produced in the
US and distributed throughout the country.
International Wafer Nomenclature
See if you can match the wafer words in the list below with the country associated with the word:
Cannelons
Obleas
Gaufrettes
Waffeln
Freska
Krumkake
Rosettes
Pizzelle
Wafel
Oublies
Barquillos
Oblaten
Abhlann
Lukken
Oplatky
Iskex
Bolacha
Beskuitjie
Napolitana
Obelios
Ostya
Wafer Tidbits
Wafers are soft while they’re still hot (like really thin waffles), but they crisp as they cool.
Flat, square, round, rolled, conical; with fillings or toppings, sweet or savory, or with none at all; plain-surfaced
or embossed with patterns, scenes, or crests; eaten for nourishment, enjoyment, or
to satisfy religious obligations – the format may vary, but the idea is basically the same: make a batter
with grain and liquid, and heat it up until it solidifies. Variants include crepes, pancakes, and of course waffles.
In 1971, Olympic track coach Bill Bowerman experimented with his wife’s waffle iron to create a new rubber
sole for footwear that would grip but be lightweight. The success of his “Waffle Iron” shoes helped his fledgling
athletic footwear enterprise become global giant Nike, Inc.
A variation of wafer is considered a part of the traditional cuisine in Colombia, Venezuela
and México where it is known as an oblea. Usually eaten as a dessert with two pieces filled with
arequipe, dulce de leche (milk caramel) and/or sweetened condensed milk in the middle.
Freska is an Egyptian wafer sold only on beaches in the summertime. It is made from two thin
circular wafers filled with a thin layer of honey syrup.
Background from actual authoritative sources!
"Wafer. A very thin, crisp biscuit or cookie. Although round is the most common shape, wafers
can be made in various shapes, such as fans. They can be imprinted with a variety of designs;
some are made on carved irons."
---International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries and Confections, Carole Bloom
[Hearst Books:New York] 1995 (p. 317)
"Wafer and waffle both derive from the Flemish/Dutch wafel and wafer, which gave too the
French gaufre. They stem from the Christian host offered at the Eucharist...A raw mixture is
sandwiched between two pieces of metal whos heat cooks it. The iron has an incised pattern
which increases its surface area and improves the transfer of heat to the mixture, and also gives it a
decorative form. Such an iron, dating from the 6th or 7th century, has indeed been found in Carthage.
It was not until the 13th century that laymen were permitted to produce these breads and it was
probably to differentiate the secular from sacramental that waffles were developed; they are invariably
leavened, thus quite distinct from the unleavened host. The patterns and decorations...of secular
wafers display nonetheless their ecclesiastical beginnings. These were enthusiastically adopted by
Germans and inhabitants of the Low Countries...Secular wafers...were often rolled while still warm and
malleable into oublies...a guild of oblayeurs was founded in Paris in 1270. Wafers were often celebration
biscuits, baked for festivals. The were also often stuffed , for example with cheese, or, most
famously, with treacle as in teh Gouda stroopwafels."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
2nd edition, 2006, edited by Tom Jaine (p. 834)
"Leavened crackers had been made as early as 1800, but until compressed yeast became
available about 1870 their production was not attempted on a large scale. Sweet biscuits
had previously been imported from England. When such sweets achieved a measure of popularity
in this country, Belcher and Larrabee, cracker bakers in Albany, New York, imported machinery
and methods for baking them shortly after the Civil War. The change in the demand for biscuit and
cracker output was clearly a shift from staple to 'luxury' products. Unlike the demand for bread, there
was little opportunity for cracker bakers to benefit from a home to factory movement. But like the
expanded demand for food in general, the boom for the cracker industry was made possible by
increased incomes and the willingness of people to add new foods to their changing diets."
---Baking in America: Economic Development, William G. Panschar, Volume 1
[Northwestern University Press:Evanston IL] 1956 (p. 54)
Here are some great resources for food history:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/
http://www.historicfood.com/Wafer.htm
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/food-history/from-wafers-to-cones-a-short-history-of-the-waffle-113627
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cereals/waffle-history.asp#index
