(Visit this post to learn about the first two waffle irons in the collection!)
History of waffle irons (and thusly waffles):
Waffle irons are ancient, with ancestors based way back in the days of the Iron Age (pancakes arrived first in the Neolithic Age), with the closest ancestor to a waffle iron arriving in Ancient Greece (1100 B.C.E to 146 B.C.E / Before the Common Era).
The Romans would put together a batter and cook it over the fire between a pair heated iron plates with long handles, resulting in thin cakes called obleios. As time progressed, the irons retained their long handles but gained fancy patterns in the plates that sandwiched and cooked the batter.
In the 13th century, a crafty person designed a pair of iron plates with long handles, connected with a hinge, that would cook the cakes with a honeycomb pattern. The old French word wafla = a piece of honeybee hive aka honeycomb. The name for the cakes stuck (even though they could be find in other patterns than honeycombs).
Waflas transitioned into wafles, then appearing in English for the first time in 1739 as… waffles!
The Dutch pilgrims arrived in America in 1620 and with them they brought waffles. (Most likely it was recipes for waffles.) Welcome to the “new world” waffles!
In 1789 (169 years later), Thomas Jefferson returns to the U.S from France with some handy French kitchen articles, 4 of which is a long handled waffle irons! These versions had evolved to enclose the batter for cooking vs simply cooking it between two plates. The benefit of enclosed batter as it gave the final cakes a lovely crispness & shape.
Waffles grew in popularity and thusly started the trend of waffle frolics – fancy waffle parties where guests ate sweet or savory waffles. (Oooo a waffle frolic sounds like could be quite fun! Fancy dress and waffles? Yes please!)
For more: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140029/album-unknown/
Leavening agent BP…
Deep, square pockets on waffles began to develop, arriving hand in hand with the use of leavening agents in batters (leaveners first arriving in the kitchen in the 1600s, possibly earlier). Unpredictable in their results and often with a bitter taste, these leaveners were “magic” in how they worked to make a batter rise. It now took less time to craft bread recipes, including waffles.
Inspired, chemical leaveners arrived in the 1800s. These leavening agents were much more predictable in their results and free of bitter taste. They became our modern day baking powders.
Arriving first as single-acting baking powder in 1843, with double-acting baking powder arriving in the 1860s, (single-acting baking powder produces its carbon dioxide bubbles when it gets wet; double acting produces bubbles again when it gets hot) these leavening agents were amazing and QUICK! A classic yeast recipe would require hours, if not a day or two for rising, whereas a baking powder recipe would require much less time.
Which means making waffles (and their cousins pancakes) became quicker to make. The batter was improved and quicker, though the waffle irons were still long handled and thrust into the fire for the cooking of the waffles.
26 years later lands us on a patent “for improvement” in 1869 (152 years ago!) by Cornelius Swartwout for a stovetop manual waffle iron. The patent was filed on August 24th, which is now National Waffle Day!
A bit of reading + research lends me to believe stove top style waffle irons existed PRIOR to the patent in 1869! Diving into patents, the oldest waffle irons harks from 1853, and is a patent for a stylization of the plates of the waffle iron. Which means shorter handled waffle irons may have existed even prior!
(Add in the fact the modern range was invented in the 1790s and by the times the 1850s rolled around every modern kitchen had a wood or coal burning cooking range means someone def took advantage of shortening the handles on a waffle iron!)
A span of 36 years from the “modern” 1869 patent and the first, very gnarly, burn down your house electric waffle irons arrived in 1905. Electric waffle irons continued to be refined living alongside their cast iron counterparts.
A new “Golden Age” of making waffles occurred from 1920s into the 1950s, giving waffles a surge in popularity as they graced not only the breakfast table, but luncheon and dinner too!
Cue the styling – electric waffle makers became works of art with chrome and art deco styling, as though they were made by automobile makers. The classic cast waffle irons kept their looks and the pairings stayed in favor until the end of the 50s, and by the end of the 60s many of the cast iron makers had disappeared from business. (Lodge is around and producing cast iron – 125 years of making cast iron!)
Waffles persisted nonetheless. Electric waffle makers continued on their course into modern, box mixes came in the 50s, Eggos arrived in 1953, marking the start of quick convenience waffles, and Belgium waffles with their deep syrup loving pockets arrived in the US at the World’s Fair in 1964.
From there waffles remained mostly unchanged, if not a little weird (cooking ALL the things in waffle makers) and a bit forgotten about (honestly, how many times do you break out the waffle maker?).
They trend, hip in their popularity (more indie causal than their flannel wearing pancake cousins), then wane, repeat their popularity and arrive from makers in shapes for every occasion and character.
Long live waffles! (I’m def more of a waffle fan than pancake fan, while my boyfriend Kris is pancakes 100%!)
Hmmm…
We could wrap this and call it lovely, but the notion of the patent from 1853 that pre-dates the 1869 “modern waffle iron” patent by 16 years has me quite perplexed.
What is the missing history of waffles? Stay tuned to learn!
