Waffle Iron Day

A waffle is a grid-patterned pancake-like food. It is made from a batter that consists of flour, water, baking powder, oil, and eggs. A waffle is baked in a waffle iron, a hinged metal griddle with a honeycombed or fancifully engraved surface. Crude waffles had been made in the States since the pilgrims brought over the recipe 100 year previously.

The earliest known recording of a waffle recipe is in an anonymous manuscript called Le Ménagier de Paris, which was a set of instructions written by a Frenchman for his young wife. In it, the waffle-loving writer describes his own waffle recipe and even mentions an “iron”, leading historians to believe waffle irons were invented in the 13th-14th century.

International Waffle Day falls on March 25th thanks to those lovely Swedes and August 24th marks National Waffle Day in the US. Why? Because on that August day in 1869, Cornelius Swarthout received the first U.S. patent for the waffle iron.