It started 2 million years ago: That’s why we love crunchy things

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“Crispy Chicken” from Migros, “Crunchy Muesli” from Coop or “Knusperfilet” from Lidl: Many foods today advertise that they are truly cracking in the mouth. The latest Tiktok trend: Fruit rolls wrapped in ice cream – this makes them crunchy like sweet donuts.

Brittleness actually came to humanity not from cold, but from heat: about 1.9 million years ago, our ancestors began using fire for cooking. And it wasn’t long before the first hunters grilled the meat. This was followed by agriculture from 5500 BC. BC Flatbreads.

“Crispy” in German language only since 1800

It took an incredibly long time for the word “knock” for reflection to enter the German language: “Knusper, knusper, knäuschen, who is gnawing at my little house?” It is one of the first literary evidences from the Grimm fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” (1812).

“Crispy” has been in use since 1840: the curve in the “Digital Dictionary of the German Language” (DWDS) has been pointing up ever since – and the trend is still increasing. This is despite the fact that the word “crispy” is gaining more and more competition with the English terms “crispy” and “crunchy”.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “crispy” describes the brittle property of solid food: “The food is so hard that it breaks easily.” When it comes to “crunchy”, more emphasis is placed on the short, loud sound a piece of toast, smashed bread or muesli can make while eating.

Exactly 30 years ago, Birchermüesli was the subject of a lawsuit in the Swiss Federal Court: An importer sued retroactively for cheaper customs duty. Since 1991, this has been applied to heat-treated flakes with added sugar, making them crunchy – it was about 60,000 francs after all. However, the plaintiff lost.

Cavities provide a pleasant sound

Still, it should be happy for a thriving business today, because crispy food is more popular than ever and is on everyone’s lips. Even the kids—barely past the infancy and porridge stage—reach out to their chips bowls excessively. And this continues until old age, as long as people still have teeth.

For crispy chips, potato wedges stay in oil at 180 degrees – the water evaporates, the cells dry out and cavities form. This process must be fast, otherwise the cells will collapse and harden. If you bite into a fresh chip, you’ll break the gaps that make the crackling sound.

Just as the water should go quickly during production, it should not return immediately after production. Because even the humidity of the air has a great influence, for example, on the crispness of bread. Therefore, crumbs flying when you cut or eat them are a pleasant guarantee of freshness.

Crusty bread is nearly impossible in the tropics. So when they want something crunchy like krupek crab chips, fried basil leaves or spring rolls, people there rely more on the oven than the fryer – this time spicy from the Tuktuk street vendor instead of the sweet from the Tiktok phenomenon.

Source : Blick