The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and croissant fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at the Croissant fun facts.

Croissant Fun Facts: The original croissant was called Kipfel and originated in Austria in 1683. It was created in honor of the Austrian victory over the Turks and modeled after the crescent on the Turkish flag. (Some historians say the croissant originated in Hungary)

  • August Zang, an Austrian artillery officer, is credited with bringing the croissant to France when he opened his own Viennese bakery in Paris. (Some say it was Marie Antoinette who brought the croissant to France…)
  • The earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the “fantasy or luxury breads” in Payen’s Des substances alimentaires, 1853.
  • January 30th is National Croissant Day.
  • The Croissant became the French national product in 1920.
  • The Croissant started as a luxury product, but by the end of the nineteenth century, it was middle-class (the rich preferred a good brioche).
  • Before the modern croissant, puff pastry was used as a garnish or shell, not to eat on its own.
  • The chocolate croissant is actually called painauchocolat, as it is not in the shape of a crescent.
  • In 2013, chef Dominque Ansel came up with the cronut. It is a deep-fried croissant/doughnut combination that became all the rage at his New York bakery.

Croissant Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed any croissant fun facts. We love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Croissant.

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