Originally made by the Jewish community in Poland about 500 years ago, at one time bagels were given to women as a traditional gift after childbirth. Jewish settlers last century took bagels to the United States, and recipes and methods have been perfected to the way bagels have been made ever since.

A real bagel is not just a piece of bread dough in a doughnut shape - in fact bagels are made quite differently to ordinary bread. The dough is made a whole day before, then risen very slowly to develop the flavour and signature chewy bagel texture. Then they're steam-baked, to give them their shiny crust. * More bagel history here...

* Traditionally bagels were boiled then baked, but boiled bagels go hard within hours, so the method of steam-baking was developed. Steam-baking is now the preferred method in the United States, the home of the modern bagel.

No one knows when the bagel crisp was invented, or who by, but ABE'S began baking their version late last century. We only use fresh-baked bagels to bake our bagel crisps - that's a promise! So what you get is a deliciously crunchy, low fat, classy, versatile snack.