It's not every day you come across a state where it's normal for residents to eat bricks of pork for breakfast.
In Delaware, and the surrounding states, those bricks are called scrapple.
With new people constantly moving to the First State, and wondering what the heck scrapple is, here's the lowdown about one of the state's most famous, and strangest foods.
What is scrapple?
One of sausage's distant cousins is a rectangle-shaped pork relative named "scrapple." This cherished cuisine in the mid-Atlantic region (Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey) is popular for breakfast and made from leftover pig parts, cornmeal and flour.
The meat is formed in a loaf, sliced and typically fried in a pan until crispy. While the outside is crunchy, the interior of scrapple is mushy like the romantic film "The Notebook.''
What do you eat scrapple with?
Like breakfast sausage, scrapple is often paired with eggs, pancakes and hashbrowns. Some families (and restaurants) make scrapple sandwiches. Some folks also believe in putting ketchup on the fried loaf, while others simply pray for those people.
Delaware largest producer of scrapple in world
The First State didn't invent scrapple. But Delaware owns the global market for it.
In 1926, Brothers Ralph and Paul Adams (RAPA) started a scrapple manufacturing plant in Bridgeville that's since become the largest producer of scrapple in the world. Nearly 100 years later, the original recipe the brothers created for RAPA Scrapple's brand recipes are still in use today.
Where did scrapple come from?
This precious jewel of meat dates back to the 1600s in Germany where it originally was called panhas, pawnhos, or pan haas, meaning '"pan rabbit,'" according to the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
German immigrants came to Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia and Chester County in the 17th and 18th century, and re-created the dish.
In 1863, Isaac S. Habbersett opened Habbersett Pork Products in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the first company to mass-produce scrapple, according to the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
Wild scrapple ideas: cheesesteak, beer & hotdog
Some whimsical scrapple dishes and drinks have been created over the years.
First State Brewing in Middletown, for example, makes a scrapple cheesesteak doused in five-cheese fondue, onions and bell peppers. Tiki Jac's Street Eats & Brews in Rehoboth sells scrapple sliders.
In 2019, scrapple hot dogs topped with lobster meat were served at Dover Motor Speedway's 50th anniversary. The unlikely sandwiches were such a hit in Dover that they were made available for a limited time at Bluecoast Seafood Grill + Raw Bar in Rehoboth Beach.
Dogfish Head Brewery introduced its seasonal Beer for Breakfast, a dark beer blended with RAPA Scrapple in 2014.
What's the Apple Scrapple Festival?
Did you know throwing scrapple as far as you can is a sport in Delaware? It's a crazy contest that'll feature politicians as contestants at the 31st annual Apple Scrapple Festival in Bridgeville this fall.
This celebration of apples and scrapple attracts about 20,000 guests yearly, according to the festival's website.
The two-day event includes the Little Miss Apple Scrapple Pageant, lots of food and artisan vendors, live music and more. The day before the festival is the Rappa Scrapple Recipe Contest, and the Apple Baking Contest.
Apple Scrapple features an odd pairing of foods because Delaware is an agricultural state, and T.S. Smith and Sons Farm in Bridgeville grows lots of apples. The RAPA Scrapple meat is based in Bridgeville. Poof! Apple Scrapple was born.
The festival is held multiple places in Bridgeville (including Union Street) starting at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13; and at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Visit applescrapple.com.
Country superstar Jimmie Allen adores scrapple
Jimmie Allen of Milton is all about the First State, which inspired his hit song "Slower Lower Delaware." This means the country star’s down with one of Delaware's favorite dishes
Allen's longtime friend Vikki Walls — talent buyer/promoter for Highway One, which owns clubs the Bottle & Cork and Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach —told The News Journal in 2021 that the controversial country star is a big fan of the pork loaf.
"He never lets anybody forget he's from Delaware. He brags about it," said Walls, who added: "He loves scrapple sandwiches.
Where is the Scrapple Trail?
Yes, you can take a tour of scrapple-related places to celebrate your favorite meat craving.
For the latest on that, visit facebook.com/groups/2584573295005756
News Journal reporter Patricia Talorico contributed to this report.
If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar atalamar@gannett.com.Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, atdelawareonline.com/newsletters.
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