The association of scrapple with Pennsylvania dates back to the 1680s, when Crefelder Quakers and Mennonites settled near Philadelphia, bringing with them this savory peasant dish.

Scrapple was part of the daily routine throughout the Mid-Atlantic region during the nineteenth century. It was a frugal culinary solution to dealing with leftover butchering products. Found in several varieties by different names—including panhas, liver mush, poor-do and goetta—scrapple is a result of several closely related culinary traditions merging into one.

As hog breeding becomes more sophisticated, so too does the role of scrapple. For the first time, scrapple appears in American culinary literature.

Scrapple production was revolutionized in the 1880s when the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia patented the first crank-turned meat chopper. The instruction booklet for the devise even contained a scrapple recipe.

In 1926, two brothers, Ralph and Paul Adams, founded the RAPA Scrapple manufacturing plant in Bridgeville, Delaware. Their recipe for the pork product has been used since the early 1920s and continues to be the world’s #1 selling scrapple.

Scrapple undergoes a revival in Germany and elsewhere, as people find renewed interest in folk culture and regional cookery. It now appears in every cookbook claiming to represent the culinary roots of the Lower Rhineland.

The annual Apple Scrapple Festival began in Bridgeville, Delaware in 1992. Featuring RAPA scrapple, the event originally attracted about 2,500 people. Today, nearly 40,000 people attend the annual two-day event.