So, New York’s water supply is notoriously soft, meaning overall it has low levels of calcium and magnesium and other minerals. And assuming most New York restaurants use tap water when they make doug

So, New York’s water supply is notoriously soft, meaning
overall it has low levels of calcium and magnesium and other
minerals. And assuming most New York restaurants use tap
water when they make dough, that could explain why New
York bagels are so unique. It’s like a secret ingredient. Or at
least that’s the myth. But Berlin has hard water, which is
basically the opposite. Like, the tap water in New York has on
average 7 mg/L of calcium, but the Berlin tap water has
108 mg/L. So that’s the reason why New York pizza and
bagels are impossible to replicate anywhere else in the world
There are even some restaurants that ship literal tons of NYC
water to their locations around the world, like Village Pizzeria
in California and Famous Famiglia in Ghana. And there’s a
startup called New York WaterMaker that sells a water
replication system to bakeries and restaurants so they can
mimic the taste of water.