A Temporary Historical past of the Oyster Cracker

It’s a late night time in 2004 and I am sitting cross-legged on my mattress in my photograph-laden dorm room. My roommates and I’ve simply returned from our Friday night time ritual of happy-hour-turned-all-night-drinks at What Ale’s You in downtown Burlington, Vermont, and we’re rehashing the night time’s shenanigans. As traditional, there may be drunk meals. Certainly one of my roommates tucks right into a slice of pizza whereas the opposite two are feasting on late-night ramen. I, however, am making brief work of a whole bag of Premium oyster crackers, like I all the time do after an evening out.

With the best stability of salt and crunch, this tiny spherical cracker—the Saltine’s little sister—has been with me since I used to be younger. They have been as important to my childhood as chasing down the ice cream truck’s siren track, watching Saturday morning cartoons, or circling my vacation wishlist gadgets within the JCPenney catalog each December. Our pantry persistently had an open bag of Premium model oyster crackers. Anytime a restaurant presents me with a packet of oyster crackers, into my purse it goes for future snacking. I’ll throw these dangerous boys in any and each sort of soup, eat them when touring, or use them to make a zesty ranch-flavored snack combine. The cracker’s versatility is, in my view, unmatched.

I can’t keep in mind once I first took observe of my love for oyster crackers, however I can also’t recall a time in my life when there weren’t oyster crackers. And regardless of my ardour for the snack in any case these years, I’d by no means actually thought of its origin. Whereas rooting by means of my pantry just lately, I got here throughout a type of little restaurant packets I had thrown in my purse to take pleasure in at a later date. My sheer stage of pleasure at this discovery prompted the query: How do I not know something extra about my beloved cracker?

It is unattainable to essentially perceive how the oyster cracker got here to be with out first diving into the historical past of this straightforward cracker model usually, and that historical past is a little bit of a wild goose chase. Who’re the oyster cracker’s ancestors and the way far again did they actually go?

The Historical past of Hardtack, Water Crackers, and Saltines

My analysis by way of meals encyclopedias, previous recipes, and the depths of the web led me to the hardtack, a sort of a dense, unleavened, cracker-like biscuit that may be thought of the great-great-great grandparent to the water cracker, the soda cracker, saltines, and ultimately, the oyster cracker. Hardtack got here into play on lengthy sailings throughout the Atlantic Ocean earlier than and thru the seventeenth century, and in the course of the Civil Warfare when rations required a protracted shelf life and have been constructed from accessible, low cost components like flour, water, and salt. 

In response to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest identified use of the time period hardtack dates again to the 1830s. The “tack” portion of the title comes from previous British slang for “meals.” Hardtack was utilized by sailors and troopers in soups and stews, a convention that went the gap with different crackers to the current day. The biscuit’s lengthy shelf life made it a perfect staple within the years earlier than refrigeration and canned meals got here alongside. Its dry consistency made it troublesome to eat, nonetheless, requiring it to be softened earlier than consumption, so troopers would use the butt of their rifles to interrupt up the hardtack and toss the dry damaged bits of cracker into broth-based meals—this not solely softened the hardtack but additionally thickened up the meal and made it extra filling. The hardtack is what would later encourage different crackers, together with the oyster cracker.

Unsurprisingly, hardtack didn’t enchantment to the lots, so the cracker developed into the a lot thinner—although nonetheless bland—water cracker. The brainchild of Josiah Bent in 1801, water crackers have been additionally made from water and flour, however as a result of they have been thinner and baked longer, they have been a lot lighter and crisper than the dense, biscuit-like hardtack. 

Soda crackers got here on the scene shortly after, and most people began to pay attention to this upgraded cracker. These crackers have been named due to they included baking soda, which created a crunchier, extra delicate product than the water cracker. The warmth of the oven together with the baking soda produced tiny bubbles, creating an ethereal cracker that stood out from others. There are mentions of each soda and saltine crackers within the Data and Briefs of the US Supreme Court docket from 1832. Nevertheless, soda crackers didn’t fairly take off till 1876, when mass manufacturing of them was begun by F.L. Sommer & Co in Missouri, resulting in subsequent factories throughout the Midwest. As a result of its bitter taste may be a turnoff, baking soda was omitted from the title, and soda crackers grew to become saltines within the early twentieth century, a nod to baking soda’s former title, baking salt.

The Historical past of the Oyster Cracker

It’s simple to see the oyster cracker’s similarities in taste and texture to saltines—together with their related makes use of in soups and stews—making it a reasonably apparent conclusion that they’re a part of this complete soda-saltine cracker household tree, simply in miniature kind.

The crispy disc’s definitive creator is a matter of controversy. In response to the Smithsonian Establishment, English immigrant Adam Exton began a bakery in Trenton, New Jersey, together with his brother-in-law in 1847, setting the stage for the conception of the oyster cracker. Westminster Bakers Co. in Massachusetts, nonetheless, additionally claims to have gifted us this spherical treasure nearly 20 years prior in 1828, after they launched the New England “Frequent” Cracker, a bigger catch-all cracker with easy components: flour, water, baking soda, salt, and shortening (Exton’s cracker seemingly used butter). The Vermont Nation Retailer notes that the Frequent Cracker’s lengthy shelf life and flexibility made it a staple for farm households, as they might retailer the crackers by means of the winter, identical to hardtack. Bob Helland, the Chief Working Officer of Westminster Bakers Co., tells me the corporate rolled out the unique New England Oyster Cracker, a product that it continues to fabricate and promote right this moment.

Why Are They Known as Oyster Crackers?

Whereas the title would possibly recommend that precise oysters are on the ingredient listing, they aren’t—the wheat flour-based crackers are named so as a result of they have been initially created as an accoutrement for conventional oyster stew, just like the best way hardtack was created for soups. With only a contact of butter, just a few seasonings, milky broth, and briny oysters, the oyster stew was simple and low cost to arrange, making it a preferred meal for a lot of within the 1800s. Oysters have been plentiful within the Northeast, particularly in New England, and the mollusks offered a stable substitute for the white fish usually utilized by Irish immigrants coming to America throughout that point. Recipes in The New Every day Meals, a cookbook initially printed in 1885, point out using “advantageous oyster crumbs” for topping oyster stew, “cracker crumbs” when making scalloped oysters, and “cracker crumbs” for fried oysters.

Between their unique pairing with oyster stew and their resemblance to oyster shells, naming these crackers “oyster crackers” appeared like a no brainer. In some areas like Philadelphia, nonetheless, the cracker took on completely different names. Exton’s Trenton, New Jersey bakery provided so many Philadelphia eating places that the oyster cracker got here to be referred to as the “Philadelphia Cracker,” “Trenton cracker,” and “water cracker.” That is maybe a probable nod that, once more, connects the oyster cracker to its ancestor, the water cracker.

The Good Pairing of Oyster Crackers and Clam Chowder

A chat with Steve Gennodie, proprietor of Chatham Pier Fish Market on the Massachusetts coast, offered a bit extra perception into the oyster cracker’s function in Northeastern delicacies, significantly with considered one of their hottest dishes: traditional New England clam chowder. As a result of a lot of the chowders have been skinny again within the seventeenth century, folks added crackers to the soup, which, like hardtack, helped to bulk it up, making a thicker, heartier meal.

“The oyster cracker places it over the sting and elevates it,” he says, calling it “the best merchandise that makes the chowder come to life.” All through their almost 200-year existence, oyster crackers have expanded because the topper of alternative for chowders, soups, and stews, in addition to chili, significantly within the Midwest. 

The place Does the Oyster Cracker Stand Now?

I spent a while scouring the web to see simply what number of corporations produce oyster crackers, and my search turned up fewer than anticipated. As an alternative of impartial teams, it appeared that many small manufacturers had been acquired by big-name manufacturers like Kellogg’s and Nabisco. My suspicion that fewer corporations have been making oyster crackers nowadays was confirmed in a dialog with Larry Rabin, President of Dairy State Meals—one of many greatest producers of meals service oyster crackers within the nation. “There have been a variety of buyouts and mergers,” he shares. “It’s costly to get into the enterprise now.” 

Earlier than my panic set in, Rabin reassured me that this didn’t signify the tip of the oyster cracker—fairly the alternative truly. “It is the chili chains that use a lot of the oyster crackers,” he says. “Cincinnati and Detroit are the most important clients. Within the Northeast, it is for the chowder.” 

Along with floating atop the standard soups, chilis, and stews of the world, oyster cracker-based snack mixes are making the rounds on social media platforms like TikTok, with creators making every kind of flavors, together with a Tajin-flavored oyster cracker combine. You can even discover movies of a traditional selfmade ranch-flavor I loved as a baby, together with a firecracker combination, which provides a spicy kick to the ranch due to crimson pepper flakes. Past social media, I’ve additionally seen completely different oyster cracker mixes in grocery shops, together with a cheddar jalapeño flavored one, which wasn’t half dangerous.

The evolution of the cracker has even led Westminster Bakers Co. to recent ventures within the beer trade. Their upcoming collaboration with Lord Hobo, an area Massachusetts brewery, can be launched in August: the Lord Hobo New England Chowder IPA, which includes Westminster Oyster Crackers. 

I’m open to those new-fangled variations of my beloved cracker, however nonetheless want the standard manner of having fun with them. And in line with Gennodie, I’m not the one one: “You might be in the midst of a scorching summer season, however the New England clam chowder remains to be the primary vendor.”

Oyster crackers have gone the gap with me; they’ve seen me by means of my quite a few late-nights in faculty and have accompanied me in each season of life to date. Although the snack continues to evolve, the traditional oyster cracker will stay a timeless deal with—dressed down, up, or floating in my soup.