A Temporary Historical past of the Oyster Cracker

It’s a late evening 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 evening ritual of happy-hour-turned-all-night-drinks at What Ale’s You in downtown Burlington, Vermont, and we’re rehashing the evening’s shenanigans. As regular, there’s 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 at all times do after an evening out.

With the perfect 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 music, watching Saturday morning cartoons, or circling my vacation wishlist objects within the JCPenney catalog each December. Our pantry constantly 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 form of soup, eat them when touring, or use them to make a zesty ranch-flavored snack combine. The cracker’s versatility is, for my part, unmatched.

I can’t bear in mind after I first took notice 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 lately, I got here throughout a kind of little restaurant packets I had thrown in my purse to take pleasure in at a later date. My sheer degree of pleasure at this discovery prompted the query: How do I not know something extra about my beloved cracker?

It is unattainable to actually perceive how the oyster cracker got here to be with out first diving into the historical past of this easy cracker model on the whole, 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 finally, 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 Battle when rations required an extended shelf life and have been produced from accessible, low-cost components like flour, water, and salt. 

In keeping with the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest recognized use of the time period hardtack dates again to the 1830s. The “tack” portion of the identify comes from previous British slang for “meals.” Hardtack was utilized by sailors and troopers in soups and stews, a practice that went the gap with different crackers to the current day. The biscuit’s lengthy shelf life made it an excellent 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 in addition 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 manufactured 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 be aware of 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 america Supreme Court docket from 1832. Nonetheless, 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 is likely to be a turnoff, baking soda was omitted from the identify, and soda crackers turned saltines within the early twentieth century, a nod to baking soda’s former identify, 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 entire soda-saltine cracker household tree, simply in miniature kind.

The crispy disc’s definitive creator is a matter of controversy. In keeping with 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 doubtless 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, similar 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 at present.

Why Are They Known as Oyster Crackers?

Whereas the identify would possibly recommend that precise oysters are on the ingredient record, they don’t seem to be—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, a couple of seasonings, milky broth, and briny oysters, the oyster stew was simple and low-cost to organize, making it a preferred meal for a lot of within the 1800s. Oysters have been ample within the Northeast, particularly in New England, and the mollusks offered a stable substitute for the white fish sometimes utilized by Irish immigrants coming to America throughout that point. Recipes in The New Day by day Meals, a cookbook initially printed in 1885, point out using “high quality 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 totally different names. Exton’s Trenton, New Jersey bakery equipped so many Philadelphia eating places that the oyster cracker got here to be often called 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 Excellent 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, notably with certainly one of their hottest dishes: basic 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 selection for chowders, soups, and stews, in addition to chili, notably 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 largest producers of meals service oyster crackers within the nation. “There have been numerous 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 top of the oyster cracker—fairly the alternative really. “It is the chili chains that use a lot of the oyster crackers,” he says. “Cincinnati and Detroit are the most important prospects. Within the Northeast, it is for the chowder.” 

Along with floating atop the normal 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 all types of flavors, together with a Tajin-flavored oyster cracker combine. You may also discover movies of a basic home made ranch-flavor I loved as a toddler, together with a firecracker combination, which provides a spicy kick to the ranch due to purple pepper flakes. Past social media, I’ve additionally seen totally 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 business. Their upcoming collaboration with Lord Hobo, a neighborhood Massachusetts brewery, might 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 desire the normal means of having fun with them. And in line with Gennodie, I’m not the one one: “You will be in the midst of a sizzling 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 school and have accompanied me in each season of life to this point. Although the snack continues to evolve, the basic oyster cracker will stay a timeless deal with—dressed down, up, or floating in my soup.