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Sunday 3 August 2014

Cracker

The word “cracker” was first used in North America, for a plain, unsweetened, dry, hard, bread product in 1739. When crackers are broken into pieces they make a cracking noise, which accounts for the name.

The Cross brothers of Montpelier, Vermont, USA produced an unsweetened dry Cracker biscuit, which was popular in early 19th century America. Shopkeepers gave them away to customers buying cheese; a barrel of 1,200 crackers provided a year's worth of snacks and meals for many a rural family; Farmers supped on these crackers crumbled in a bowl of milk and served with a chunk of cheddar cheese.

Having discovered the soda cracker in America William Jacob, the founder of W & R Jacob along with William & George Bewley launched the Jacob’s Cream Cracker in 1884 in Dublin, Ireland. They were the first crackers to be packed in airtight containers.

A cracker that survived the Titanic was sold for $23,000 (£15,034) on October 28, 2015 at the Henry Aldridge & Son auction house. The biscuit, which was used as part of a survival kit on one of the Titanic lifeboats, was saved by James Fenwick, a passenger on the Carpathia vessel that saved Titanic passengers at sea, and was kept intact in a Kodak film envelope by Fenwick.

Ritz crackers were first released during the Great Depression, choosing the name ‘Ritz’ (as in the Ritz hotels) so people would perceive the crackers as high class and fancy, but available at an affordable price.

Over 40 million Ritz crackers are purchased every day.

Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

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