COOKIES, CRACKERS AND BISCUITS

"The term [cookie] first appeared in print as long ago as 1703.

"(The Oxford Companion to Food , Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] (page 212))

"The art of making cookies and crackers is that of turning simple ingredients into wonderful things....Like cakes and pastries, cookies and crackers are the descendants of the earliest food cooked by man - grain-water-paste baked on hot stones by Neolithic farmers 10,000 years ago. The development of cookies and crackers from these primitive beginnings is a history of refinements inspired by two different impulses - one plan and practical, the other luxurious and pleasure -loving. Savory crackers represent the practical and may well have been the first convenience foods: A flour paste, cooked once, then cooked again to dry it thoroughly, becomes a hard, portable victual with an extraordinarily long storage life - perfect for traveling....For centuries, no ship left port without enough bone-hard, twice-cooked ship's biscuit - the word biscuit comes from the Old French biscoit, meaning twice cooked - to last for months, or even years. While sailors and other travelers chewed their way through unyielding biscuits, cooks of the ancient civilizations of the Middle East explored the culinary possibilities of sweetness and richness. These cooks lightened and enriched the paste mixtures with eggs, butter and cream and sweetened them with fruit, honey and finally - when the food became widely available in the late Middle Ages - with sugar... Luxurious cakes and pastries in large and small versions were well known in the Persian empire of the Seventh Century A.D. With the Muslim invasion of Spain, then the Crusades and the developing spice trade, the cooking techniques and ingredients of Arabia spread into Northern Europe. There the word cookies, distinguishing small confections, appeared: The word comes from the Dutch Koeptje [koekje], meaning small cake. By the end of the 14th Century, one could buy little filled wafers on the streets of Paris...Renaissance cookbooks were rich in cookie recipes, and by the 17th Century, cookies were common-place."

(Cookies and Crackers, Time/Life Books, 1982 (page 5))

"Early English and Dutch immigrants first introduced the cookie to America in the 1600s. While the English primarily referred to cookies as small cakes, seed biscuits, or tea cakes, or by specific names, such as jumbal or macaroon, the Dutch called the koekjes, a diminutive of koek (cake)...Etymologists note that by the early 1700s, koekje had been Anglicized into "cookie" or "cookey," and the word clearly had become part of the American vernacular. Following the American Revolution, people from other parts of the country became familiar with the cookie when visiting New York City, the nation's first capitol, a factor that resulted in widespread use of the term...During the seventeeth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries most cookies were made in home kitchens. They were baked as special treats because the cost of sweeteners and the amount of time and labor required for preparation. The most popular of these early cookies still retain their prize status. Recipes for jumbles, a spiced butter cookie, and for macaroons, based on beaten egg whites and almonds, were common in the earliest American cookbooks...Because it was relatively inexpensive and easy to make, ginger-bread was one of the most popular early cookies...As kitchen technology improved in the early 1900s, most notably in the ability to regulate oven temperature, America's repertoire of cookie recipes grew."

(Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America , Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 317-8))

Ammonia cookies

According to the food history reference books, "Ammonia" cookies are not one specific cookie recipe but a whole host of edible treats employing ammonium bicarbonate, an old-fashioned (probably now hard to get?) leavening agent. Ammonium carbonate is a byproduct of hartshorn, a substance extracted from deer antlers [harts horn]. Hartshorn is most commonly referenced in old cookbooks in jelly recipes. It was also known a source for ammonia, which could be used as a leavener.
"Hartshorn...
1. The horn or antler of a hart [male deer, esp. Red deer] the substance obtained by rasping, slicing or calcining the horns of harts, formerly the chief sources of ammonia.
2. Spirit of hartshorn, also simply hartshoren; the aqueous solution of ammonia (whether obtained from harts' horns or otherwise). Salt of hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia; smelling salt."

(Oxford English Dictionary)

"Hartshorn was formerly the main source of ammonia, and its principal use was in the production of smelling salts. But hartshorn shavings were used to produce a special, edible jelly used in English cookery in the 17th and 18th centuries."

(Oxford Companion to Food , Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] (p. 372))

"Ammonium bicarbonate...This leavener is the precursor of today's baking powder and baking soda. It's still called for in some European baking recipes, mainly for cookies. It can be purchased in drugstores but must be ground to a powder before using. Also known as hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia and powdered baking ammonia."

(Food Lover's Companion , Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd edition [Barrons:New York] 2001 (p. 14))

"Ammonia cookies...Any variety of cookies made with a leavening agent called ammonium carbonate, or baking ammonia. They are most commonly found in Scandinavian-American communities In their book Farm Recipes and Food Secrets from the Norske Nook (1993), Helen Myhre and Mona Vold wrote, "Talk about Old Faithful, this was one of those basic stanbys every farm lady made."

(Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink , John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 6))

Animal crackers

Food historians generally agree the art of crafting small baked goods into fancy shapes began as a Christmas tradition in Medieval Germany. Lebkuchen (gingerbread) was a highly sophisticated art. The legal right to make these products was carefully protected by Guilds. They were sometimes used as Christmas decorations.

By the middle of the 19th century the industrial revolution made it possible for biscuits, cookies and crackers to be manufactured in factories. Crisp biscuits (what we Americans now call cookies) baked in fancy shapes were very popular in Victorian England. Some of these biscuits were shaped like animals. "Zoologicals" (animal crackers) were sold at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia [1876]. They were made by Philadelphia baker Walter G. Wilson. According to a recent Washington Post article, in 1889 when P.T. Barnum's circus travelled to England, animal cookies proliferated. Food companies were most likely capitalizing on Barnum's popular entertainment. Animal Crackers manufactured at that time were probably designed as a marketing promotions.

National Biscuit Company's (now Nabisco) classic Animal Crackers were introduced to the American public in 1902. According to Nabisco sources, the first Animal Crackers were marketed as a seasonal item. The brighly-colored box (not the cookies) was promoted as a Christmas tree ornament, thus explaining the string attached to the top.

Although Animal biscuits/crackers are a very simple cookie we find no evidence they were created/promoted as health foods. 19th century cookie-type health products often contained arrowroot and Graham's flour (whole wheat). They were not generally marketed in fancy shapes.

This is what the food historians have to say on the subject:

"During the 19th century supplies of cheap sugar and flour, plus chemical raising agents such as bicarbonate of soda, led to the development of many sweet biscuit recipes. In Britain several entrepreneurs laid the foundations of the modern biscuit industry. The firms of Carrs, Huntley & Palmer, and Crawfords were all established by 1850. Since the mid 19th century the range of commercially baked biscuits based on creamed and pastry type mixtures has expanded to meet the demand..."

(Oxford Companion to Food , Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 76))

"Animal Crackers are actually a cookie, first produced as Christmas tree ornaments in 1902 by the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco). They are formed in the shapes of various circus animals and packed in a box decorated like a circus train. Nabisco currently produces about 7 million Animal Cracker cookies per day."

(Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink , John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 104))

"Animal crackers were created and achieved fame many years before the advent ot NBC (National Biscuit Company). In the beginning they were just called "Animals," They were imported from England when "fancy" baked goods first began to be in demand here. In the latter part of the nineteenth century they were manufactured domestically by Hetfield & Ducker in Brooklyn as well as Vandeveer & Holmes Biscuit Company in New York. Both firms eventually became part of the New York Biscuit Company and "Animals" were one of their staples. When "Animals" were adopted by NBC, their name was changed to "Barnum's Animal Crackers," named after P.T. Barnum, showman and circus owner who was so famous during this era. Barnum's Animal Crackers provided the nation with a new type of animal cracker, produced in a small square box resembling a circus cage with a tape at the top for easy carrying. Barnum's Animals appeared during Christmas season just three years after the Uneeda Biscuit. What was originally a seasonal novelty proved so popular that it became a steady seller. Soon Animal (the 's' was dropped) Crackers became part of the American scene and of almost every American household."

(Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZus , William Cahn [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 106-7))

"P.T. Barnum, the greatest self-promoter in history, had absolutely nothing to do with the box that bears his name. And never got a cent for it. That's according to our man Fisher of the Barnum Museum. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus still doesn't get a cut, or a licensing fee. This is what happened: In 1889, Barnum decided to do something truly nutty, a tour of England with his circus. So after his buddy Bailey figured out how, exactly, you get a circus that normally takes up 10 rail cars onto a boat and across an ocean, Barnum's animals made their European debut. The English, meanwhile, had already invented something called animal biscuits. Sensing a marketing moment, several companies started manufacturing animal biscuits with circus packaging and called them Barnum's. Soon the product migrated across the ocean, where Nabisco's forerunner, the National Biscuit Co., put them on U.S. store shelves in 1902. Originally called "Barnum's Animals,'' they became Barnum's "Animal Crackers'' in 1948."

("Circus Food," Jennifer Frey, Washington Post , March 20, 2002)

Biscotti 

Biscotti date to Ancient times. The term literally means "twice baked." These hard biscuits fueled armies and fed travelers. Flavor variations and culinary techniques evolved according to time and place. German zweiback, Jewish mandelbrot, British ship's biscuit, and American hardtack are similar in purpose and method.

"Biscuit. A small, dry, flat cake, traditionally with good keeping qualities, eaten as a snack or accompaniment to a drink, and sweet or savory. Sweet biscuits are eaten as an accompaniment to coffee, tea or milk--and mid-morning wine in Italy - and partner desserts of ice cream. They are used to make desserts--charlottes in particular- and macaroon crumbs are often added to custards or creams...In France biscuits are simply regarded as one aspect of petits fours, with their own wide repertoire...Their English and French name comes from the Latin bis meaning twice and coctus meaning cooked, for biscuits should be in theory be cooked twice , which gives them a long storage life...This very hard, barely risen biscuit was for centuries the staple food of soldiers and sailors. Roman legions were familiar with it and Pliny claimed that "Parthian bread" would keep for centuries...Soldiers biscuits or army biscuits were known under Louis XIV as "stone bread." In 1894, army biscuits were replaced by war bread made of starch, sugar, water, nitrogenous matter, ash, and cellulose, but the name "army biscuit" stuck...Biscuits were also a staple item in explorers' provisions. Traveller's biscuits, in the 19th century, were hard pastries or cakes wrapped in tin foil which kept well."

(Larousse Gastronomique , Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (page 113))

"Biscotto. "Twice baked." Dry cookie. Often containing nuts, biscotti are usually slices from a twice-baked flattened cookie loaf. In Tuscany, biscotti or cantucci are almond cookies. In Sicily, biscotti a rombo are diamond-shaped cookies and b. Regina (queen's biscuits) are sesame seed biscuits. B. Tipo pavesini are almond biscuits of Pavia. B. De la bricia are flavoured with fennel seeds, a specialty of La Spezia. B. Aviglianese (Avigliano stype) are made with unleavened bread."

(The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink , John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1998 (p. 36))

"Biscuit, a cereal product that has been baked twice. The result is relatively light (because little water remains), easy to store and transport (therefore a useful food for travellers and soldiers), sometimes hard to eat without adding water or olive oil."

(Food in the Ancient World From A to Z , Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p. 53))

Biscuits

The answer to where biscuits originated depends on the kind of biscuit you are thinking about. In some countries the word biscuit historically refers to a hard cookie or cracker. In the United States biscuits are generally small soft, yeast-based products served with breakfast or dinner. They perform a variety of functions including filling (hungry bellies), topping (eg. pies) and sopping (eg. biscuits & gravy). Cowboy-style biscuits were rustled up by pioneers and overland travelers in makeshift ovens. Cathead biscuits and beaten biscuits are two popular American regional favorites. Refrigerator biscuits (packed in a tube, ready to bake) debuted in 1931.

"Biscuit...The word derives from the Latin words "bis" (twice) plus "coctus" (cooked). In England a biscuit is what Americans usually call a cracker or cookie. The American meaning for biscuit was first noted by John Palmer in his Journal of Travels in the United States of North America, and in Lower Canada , (1818), and by 1828 Webster defined the confection as "a composition of flour and butter, made and baked in private families." In general usage such puffy leavened little breads were called "soda biscuits" or "baking-soda biscuits," in contrast to the unleavened cracker type....Recipes for soda biscuits are found in every nineteenth-century cookbook, especially with reference to the cookery of the South...The South is also the home of the beaten biscuit, which was first mentioned in 1853...In 1930 General Mills began selling a packaged quick biscuit mix called Bisquick that was a great success and spawned many imitators."

(The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink , John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (page 29))

"There, in the Blackstone kitchen, Berry's grand chefs, Vernie and Floyd Nabors, turned out Sunday morning biscuits that melted in one's mouth. Particularly if you opened one up and added fresh butter along with the generous portion of the Berry-made apple butter...One of my classmates put it for me in hushed tones: "What you see there, Joe, is what we call the Cathead Bsicuit, the gift of an all-knowing and benevolent God." Mountain people, he explained, were particularly partial to the giant-size biscuits, which were destined by the Almighty to go with milk-enhanced sawmill gravy, another mountain favorite...Indeed the "cathead"- an Applachian phenomenon--was the precursor to the even larger size biscuits offered today by chains such as Hardee's and Mrs. Winner's. The big difference between regular-size buttermilk biscuits and the catheads was that with most "cats," the cook pinched off handfuls of dough rather than rolling it out and using a biscuit cutter...

Bryson City Cathead Biscuits

2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoons lard
1 cup buttermilk.

Sift and mix dry ingredients then blend with lard. Add buttermilk. For each biscuit, pinch off a portion of dough about the shape of a large egg and pat out with your hands. Bake in 350 degree F. oven in wood stove about 10 minutes. In a modern electric or gas oven, bake at 475 to 500 degrees."

(Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine, Joseph E. Dabney [Cumberland House:Nashville TN] 1999 (p. 114-5))

Beaten Biscuits

These unusual biscuits are generally connected with the mid-Atlantic and southern Appalachian regions. Marlyand Beaten Biscuit recipes are good examples. Food historians trace the practice of "beating" bread to England, possibly as far back as the 16th century. "Recipe for soda biscuits are found in every nineteeth-century cookbook, especially with reference to the cookery of the South, where biscuits with ham remain a specialty. The South is also home of the "beaten biscuit," which was first mentioned in 1853. This curious confection, known in Maryland as a "Maryland biscuit," is rarely made today, but was once common in the South,where the sound of a mallet beating the biscuit dough was a nostalgic morning sound."

(Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink , John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 29))

"Beaten biscuits are, like grits, very much of a mystery to the uninitiated. They may be the forerunner of the modern raised biscuit, but these chewy, unleavened morsels resmeble more the hard tack produced by early European bakers for armies and navies than anything else served up in the modern South. Pilot bread and sea biscuit are terms for similar breads that reflect their practical use. Country ham was for some time wedded the beaten biscuit in Southern cuisine. At the most traditional fancy parties and weddings, biscuits no bigger than a quarter are invariably served up with baked, cured ham sliced as thin as imaginable sandwiched inside and spiked with mustard. Otherwise, beaten biscuits are rarely seen anymore. They sound harder to make than they are...those who enjoy a physical relationship with their doughs should be in heaven here. There is no getting around the activity. Fifteen minutes of heavy, consistent abuse is the minimum. You can use a rolling pin, a hammer, the side of an axe; whatever, it must be heavy...In the old days, the dough was beaten on a tree stump in the yard. When properly beaten, the dough will blister at each blow. it will develop a strange plastic quality and be smoother than any other bread dough you have ever seen...The biscuits, when done, will be dry throughout, yet soft in the middle."

(Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1996 (p. 39))

ABOUT MANDEL (ALMOND) BRODT (BREAD):

The answer to questions regarding the origin of this recipe depends upon whether you are seeking a culinary history or linguistic study of mandelbrodt. Historians confirm that almonds were known to ancient middle eastern cooks, and were incorprated into many recipes. Biscuits/biscotti, twice-baked hard breads, were popular in Ancient Rome and generally spread with the Romans to other parts of the continent. The term mandelbrot is of Germanic heritage and this particular food is traditionally associated with Eastern European Jews. Perhaps this suggests (although the recipe may be ancient) the genesis of the food with this name may be linguistically placed in Medieval Eastern Europe.

"Mandelbrot, kamishbrot, and biscotti: three twice-baked cookies. One is Italian. The others are Eastern European Jewish. Is there a connection? Perhaps. "We've thought about the connection," said Peter Pastan, chef-owner of Obelisk, a tiny pix fixe Italian restaurant in Washington D.C. "Mandelbrot is all over Eastern Europe and in Italy everybody has a different recipe for biscotti--some with fennel, some are crunchy; the ones around Siena are ugly but good." Mr. Pastan, who comes form an American-Jewish family, studied cooking in Italy before opening his mostly Italian restaurant. With a large Jewish population in Piedmont, Italy may have been the place where Jews first tasted biscotti and later brought them to Eastern Europe where they called the mandelbrot, which means literally almond bread. In the Ukraine, a similar cookies not necessarily with almonds by made at home, thuskamish, was served. In Italy they are often eaten as a dessert dipped into wine or grappa. In Eastern Europe Jews dipped them into a glass of tea, and because they include no butter and are easily kept they became a good Sabbath dessert."

(Jewish Cooking in America , Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 354))

No-bake cookies

Food historians tell us unbaked confections composed of nuts, dried fruit, seeds and sweeteners were made by ancient Middle eastern cooks. "No bake" candies, as we Americans know them today, surfaced in cookbooks published during the Great Depression. Like their ancient counterparts, contemporary "No Bakes" contain dried/desiccated fruit, nuts, and/or seeds glued together with a sugar (honey, Karo) or fat (peanut butter, butter, margarine). No bake cookies (generally pressed into a pan and cut in squares/bars) descend from the same tradition. These recipes appear in the 1950s. The primary difference between bake and no bake' recipes (besides the obvious oven time, of course!) is the "no bakes" do not contain eggs or flour. They are not intended to rise.

Oatmeal cookies

Oatmeal cookies, as we Americans know them today, descend from ancient bannocks and oatcakes known to peoples of the British Isles. The raisins, nuts, and spices commonly found in today's oatmeal cookies date to the Middle Ages. Oats, and their recipes, were introduced to the New World by European explorers in the 17th century. In 19th century America, oats were considered health foods. They were recommended to invalids and served as hearty breakfast fare (mush/porridge). Culinary evidence confirms the crossover from "health food" to confection occured around the turn of the 20th century. Several other popular American foods made the same leap at this juncture (thanks to corporate America): breakfast cereal and chocolate pudding among them.

About oats, oatmeal and oatcakes 

"Oats...The first traces of cultivation...date from about 1000 BC in Central Europe. However, the Greeks and Romans of classical times were unimpressed, regarding oats as coarse, barbarian fare; and the Romans used them mainly as animal fodder, but did foster the growing of oats in Britain, where they were to become important as a food for human beings. Indeed, they became the principal cereal in Wales and, even more markedly, in Scotland... There seems to be an affinity between oats and people of Celtic origin."

(Oxford Companion to Food , Alan Davidson [Oxford University:Oxford] 1999 (p. 547))

"The cereal grass which produces the seeds called oats originated as a weed in wheat and barley fields, which was accidentally harvested with the main crop. In due course it came to be cultivated in its own right in northern Europe, and was introduced to Britain in the Iron Age. The Romans knew of it (their word for it was avena...), but only as a weed, or as a fodder plant - although Pliny, anticipating Dr. Johnson, mentions that the Germanic peoples made porridge with it. The word oat, which is a descendant of Old English ate, is a pure English term, with no known relatives in other languages. The remaining Germanic languaves have interrelated names for the plant...Oatmeal, the term for flour made from oats, was coined in the fifteenth century."

(An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 229))

"Oatcakes made from oats (in the form of oatmeal), salt, and water, sometimes with a little fat added, were the staple food of the inhabitants of the Pennines and the Lake District in England and of the Scottish Highlands for centuries. In these upland regions oats are the only cereal which will ripen in the cold wet climate. Oatcakes...were also of some importance in Wales and Ireland. They remain popular, and are now generally regarded as a Scottish specialty...Oatcakes had some importance as festive foods, especially at Beltane (1 May, and ancient Celtic festival) and Christmas."

(Oxford Companion to Food (p. 546))

"There is evidence that oats were quite widely grown in Anglo-Saxon England, on athylle (on oat hill) is recorded in 779...The bishop of Worcester's oat land is mentioned in a boundary charter of 984. However, oats do not feature in dues and rents as wheat and barley do...oats may have been used for human consumption: while Pliny was not complimentary about oats he noted they were made into porridge in Germany. Giraldus was perhaps sensationalising matters when he commented that the whole population of Wales lived almost entirely on oats. In times of dearth they may have been utilized quite generally, but they could have been a staple crop in aras with damp, acid soils."

(A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink:Production and Distribution , Ann Hagen [Anglo-Saxon Books:Wilton UK] 1995 (p. 23))

"Myths of oats have much in common with myths of wheat, barley, rye, corn, and other cereal grains. Grains generally were associated with fertility of the earth and soil, and served as symbols of the earth's renewal."

(Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology , Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 161))

Peanut butter cookies

Small cakes composed of nuts, dried fruits, and spices were prepared by ancient cooks. These early cakes were very different from what we eat today. They were more bread-like and sweetened with honey. The Romans are usually credited with spreading such recipes throughout Europe. Medieval bakers prefered white sugar and perfected gingerbread, fruitcake and a host of related sweetly spiced recipes, many with nuts. Northern European bakers specialized in cookies. When the Dutch arrived in the New World in the 17th century, they brought their cookie recipes with them. Peanuts are a "New World" food.

We checked dozens of early 20th century American cookbooks and found peanut cookies recipes were quite common. These, however, called for crushed/chopped peanuts as an ingredient. It is not until the early 1930s that we find peanut butter listed as an ingredient in cookies. The 1933 edition of Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes contains a recipe for Peanut Butter Balls which instructs the cook to roll the dough into balls and press them down with the tines of a fork. This practice is still common in America today.

Crackers.

Food historians tell us small hard biscuits were probably first made by ancient Middle Eastern peoples. These foods were quite practical, as they were filling, easily transported and able withstand adverse weather conditions. This is why cracker-type foods have a long history in military rations. Ancient Roman armies ate biscuits, Nelson's sailors ate Ship's biscuit, and Civil War soldiers ate hardtack. These are all related in method and ingredients to the tasty crackers we buy in today's supermarket.

Many cultures and cuisines have developed their own special crackers. Italian biscotti, Jewish mandlebrot, German zwieback and English rusk are some examples. The word "cracker" appears to have originated in North America sometimes in the 18th century. Food historians generally agree that the light, crispy crackers we Americans know today appeared in the 19th century. This concides with the "discovery" of chemical leaveners such as baking soda and powder.

"Cracker - A name first used in N. America,from the mid-18th century onwards, for a plain, unsweetened, dry, hard, bread product; thus corresponding to part of the domain covered by the wider English term "biscuit." When crackers are broken into pieces they make a cracking noise, which accounts for the name. Crackers may be leavened or unleavened. Those of the former sort were formerly baked by a particular method which called for a dough leavened with bicarbonate of soda (hence the term "soda cracker") and left to stand until pockets of carbon dioxide formed in the mixture. When biscuits of this dough were placed in a very hot oven they rose quickly, giving the characteristic texture. Unleavened crackers may be made from flour and water only (as are matzos) or with the addition of a little salt. Some examples of this sort are the small oyster crackers, used on top of seafood chowders, and the crackers know as ship's biscuit...The cracker barrel was an institution in American general stores and groceries which sold crackers loose in bulk. The term was first used in print in the 1870s..."

(The Oxford Companion to Food , Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 222))

"Cracker
"...Since the eighteenth century Americans have spoken of these wafers by this term, first appearing in print in 1739, but it is still a word rarely used in England, where biscuit is preferred...In the 1830s Americans called the wafers soda crackers, and common crackers or oyster crackers were placed in New England chowders or split and buttered."

(The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink , John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman Books:New York] (p.104))

"Crackers started out as thin, crisp nonsweet, bite-size flatbreads. The making of crackers was among the first food industries in America. During the eighteenth century, cheap, hard crackers called "ship's bread," "ship's biscuits," and later, "hardtack" were widely manufactured for use on ships and for those migrating westward. These large, sturdy crackers, made only of flour and water--no shortening--kept for a very long time. One of the earliest brand-name foods was Bent's water crackers, which were initially manufactured by Josiah Bent, a ship's bread baker in Milton, Massachusetts...Crackers were packed in barrels and sold to grocery stores and restaurants. Recipes for simple crackers appeared in early American cookbooks...By the 1840s three major cracker varieties made with shortening had been introduced: the soda cracker, the butter cracker, and the round sugar biscuit...The era of generic crackers ended in 1898 with the formation of the National Biscuit Company, the forerunner of Nabisco...The new company introduced wrapping and packaging machines for their new brand-name product, Uneeda biscuits...After World War II, the cracker industry expanded along with the rest of the snack food field."

(Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America , Andrew F. Smith [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 353))

Oyster crackers

The practice of combining hard bread with liquid nourishment is ancient. Roman biscuits and gruel, Medieval sops and stew, 18th century hard tack and soup, and early 19th century common crackers and fish chowder are part of a long tradition of using bread to extend thin foods to fill hungry bellies. Oyster crackers are part of this tradition. These bite-sized crackers are closely related to common crackers. Their lighter composition is the by-product of mid-19th century leaveners, most notably baking soda. Today's manufactured oyster cracker products are closer to saltines than common crackers.

Why the name "oyster cracker?" Food reference books do not specifically address this question. There are (at least) two possibilities based on the history of the product:
1. They were used in chowders (thus the association with oysters) and
2. They looked like oysters
(crackers are three-dimensional if not stamped flat; these lumpy white crackers might have
looked like oysters in shape and color.)

"Common crackers.
If there has been a constant in the history of chowder, at least for the last two hundred years, it is the common cracker. A perfect companion for chowder, the common cracker has remained unchanged...These round pufffed, hollow, very hard crackers have been manufactured in New England for so long...The common cracker descended from hard tack, also called ship's biscuit--a very dense, unleavened brick of baked flour. Necessity wrote this recipe, since flour would not keep in the damp and vermin-infested conditions aboard ship. Hardtack was also a staple of all along the coast of New England and in the Maritime Provinces of Canada...Hardtack had to be shaved or shopped off the baked brick, then soaked with water then soften before it could be used for chowder and other dishes."

(50 Chowders: One-pot Meals- Clam, Corn & Beyond, Jasper White [Scribner:New York] 2000 (p. 205-6))

Vermont common crackers

The Vermont common cracker is a curious thing, on two accounts:

1. According to the food historians Vermont common crackers were New England "inventions" that happened sometime in the early 1800s. There are (at least) two claims as to the inventor. Yet? The name of the cracker first appeared in 1939.

2. According to early 19th century New England cookbooks, biscuits/crackers were puffed bread products which were cut in half and served warm with butter. This makes them somewhat different from the saltine-type Vermont common cracker we enjoy today. Yet? Hardtack and other crisp biscuits were certainly known and consumed.

What does this tell us? Don't bother looking for recipes for "common crackers" in 19th century cookbooks. The best you can do is examine the primary evidence for an approximating recipe. This makes tracing the Vermont common cracker a bit more challenging. Is the product we enjoy today the same item our foremothers baked? It's hard to tell.

We do we know: The concept of hard crackers (soaked in liquid, as in soup) traces back to Ancient Roman days. Dried bread keeps easily, travels well, and fills the belly. This made it the natural choice of armies, sailors and the like up until recent times. Think hardtack. Colonial-era cookbooks and industrial revolution-era manufacturing/retail literature offer many different types of biscuits and crackers. These vary greatly in size, texture, and purpose.Names for said items range from generic descriptions (souffle biscuits) to place-specific claims (Boston crackers, Westminster crackers, Trenton crackers, etc.) Mid-19th century technological advancements made saltine-type crackers, as we know them today, possible. Some of these traditional recipes were converted to the ligther, more popular method.

ABOUT VERMONT COMMON CRACKERS

According to the Dictionary of American Regional English (Frederic G. Cassidy editor, Volume 1), the first print reference to the term "common cracker" appeared in 1939. Where? Yankee Cook Book (p. 362): "Common Cracker. A large old-fashioned lightly salted cracker also called Boston cracker." This source also places the first print reference to the Boston cracker to 1818, noting it was a type of biscuit (p. 346). Boston crackers were served split with butter. There is no mention in this source regarding crispness.

"Common cracker. Very crisp, hard, thick wheatflour cracker that may be split and grilled with butter or Cheddar cheese, ground into bread crumbs, or eaten in chowders; similar to Boston Cracker. The term first appears in print in 1939. One manufacturer claims common crackers were first baked by Charles Cross about 1830 in his Montpelier, Vermont, bakery, and were called "Cross crackers" or "montpelier crackers." But in the New England Cookbook (1954), Eleanor Early credits the cracker's invention to Artemus Kennedy of Menotomy, Massachusetts, almost two hundred years ago. Early wrote that "Artemus had a large family and it was said that the children learned to retrieve crackers [that Artemus tossed on the floor of a big Dutch oven]...before they could walk. Baking was done three times a week, and Artemus rode about the countryside on his horse selling them from his saddlebags." Whatever their origins, common crackers are no longer easily found, and the news that a Rockingham, Vermont citizen named Vrest Orton had bought the original Charles Cross machinery and begun to sell common crackers again in 1981 was greeted with considerable interest by those who remember the taste of dry, crisp morsels split opened and eaten with good Vermont cheddar."

(Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink , John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 92-3))

"Two years ago Cross Crackers, the thick white crackers that filled American cracker barrels for over a century, seemed headed for oblivion as surely as beer in a bucket. The Cross Baking Company, which was in business for 151 years in Vermont and later in New Hampshire, went bankrupt, and its machinery was sold at auction. The demise of the cracker, however, turned out to be greatly exaggerated, and this edible bit of Americana is once again baking on the old equipment in a new bakery addition to the Vermont Country Store, a thriving replica of the real thing, in Weston, Vt. It is a mistake to suppose that the old-time country store cracker barrel, surrounded of course by genial, chatting rural types, was filled with something like saltines. Modern crackers are thin, uniform, Johnny-come-latelies compared with Cross Crackers, which were a mouthful - an inch thick, hard, dry, bland and about as large as the rim of a coffee cup. Their keeping qualities guaranteed that those on the bottom of the barrel would be as firm as those on top. In recent years, when the cracker-barrel trade fell off, the crackers, boxed in a distinctive red and black design, were familiar on New England store shelves. These are the New England ''common crackers'' mystifyingly referred to in recipes. For years they were a staple of the region's diet, with many people eating them crumbled in a bowl with milk. Often called Montpelier crackers after their home town, they were first made by Charles Cross in his Vermont bakery in 1830. He was a canny Yankee entrepreneur who mixed and baked crackers three days a week, using his horse on a treadmill to rotate the special oven. On alternate days the horse pulled the delivery wagon. At that time nearly all country or village stores bought crackers by the barrel, and before long business boomed. Mr. Cross is credited with later installing the world's first cracker machines, and when he died at 93 in 1905 he was the oldest baker in New England... The common cracker is solid and filling, meant for eating one at a time. On its own it tends to be dry and tasteless, qualities that recommend it highly for additions. The easily split cracker takes well to cheese or butter on top, which can be toasted as well. Although recipes, including cracker pudding, have been included in New England cookbooks over the years, the favorite was for puffed crackers

("OLD-TIME CRACKERS BOUNCE BACK," MARILYN STOUT, The New York Times , November 4, 1981, (Section C; Page 13))

"As any New Englander knows, you can't enjoy a real New England chowder without toasted common crackers. These are not like pilot biscuits or saltines; they are softly crackly, layered, somewhat puffy round crackers about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. You split them in half, butter them, and toast them, and then you crumble them into your chowder. They are difficult to find outside of the New England area, and the recipe has always been a locked-up secret. Our team decided we would break the monopoly, and our own determined Kathleen, after making thirty-eight different versions, finally, on October 25, 1994, came up with a winner. Her it is - a strange method, but a very special cracker."

(In Julia's Kitchen With Master Chefs , Julia Child [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1995 (p.225))

"Julia Child's focus on the common cracker underlines the importance of serving something crunch to complement and balance the soft texture of chowder. Comon crackers, Crown Pilot crackers, or other had crackers should always be offered with chowder, because the toasts are so very dry and crisp that they can be presented in place of crackers...If there has been a constant in the history of chowder, at least for the last two hundred years, it is the common cracker. A perfect companion for chowder, the common cracker has remained unchanged... These round puffed, hollow, very hard crackers have been manufactured in New England for so long that almost no home cook knows how to make them. Even those who do know don't bother, becuase they take almost two days to make and if you do everything just right, they might turn out as good as the ones yo can buy at the store. In and around New England, you can find common crackers in many specialty and seafood markets and sometimes in ordinary supermarkets...At its inception, the common cracker was known as the Boston cracker throughout New England, lending plausibility to the belief that Boston was its place of origin. Ironically, it was Bostonians who coined the name "common crackers," and the name stuck - no one calls them Boston crackers anymore, and no one in Boston manufactures them. The common cracker descended from hardtack, also called ship's biscuit--a very dense, unleavened brick of baked flour. Necessity wrote this recipe, since flour would not keep in the damp and vermin-infested conditions aboard ship. Hardtack was also a staple all along the coast of New England and in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, where villagers faced similar problems with fresh flour...Chowder was a way to make hardtack edible. When the potato became a popular ingredient in the early 1800s, it put hardtack out of the chowder business. Potatoes became the primary thickener in chowders, producing a version that was more brothy and lighter. But the dry cracker didn't go away completely...The new and improved leavened version, the common cracker, was and still is very dry, with a hard exterior and great storage capabilities. But when you split, butter, and toast them, they strike a perfect balance between being crisp enough to crunch, even after sitting in a hot broth for a few minutes, and having a flaky tendernesss..."

(50 Chowders , Jasper White [Scribner:New York] 2000 (p. 203-207))

From http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcookies.html. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

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