What's a cracker? Christmas crackers aside, the crackers I'm referring to are basically just twice baked bread. Surprisingly enough, American's claim that crackers were invented in 1792 in New England primarily for the purpose of having a bread-like food that could survive long periods at sea, or in your kitchen cupboard. Eventually the National Biscuit Company was formed which we now know as Nabisco - I'm more partial to their Shreddies than their crackers.
I suspect the concept of drying bread into a cracker-like product goes back much farther. It may debatable as to whether or not they are crackers, but the rusk is a a twice-baked bread common among many cultures and likely dates back to the first human attempts to make bread. Perhaps the first attempts at baking bread where more cracker like than what we would consider bread.
Regardless of their origin, I do like a good cracker. My first memories of eating crackers are the saltines that would come in a sheet of four. After school we would put them in the toaster for a bit then slather them in butter. If anyone knows where you can still find toaster friendly crackers, let me know.
Now crackers come in many shapes, sizes and exotic flavours. The inspiration for this post was a package of Ginger Lemongrass Triscuits - one of 37 Triscuit flavours available. A friend recently introduced me to Inés Rosales Olive Oil Tortas. Available in a variety of sweet and savoury flavours they are delicious with cheese or a cup of tea. They are quite expensive so I was excited to find a recipe for Spanish Olive Oil Tortas while doing some research for this post. I'll have to get cracking!
What's your favourite cracker and topping combo?
Photo by Lana Abie on Unsplash