America Loves Crackers!

Crackers come in many shapes and sizes.

The life of the cracker came in 1801 when Massachusetts baker, Josiah Bent, burnt a batch of biscuits in his brick oven. The crackling noise given off from the charred biscuits inspired the name – crackers.

There is the prize in Cracker Jacks; the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel, the combination of ‘LSD’ Talwin and Ritalin is known as crackers, cracker jacks is a reference to Crack smokers.

There are burnt crackers, (Hindus celebrate Lord Rama during Diwiali with burnt crackers), animal crackers, fire crackers, graham crackers, the Cork and Cracker in Indianapolis,The Florida Cracker Trail, The Florida Cracker Horse, The Milwaukee Braves were once known as the “Atlanta Crackers”, The “Atlanta Black Crackers” was a professional baseball team which played in the Atlanta Negro League, Brooke is the name of the female goldfish for Goldfish Crackers, in Scandinavia there is cracker bread, Kentucky is the Corn-Cracker state, the Red-Cracker butterfly, Jumping Cracker Beans Llc in San Jose California, Cracker Neck Virginia, graham cracker bananas, and Mary's Gone Crackers, Inc. in Gridley, Ca. . . Phew!

The weakened economy continues to affect the baking industry, although in the case of crackers, it's had a surprisingly positive effect.

Michael Morrissey, brand public relations manager, Kellogg's, Battle Creek, Mich., sees crackers appealing to consumers in several different ways. “Crackers are tied to a few big consumer trends — the desire for healthier eating, more entertaining at home and the need for on-the-move food,” he notes. “We are seeing consistent growth across our entire snack business, with crackers being particularly strong.”

Shipments in the commercial bakeries industry are over $11.09 billion.

What can I say . . . . America loves Crackers!