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Graham cracker

 
Graham Cracker

 
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The graham cracker was developed in 1829 in Bound Brook, New Jersey
Bound Brook, New Jersey

Bound Brook is a Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 10,155....
, by Presbyterian minister Rev. Sylvester Graham
Sylvester Graham

File:Graham.JPGSylvester Graham was an American diet ary reformer. He was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and was ordained in 1826 as a Presbyterian Religious minister....
. Though called a cracker
Cracker (food)

A cracker is a type of biscuit that developed from military hardtack and nautical ship biscuits....
, it is sweet rather than salty and so bears some resemblance to a cookie
Cookie

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat-baked treat, containing milk, flour, eggs, and sugar, etc. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings?a cookie is a plain bu...
 (American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
) / biscuit
Biscuit

File:Runny hunny.jpgA biscuit is a small Baking product; the exact meaning varies markedly in different parts of the world. The etymology of the word "biscuit" is from Latin language via Middle French and means "cooked twice", hence biscotti in Medieval Italian ....
 (British English
British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
) (although the term is unheard of in the United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland - a digestive biscuit
Digestive biscuit

A digestive biscuit, sometimes referred to as a sweetmeal biscuit, is a semi-sweet biscuit or cookie, popular in the United Kingdom, in other Commonwealth of Nations countries, in the Republic of Ireland and in Greece....
 is the closest approximation). The true graham cracker is made with graham flour
Graham flour

Graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour named after the American Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham , an early advocate for dietary reform....
, which is unsifted and coarsely ground wheat flour.

It was originally conceived of as a health food
Health food

Health food is a term that has been used in the United States since the 1920s and refers to specific foods claimed to be especially beneficial to health....
 as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham.






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The graham cracker was developed in 1829 in Bound Brook, New Jersey
Bound Brook, New Jersey

Bound Brook is a Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 10,155....
, by Presbyterian minister Rev. Sylvester Graham
Sylvester Graham

File:Graham.JPGSylvester Graham was an American diet ary reformer. He was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and was ordained in 1826 as a Presbyterian Religious minister....
. Though called a cracker
Cracker (food)

A cracker is a type of biscuit that developed from military hardtack and nautical ship biscuits....
, it is sweet rather than salty and so bears some resemblance to a cookie
Cookie

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat-baked treat, containing milk, flour, eggs, and sugar, etc. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings?a cookie is a plain bu...
 (American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
) / biscuit
Biscuit

File:Runny hunny.jpgA biscuit is a small Baking product; the exact meaning varies markedly in different parts of the world. The etymology of the word "biscuit" is from Latin language via Middle French and means "cooked twice", hence biscotti in Medieval Italian ....
 (British English
British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
) (although the term is unheard of in the United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland - a digestive biscuit
Digestive biscuit

A digestive biscuit, sometimes referred to as a sweetmeal biscuit, is a semi-sweet biscuit or cookie, popular in the United Kingdom, in other Commonwealth of Nations countries, in the Republic of Ireland and in Greece....
 is the closest approximation). The true graham cracker is made with graham flour
Graham flour

Graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour named after the American Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham , an early advocate for dietary reform....
, which is unsifted and coarsely ground wheat flour.

It was originally conceived of as a health food
Health food

Health food is a term that has been used in the United States since the 1920s and refers to specific foods claimed to be especially beneficial to health....
 as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham. Reverend Graham would often lecture about the adverse effects of masturbation or "self-abuse" as he called it. One of his many theories was that one could curb their sexual appetite by eating bland foods. Another man who held this belief was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
John Harvey Kellogg

John Harvey Kellogg was an United States medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan, who ran a Sanatorium using holistic medicine methods, with a particular focus on nutrition, enemas and exercise....
, the inventor of the corn flakes
Corn flakes

Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize....
 cereal.

Graham crackers are used for making smores and crumbled graham crackers are often used for pie
Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweetness or savoury ingredients....
 crusts.

Modern Use


Many modern "graham crackers" are made of the refined, bleached white flour to which the Rev. Graham was implacably opposed. Some modern commercial graham crackers are no longer considered health food, but have remained popular as a snack food
Snack food

A snack food is seen in Western culture as a type of food not meant to be eaten as a main meal of the day ? breakfast, lunch, or dinner ? but one rather that is intended to assuage a person's hunger between these meals, providing a brief supply of energy for the body....
 and breakfast cereal with greater amounts of sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
 and other sweeteners than in the original recipe, and far less graham flour, often with no whole-wheat flour whatsoever. Cinnamon
Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10?15 metres tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is native to Sri Lanka.The leaf are ovate-oblong in shape, 7?18 cm long....
 or chocolate
Chocolate

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree.Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavors in the world....
 may be added to enhance the flavor of the crackers. Technically, crackers are not really graham crackers unless they are made with graham flour, which is a hard whole-wheat flour in which the constituent bran, germ, and endosperm have been ground separately, the first two coarsely and the third finely. Cinnamon, not considered a true ingredient of graham crackers, was added for those who did not enjoy the cardboard taste of graham crackers, although it is argued by some connoisseurs that cinnamon has become standard-issue.

See also

  • Graham Diet
  • S'more
    S'more

    A s'more is a traditional campfire dessert popular in the United States and Canada, consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a slab of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker....


Other

The inherent dryness of the product led Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby

William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
 to make fun of it in his "Kindergarten" routine on the album Why Is There Air?
Why Is There Air?

Why Is There Air? is Bill Cosby's third album. It was recorded at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. It won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album....
. He cited it as a snack his kindergarten teacher would provide in lieu of something the kids considered tastier, such as a "Hershey
The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company , known until April 2004 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America....
 bar" or a "Baby Ruth
Baby Ruth

Baby Ruth is a candy bar that is made of chocolate-covered peanuts, caramel, and nougat, though the nougat found in it is more like fudge than is found in many other American candy bars....
".

External links

  • on The Straight Dope website