The Strange Story Behind The Invention Of The Graham Cracker
When you're choosing a snack out of your pantry, the origins of said snack are likely the last thing on your mind. You probably don't care if your potato chips came over on the Mayflower or if they were invented by a 14th-century duke — it only matters that they're crunchy.
Nevertheless, delving into the bizarre histories of certain snacks can be an incredibly fascinating endeavor. The chocolate chip cookie, for instance, was created by accident, per Food Dive. Ruth Wakesfield, the proprietor of the Toll House Inn, tried to melt chocolate pieces into a batch of cookies, and the chocolate-studded sweet treat was born. Pez, when it first debuted, was meant to help people quit smoking, as the dispensers vaguely resemble cigarette lighters, per Food Dive.
The graham cracker also has a peculiar history. Though it is now most commonly associated with pie crust and s'mores, graham cracker has its roots in religious austerity.
Reverend Graham's restrictive diet
According to The Independent, the invention of the graham cracker can be attributed to Reverend Sylvester Graham. Reverend Graham was a Presbyterian minister in the early to mid-1800s who believed that sexual urges were a scourge on society and that they resulted in depraved actions.
However, Reverend Graham had an idea for how to curb people's sexual desires, and it had to do with diet. He created the Graham diet, which was meant to subvert what he perceived as sexual immorality by virtue of clean eating, per The Atlantic. Adherents to this strict regimen subsisted on, "... simply-prepared bland foods with lots of whole grains, most fruits and vegetables, and no spices, meat, alcohol or tobacco." Reverend Graham was also staunchly opposed to the use of white flour, and he felt that bread made from it lacked the nutritional benefits of whole-wheat flour-based bread, per The Atlantic. He created a method for milling whole-wheat flour, which led to the invention of Graham bread.
From bland bread to sweet treat
You probably won't be surprised to learn that Reverend Graham's bread was a far cry from the delicious, crunchy graham crackers that you enjoy today. Graham bread was a largely flavorless wafer that contained no sugar, in keeping with the restrictive Graham diet, per Entrepreneur.
According to The Atlantic, Reverend Graham passed away in 1851, and in 1900, bakers began to sell versions of his cracker. The National Biscuit Company, which would later take on the name Nabisco, came out with a product in 1931 that would have almost certainly made Reverend Graham roll around in his grave. The company added sugar to the recipe, officially making the graham cracker a sinful snack that the Reverend wouldn't dream of eating.
The addition of sugar and spice has made the graham cracker an incredibly desirable sweet treat. It's difficult to imagine the original Graham bread inspiring an argument that resulted in a Floridian knocking a man in the head with a hot sauce bottle.