Oyster crackers are small, salted crackers, typically rounds about 0.6 in in diameter, although a slightly smaller hexagonalvariety is also prevalent. They are often served with oyster stew. They have similar ingredients to saltine crackers.
In cuisine
Oyster crackers are popular in the northeastern United States, where they are served as an accompaniment to soup, and in the Cincinnati area, where they are frequently served with the city's distinctive chili. In New England, oyster crackers are served in oyster stew and chowders. Additionally, plain oyster crackers are sometimes seasoned with spices. They usually have a taste similar to saltine crackers, but far less salty. In other areas of the United States, they are among the choices for crackers with soup. They are often available in single serving packages for restaurant use. Many different companies produce oyster crackers with different combinations of shortenings and other ingredients, but retaining the same general shape and size.
Etymology
The origin of the term "oyster cracker" is unclear, but it may be that they were originally served with oyster stew or clam chowder or merely that they look like an oyster in its shell. Other names include "water cracker," "Philadelphia cracker," and "Trenton cracker".
Origins
The Westminster Cracker Company, currently of Rutland, Vermont, has been making oyster crackers since 1828. However, a counterclaim is that Adam Exton is credited with inventing the oyster cracker. Adam Exton, a baker in Trenton, New Jersey, emigrated to America from Lancashire, England, in 1842. In Trenton, Exton opened a cake and cracker bakery with his brother-in-law, Richard Aspden, in 1846. Although Aspden died the following year, Exton continued with the bakery. He invented a machine that rolled and docked pastry and solved the sanitary problems of hand-rolling crackers. The history of the oyster cracker was related by Exton's nephew, also named Adam Exton, in the Trenton Evening Times newspaper on May 31, 1917:
