The Minister Who Invented Graham Crackers Didn't Intend For Them To Be Used To Make S'mores

So many of us grew up eating s'mores. Whether it was snuggled up by a campfire with friends or nibbling a fancy homemade s'mores pie, the gooey, chocolatey snack probably brings back some sweet nostalgia for most of us. And it's been around for quite some time. S'mores can be traced back all the way to 1927, and graham crackers — perhaps the most integral part of the treat — are even older. Funnily enough though, the purpose of graham crackers was never to pair them with chocolate and marshmallow. They were actually intended to be a chemical-free alternative to white bread.

Graham crackers were invented in 1829 by a Presbyterian minister from Connecticut named Sylvester Graham. Graham, sometimes known as the "father of vegetarianism," was a health-conscious reformer who was an open critic of processed foods, especially white bread, which he believed lacked essential nutrients. A founder of the American Vegetarian Society, Graham started to gain a following and developed what he called the "Graham diet," which was a fiber-rich way of eating. He wanted to create a replacement for white bread, so he started to experiment.

Graham started by creating his own flour using unrefined, coarse wheat, eventually developing a bread and later a thin, cracker-like structure. The cracker was a far cry from the treats we know today. It contained nothing but graham flour, bran, some molasses, oil, and a little salt. It was more savory than sweet, but people eventually started to copy the recipe and make it their own.

It wasn't long before Graham's recipe caught on, prompting others to make similar concoctions, the results of which are what we today still call graham crackers. A baker by the name of J. Thompson Gill is credited with making a richer, sweeter version of the graham cracker using lard, which he published the recipe for in 1881. Over time, others inserted other additions like cinnamon and honey into the mix. Then, in 1898, the National Biscuit Company started to make the product in factories, creating the Honey Maid brand in 1925.

A long list of modern ingredients, like sugar and artificial flavors, can be found in the graham crackers of today. Sylvester Graham would probably be particularly appalled by the use of enriched flour in some of the mass-produced versions, but at least graham flour is still a main component. And while they might not be any good for our digestive systems, at least we get to enjoy s'mores sandwich cookies and gooey s'mores dips, hopefully without being put down by any reformist ministers.