Oyster cracker
Oyster crackers are small, salted, buttery crackerss, typically hexagons about 15mm in diameter. They are popular in the northeastern USA, where they are served as an accompaniment to soup. Oyster crackers do not contain oysters. The origin of the name is unclear, but it may be that they were originally served with oyster stew. However, we do know who invented the oyster cracker. It was invented by a baker in Trenton, NJ, named Adam Exton, who emigrated to America from Lancashire, England in 1842. Adam Exton settled in Trenton, Mercer Co., NJ and opened a cake and cracker bakery with brother-in-law, Richard Aspden in 1846. Although Richard Aspden died the following year, Adam Exton continued with the bakery (named the Exton Cracker Bakery or Adam Exton & Co.), invented the oyster cracker & a machine that rolled & docked pastry and solved the sanitary problems of hand-rolling crackers. The oyster cracker was so popular that other bakeries "borrowed" his recipe and began producing them in competition with his own bakery.
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