Who among us can resist the temptation to indulge in a handful of the iconic treats of our childhood as we celebrate National Animal Cracker Day on April 18? Animal crackers are arguably one of the best-recognized food products on the planet today. Who knew that the little menagerie of zoo and circus creatures that delighted us as children would later become one of our fondest childhood memories and a simple guilty pleasure for us as adults?
- 1800s – Animal crackers, or ‘animals’, are invented in the U.K. where they are wildly popular and eventually exported to America.
- 1871 – Animal crackers are the name of the snack, not a particular brand. In the U.S., several different companies produce animal-shaped treats. The first was the Stauffer Biscuit Company in 1871. They still use their original recipe.
- 1877 – The earliest-known print recipe for ‘animals’ is published in “Secrets of the Bakers and Confectioners’ Trade,” written by J.D. Hounihan and first published in 1877.
- 1902 – A box of Animal Crackers sold for 5 cents in 1902.
- 1902 – Nabisco was the first to sell the crackers in boxes. In 1902, Nabisco started to sell, what they call, Barnum’s Animals. They were based on the very popular circus put on by P.T. Barnum. The boxes had pictures of the animals and looked like the trains the circus used to transport the animals in. Before this, the crackers had only been sold in bulk from a barrel.
- 1935 – In the 1935 movie “Curly Top,” Shirley Temple sang “Animal Crackers in My Soup, Monkeys, and Rabbits Loop the Loop,”, but rabbits never found their way into a box of Barnum’s Animal Crackers.
- 2017 – “Animal Crackers” is a movie released in the year 2017, its storyline revolves around magical animal crackers.
- 2018 – after 116 years, Nabisco decided to uncage the wild animals featured on their box. The animals are now pictured roaming around in the grass instead of behind bars. The change happened after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pressured the company to change the box that displayed the cruelty and unethical behavior that was inflicted on animals in the circus.
- The famous Barnum’s animal crackers box was originally a Christmas ornament hung by a string.
- Animal Crackers originated in England where they were known as animal biscuits.
- 54 different animals have been created as animal crackers. The most popular brand, Barnum’s Animal Crackers, has featured 37 different animals since 1902.
- Over the years, the only ones that have survived the entire lifetime of the product are bears, elephants, lions and tigers.
- The name referred to P. T. Barnum (1810-1891), the famous circus owner and showman.
- A one-ounce serving of animal crackers contains approximately 120 calories. Each box contains about 2 servings.
- The current 19 crackers are two bear shapes, bison, camel, cougar, elephant, giraffe, gorilla, hippopotamus, hyena, kangaroo, koala, lion, monkey, rhinoceros, seal, sheep, tiger and the zebra.
- Even though they are commonly just called ‘animal crackers’, their actual name is really ‘Barnum’s Animals Crackers’.
- For the cracker’s 100th anniversary, a survey was asked as to which animal shape the public would like to see added into the mix. The choices were: koala bear, penguin, walrus or cobra. The koala bear won with the cobra coming in last place.
- The monkey is the only animal cracker that’s ever worn clothes.
- Before animal crackers were sold in small boxes, they were sold in bulk in barrels. This is where the term cracker barrel comes from.
- They are still a profitable snack. Today, over 40 million packages of animal crackers are sold around the world every year and distributed to 17 different countries.
- Studies show that the most common way to eat an animal cracker is to bite off its head off first, according to Aviva Trivia.
- Around 8,000 miles’ worth of string were used every year! The string was removed in 2018.
- According to Stauffer’s Biscuit Company, the tiny holes in their Animal Crackers are called ‘dockers,’ which allow air to escape the crackers during the rising process, helping the crackers to retain the animal shape.
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