Although we know them as a simple snack fit for toddlers, graham crackers have a rather odd origin story. In the early 19th century, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham promoted a restrained lifestyle led by a high-fiber, vegetarian diet. The coarse, crumbly crackers he invented were key to helping his followers maintain it. Designed to be as bland as possible, Graham’s unsweetened crackers had a purpose beyond combating the 3 o’clock slump—namely, he hoped they would curb sexual desire.
Graham’s original recipe used a coarse-ground unsifted wheat flour (the style would eventually come to bear his name). He likely also used yeast with just enough molasses to activate it, making them taste mostly unsweetened.
The minister’s renown was not insignificant, with both proponents and those less keen about his ideas of achieving moral purity through food. Years after Graham’s death, other popular bakers of the time tinkered with his invention, adding various sweeteners, leaveners, and adjusting the fat ratios. When the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) added honey to its recipe in 1925, rebranding its version Honey Maid, popularity soared.
These days the graham cracker market has gotten more crowded. But with so many options for your crumb crusts and s’mores bases to choose from, which brand is best of the best? We put 11 grocery store graham crackers through a blind taste test to determine our favorites.
How we picked the products
To make sure we tested a fair sampling of graham crackers, we combed through Reddit threads and polled our test kitchen editors on their favorites. We also reviewed graham cracker roundups around the internet to make sure we weren’t missing any beloved brands. For this test, we stuck to graham crackers made with original or honeyed flavors, as opposed to cinnamon or chocolate, for instance. This versatile taste profile, we reasoned, would help us to get to the heart of the merits and faults of each contender more easily.
Separately, we tested two top gluten-free brands. We thought it important to judge them apart from wheat-based competitors, and think readers who avoid gluten deserve the benefits of our scientific process too.
You can’t make a great graham cracker crust without really good graham crackers.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Judy Kim, prop styling by Beth Pakradooni
How we set up our blind taste test
We made sure to hide any brand names or recognizable packaging from our tasters before placing a few graham crackers from each brand in anonymized bowls. After testers sampled each contender, the group traded notes before moving on to the next graham cracker.
How our editors evaluated
Chief among our tasters’ criteria was flavor. A great graham cracker, they said, should have toasty warm flavors—of honey, yes, but also lightly spiced, toasted sugar notes. They should be lightly sweet, not cloying, and offer a dynamic taste with some depth rather than a flat,
