WWW.CLAN-GRAHAM-SOCIETY.ORG VOL. 26, NO. 3

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Bake homemade graham crackers with specialty graham flour.

History and a recipe inside! FALL 2010 HISTORY & HERITAGE

Graham cracker invented in 1829 by the Reverend Sylvester Graham

BY JENNY FITZSIMMONS Jersey. He believed that eating meat and fat, as well as drinking alcohol, caused unnatural NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK feelings of lust that resulted in a multitude of ailments including indigestion, consumption, epilepsy, and even insanity. To control these The Reverend Sylvester Graham was unhealthy urges, he advocated a diet of the last child (of 17) born to John Graham primarily fresh fruits and vegetables, whole of Suffield, Connecticut, on July 5, 1794. wheat and other high fiber foods, and very Sylvester’s grandfather was the Chaplain sparing amounts of fresh milk, cheese and John Graham (of Woodbury, Connecticut), eggs. who was the second son of James Graham, The graham cracker was invented as a 3rd Marquess of Montrose. His father was health food specific to the Graham Diet, and 72 years old when Sylvester was born and was originally marketed as “Dr. Graham’s died shortly thereafter. Several years later, Honey Biskets.” The flour used to make the his mother was declared insane and unfit to original cracker is a combination of white flour, care for him. coarse-ground wheat flour, bran and germ. After losing both his parents, Sylvester Reverend Graham would be most displeased moved from one relative’s home to another with today’s graham cracker, which is rarely and picked up various trades along the way. made with whole wheat flour and contains He worked as a farm hand, a clerk and a additional sugar and spices. teacher before deciding on the ministry as His book produced a short-lived health an antidote to his poor health. He attended craze among puritanical Americans. Amherst College but failed to graduate Graham boarding houses were opened in mainly due his unpopularity among his fellow New York and Boston, and in addition to the students; nonetheless, he married Sarah Earl, diet, occupants could enjoy sleeping on hard daughter of a Rhode Island sea captain, and mattresses with the windows open and taking was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in cold baths. “The Graham Journal of Health 1826. and Longevity” enjoyed a run of two years Inspired by the temperance movement, before succumbing to a lack of subscribers. Reverend Graham developed the Graham The Reverend joined the lecture circuit Diet in 1829 while living in Bound Brook, New and shocked audiences with his frankness

10 • THE CLAN GRAHAM NEWS Fall 2010 HISTORY & HERITAGE

regarding sexuality. Women reportedly In addition to his dietary recommendations, fainted during his discussions on the evil of many of his other ideas regarding health corsets and the need for natural, unrestrictive turned out to be quite right. He advised his clothing. His tirades against refined flour followers to brush their teeth daily, get fresh drew the ire of bakers, and his insistence air, bathe regularly, exercise and get at least on a vegetarian diet won him no friends seven hours of sleep–all of which are highly among butchers. On several occasions mobs recommended by doctors today. He also attacked him during lectures, and his ill- encouraged people to purify their water, humored and aloof temperment managed an act which helped prevent the spread of to alienate his friends over time. cholera during some of its worst epidemics. Even at the height of his popularity, the These days in Northampton, media ridiculed him for his zealotry and Massachusetts, you can go to Sylvester’s many regarded him as more ridiculous than Restaurant, which stands on the site of inspired. In 1839, he retired from the lecture Reverend Graham’s last home. Ironically, the business, and he died in relative obscurity meals available resemble the usual American on September 11, 1851, in Northampton, diet heavy on meat and fat rather than the Massachusetts, after a round of failed Reverend’s healthier fare. Grahamite cures. While some may have regarded his SOURCES ideas as just plain nutty, a few influenced his contemporaries and some have become • Wikipedia articles on Sylvester Graham, nothing short of dietary law today. John the cracker and the diet Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of cornflakes, • The Magazine of American History concurred with Reverend Graham’s ideas • http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~ajhardy/ regarding lust and the necessity of bland graham.htm foods to control it. Reverend Graham also • http://www.straightdope.com/columns/ founded the American Vegetarian Society in read/394/is-it-true-graham-crackers- 1850, the first of a number of such groups. were-invented-to-cure-the-dread-fever- Most interestingly, his diet turns out to be of-lust healthier than what was consumed by the • http://www.boundbrook-nj.org/ Americans of his time, or even by Americans boundbrookhistory.cfm today. Though he advocated a high fiber • http://inventors.about.com/library/ diet full of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and inventors/blgraham.htm seeds on the erroneous assumption that it • http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/ would reduce feelings of lust, we now know Biographies/Graham-Sylvester.html that this very diet helps protect against many • http://www.bookrags.com/biography/ health problems, such as cancer and heart sylvester-graham/ disease. • http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestory.com/ th/read/GRAHAM/2005-07/1120425000

Fall 2010 THE CLAN GRAHAM NEWS • 11 HISTORY & HERITAGE

Bake healthy, homemade graham crackers using specialty graham flour and honey

BY EKENA B. PARKINSON Being a less refined flour, its healthy processing method retains the highest SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS nutritive value, including protein and fiber, of the grain. Graham flour may be found in the specialty For an historical and heritage-based baking section at some health food stores or cooking experience with a Graham theme, purchased online. If it is unavailable, make an bake graham crackers. They taste just like equivalent by substituting one cup of graham those that are store-bought, but homemade flour for 2/3 cup white flour, 1/3 cup wheat is fresh and free of preservatives. bran and 1 1/2 teaspoon of wheat germ. Graham crackers are made with graham Graham crackers, a naturally sweet flour, developed by the Reverend Sylvester snack in Reverend Graham’s diet plan, are Graham in the 1830s as part of his controversial traditionally made with graham flour and Graham Diet. (When referenced, both the sweetened with honey. The flat, crisp cookies crackers and flour use the lower case letter were known as “Dr. Graham’s Honey Biskets.” “g” in Graham.) Consuming one large rectangular piece, two Not to be confused with gram flour squares or four small rectangular pieces, is (derived from ground chickpeas and used the equivalent of only 59 calories, according mostly in Indian and Southeast Asian recipes), to Calorie Count. graham flour is derived from whole wheat Modern and modified graham crackers that is very slightly ground and produces a have other ingredients, such as sugar and coarser texture. cinnamon, and are popularly used to make According to Wikipedia, “rather than s’mores and pie crusts. Such sweeter desserts simply grinding the whole grain wheat kernel are in contrast to the original Graham Diet. (bran, germ and endosperm), in graham flour While there are many versions of graham the components are ground separately. The cracker recipes, the classic one specifically endosperm is ground finely, initially creating uses graham flour. Here is one adaptation white flour. The bran and germ are ground of a recipe for classic graham crackers from coarsely. The two parts are then mixed back “The Fannie Farmer Baking Book” by Marion together, creating a coarse-textured flour Cunningham (published by Gramercy in that bakes and keeps well.” 1996; ISBN 0517148293).

12 • THE CLAN GRAHAM NEWS Fall 2010 HISTORY & HERITAGE

Ingredients blend until a dough is formed. Add more graham flour if it is too sticky. Dust a clean • 1 1/2 cups graham flour surface with graham flour. Roll out the dough • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour in small sections to 1/8-inch thick. Slice into • 3/4 teaspoons of salt squares or rectangles or use cookie cutters • 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) of butter, softened for decorative shapes. Prick holes with the • 1 egg tines of a fork. Place on an ungreased baking • 6 tablespoons of sugar sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 • 4 tablespoons of honey degrees F for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the • 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda oven and cool to a crisp on wire racks. Yield: • 2 teaspoons of water About 3 dozen.

DIRECTIONS SOURCES

Combine the flours and salt in a medium • http://www.grahamflour.com/ bowl. In a large bowl, mix the butter, egg and • http://homecooking.about.com/cs/ sugar. Stir in the honey. Dissolve the baking specificfood/a/graham.htm soda with the water, then add to the butter • http://hicookery.wordpress. mixture. Gradually add the flour mixture and com/2010/07/05/graham-crackers/

Fall 2010 THE CLAN GRAHAM NEWS • 13