The Kitchen

I'm sitting at DFW airport, having just finished the first leg of my trip back from the cracker plant, and waiting for my connecting flight. It was a good visit, and in addition to finally putting some faces to some names, we were able to do new full-scale productions of each our three current crackers (Original, Everything, and Cinnamon & Sugar) with the new, more flavorful formulations.

The everything was excellent with 2% of the mix put inside the dough instead of on top where it wasn't sticking so well. It already had a lot more flavor, and didn't negatively impact the sheeting of the dough or texture of the final product. We're actually so confident that we're bumping the mix inside the dough up to 3% for the next production. This ones a real winner.

The cinnamon & sugar had a similar change, with some cinnamon and sugar moving inside the dough, as well. It had a major impact! You could really see how the cinnamon flavor was altering the flavor and color even before baking. Smelled wonderful coming out of the oven, and the new flavor impact is powerful. I can actually smell the cinnamon coming out of the samples I brought in my carry-on right now. Another home run, we think.

The only one where the change was more subtle was the Original. Here we were constrained by the ingredients on the labeling, which didn't allow us to re-introduce the onion powder, which had added some pungent notes that people liked. However, we feel that rebalancing the ratios of some other ingredients - in particular, increasing wheat germ and molasses at the expense of some flour - altered the flavor profile, and eliminated some aftertaste notes. It definitely has more of a wheat-y feel to it. Still might need some work done, but there is definite progress.

Stay tuned, and we'll let you know when the new production is shipping.