Crackers

Listen, a cracker is a simple thing, but simple does not mean careless. This is thin wheat dough, baked dry, and that dryness is the whole point. Remove the water, and you remove what bacteria and mould need to live — that's why a good cracker keeps for weeks on a shelf, not because of any magic, just the physics of moisture.

How do you choose it? With your ears and your hands, not your eyes. Snap one. It must crack clean and sharp, no bend, no bounce back. A soft cracker, one that gives a little before it breaks — that one has already pulled moisture from the air, and its journey toward staleness has begun. Smell it too: fresh wheat, maybe a little salt, nothing musty.

Now, some people say a cracker is just "dry bread," nothing more, keep it however, it doesn't matter. No! Bread has a soul full of air and moisture meant to be eaten today. A cracker's whole character is its dryness. Treat them the same, leave your crackers open to the air, and you'll ruin them — they'll turn chewy and sad, forgetting their only true purpose: the crack.