quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Are the sky flakes similar to Club crackers?

Somewhat similar. I used to eat a lot of Kellogg’s Club (Original). But, although they’re good in many ways, I eventually abandoned them because they’re too sweet for me. SkyFlakes aren’t. They have a neutral, but delightful, flavor that complements any topping. And a wonderful light crispness.

Carefully selected boxes of Club crackers have few broken crackers. Boxes of SkyFlakes have zero broken crackers, despite Amazon delivery.

My wife is into those SkyFlakes. A LOT. First time I tried one I immediately went for the water. Guess I'm too much an unsophisticated cretin to be saltine cracker connoisseur.

Maybe a little off topic, maybe not -- oyster crackers. They're kinda like mini-saltines, invaluable for chili, chowders and some soups IMO. You'd think Nabisco oyster crackers would be a standard but they go stale pretty fast. Probably because almost all such crackers have the worst packaging out there. Some sort of brittle cellophane (?) that easily rips and can't be folded up to seal. Not limited to Nabisco, it seems almost all brands of standard sized oyster crackers have the same problem.

We found some alternative ones under a local store brand name, smaller, crisper, a little better packages and they just taste better.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Maybe a little off topic, maybe not -- oyster crackers. They're kinda like mini-saltines, invaluable for chili, chowders and some soups IMO. You'd think Nabisco oyster crackers would be a standard but they go stale pretty fast. Probably because almost all such crackers have the worst packaging out there. Some sort of brittle cellophane (?) that easily rips and can't be folded up to seal. Not limited to Nabisco, it seems almost all brands of standard sized oyster crackers have the same problem.

We found some alternative ones under a local store brand name, smaller, crisper, a little better packages and they just taste better.

Saltines and oyster crackers get stale so fast now because they took the trans fats out of them. Annoying as hell if you live alone and half or more go stale before you can eat them, and yes, I have the old Nabisco cracker tin.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Maybe a little off topic, maybe not -- oyster crackers. They're kinda like mini-saltines, invaluable for chili, chowders and some soups IMO.
<snip>

I like Cheez-Its for chili and some soups, especially split pea. Great flavor, and they remain crisp for a reasonably long time.

Never cared for saltines at all. Do like clubs and ritz or similar store brand crackers. At work they have those little 2 packs in a plastic wrapper. They refill the little basket every day or two. The clubs and graham crackers go quick but I think the saltines are the same ones that have been there for months. I do understand some people like them to soothe a tummy when sick.

I think something in the ingredients changed. Now saltines break and crumble too easily. Maybe they found cheaper ingredients. Maybe they used lard in the composition and decided it wasn’t PC. Lard bad! Not correct!

Still haven't found the Sky Flake import yet. Although any

cracker costing more than steak isn't on my 'buy today' list.

Yes, saltines do flake and break a lot easier now. Some combination of chemists, MBAs and production engineers found a way to make them cheaper. My dad was a food broker and salesman most of his life. Back then, there was more competition and smaller firms who took care to make better products. I worked with him for a while. Keebler/Old world was one of his lines. He always said that as smaller companies got bought out large firms, quality usually suffered. One of his lines was a sausage product was called “Slim Jims”. They were slim sausages, individually packaged with twisted ends. The company was owned by a family in the northern US. Great product. Very tasty.

They sold the company to a large corporate food company. Within a year product quality decreased. First I noticed that the ends were sharply cut rather than twisted, causing them to become dryer IMO. Then some pieces contained large pieces of gristle. Obviously, increased automation and lower QC came into play.

Eventually, smaller brokerage firms were eliminated as larger firms consolidated their product lines under their own sales machine. Companies such as the ones my dad worked for lost products lines to the larger firms.

Going to have to try those Sky Flakes. I was on trans-Atlantic Delta flight where they served some large saltine-like crackers in individual packages. They were damn good.

^^^^^
A box of SkyFlakes contains 32 hermetically sealed packets, neatly organized as 4 rows of 8 packets.

Each packet contains three “flakes”. Each flake is scored such that it can be neatly broken into three rectangular crackers, each about 2-1/4” x 1-1/4”. I’ve yet to see a packet with even one broken cracker.

SkyFlakes are lightly crispy and have a neutral, pleasant flavor that doesn’t clash with an of my cheese choices.

So, s8milar in flavor to a water cracker that’s unflavored? Like Carrs?

^^^^^
I don’t think so. It’s been a long time since I’ve had Carrs Table Water crackers. All I remember is that I wasn’t fond of their flavor. (And I didn’t like their big round shape at all.)

I can't even remember the last time I had, or even saw, saltines anywhere! Guess I thought they were a thing of the past!

quote:

Originally posted by redwood25:

I can't even remember the last time I had, or even saw, saltines anywhere! Guess I thought they were a thing of the past!

There's a good selection at the local Publix grocery store.

https://www.publix.com/search?...altines&srt=products