Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food that consists of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, well-known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside. The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat the More You Want" were registered in 1896. Food author, Andrew F. Smith has called it the first junk food. Cracker Jack was once owned by The Cracker Jack Company/Borden. Today, the owner is PepsiCo (via Frito-Lay).
Cracker Jack is famous for its connection to baseball lore. The Cracker Jack brand has been owned and marketed by Frito-Lay since 1997. Frito-Lay announced in 2016 the toy gift would no longer be provided having been replaced with a QR code which can be used to download a baseball-themed game. Cracker Jack originally included a small "mystery" novelty item referred to as a "Toy Surprise" in each box. The tagline for Cracker Jack was originally "Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize", but has since become "Caramel-coated popcorn & peanuts" under Frito-Lay.
Prizes were included in every box of Cracker Jack beginning in 1912. One of the first prizes was in 1914 when the company produced the first of two Cracker Jack baseball card issues which featured players from both major leagues. C. Carey Cloud and his company called Cloudcrest was best known as a designer and producer of hundreds of different prizes for Cracker Jack from the 1930s through the 1960s. It is estimated that Cloud created, produced and delivered to the Cracker Jack Company 700 million toys! Early "toy surprises" included rings, plastic figurines, booklets, stickers and decoder rings. Books have been written cataloging the prizes and a substantial collector's market exists.
Until 1937, Cracker Jack toy prizes were made in Japan. Many metal toys were also made by Tootsie Toy who also made Monopoly game markers. During WWII, the prizes were made of paper.
In the 1961 movie Breakfast at TIffany's, the lead couple played by Audrey Hepburn and George goes to Tiffany and Co. where they have a ring from a box of Cracker Jack engraved.
Each July from 1982 to 1985, Cracker Jack sponsored an Old-Timers Classic game featuring former MLB players, held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. On June 16, 1993 the 100th anniversary of Cracker Jack was celebrated at Wrigley Field during the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins. Before the game Sailor Jack, the company's mascot threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
In 2004, the New York Yankees baseball team replaced Cracker jack with the milder, sweet butter toffee-flavored Crunch'n Munch at home games. After public outcry, the club switched back to Cracker Jack.
Cracker Jack is known for being commonly sold at baseball games and is mentioned in the American standard, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Similar popcorn coated products were Fiddle Faddle and Poppycock. The history of Poppycock is uncertain. According to Lincoln Snacks, Poppycock was invented by Howard Vair in the 1950s as a snack to accompany him on road trips. In 1960, Wander, a Swiss company bought the rights to Poppycock and moved production to their Villa Park, Illinois facility. In 1969, a snack matching the description of Poppycock was patented by Arnold Rebane, who workd for the Wander Company. In 1991, Lincoln Snacks Company acquired Poppycock and on September 7, 2007 Lincoln Snacks was purchased by ConAgra Foods. The product is also now cross-branded with the Orville Redenbacher's brand of popcorn.
Fiddle Faddle is a candy-coated popcorn produced by ConAgra Foods. Introduced in 1967, the snack is commonly found in US discount and drug stores. It consists of popped popcorn covered with either caramel or better toffee and mixed with peanuts.
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