Mira holding three crackers brands, RITZ, President's Choice and no name.
The one item that could make or break your charcuterie board is your choice of crackers, because you're going to be tasting this with just about every other part of the snack.
However, if you've ever actually tried to buy a good box of crackers at a Canadian grocery store, it can feel like an impossible mission because there are so many options to choose from.
Canadian grocery stores have many different subsets of cracker such as graham, rice, soda, snacks, and more.
However, when it comes to your basic cracker, I'd say there's nothing more straightforward than a salted cracker, not to be confused with saltine crackers.
Saltine crackers, a.k.a. soda crackers, and are made with white flour, baking soda and sometimes yeast. They are also oftentimes in a square or rectangular shape. What makes them different from regular crackers? Well, crackers are usually thicker, circular and have salt sprinkled on top.
On the other hand, your classic salted cracker is round with a scalloped edge, making it perfect for scraping across a Boursin or scooping up some melted brie.
Three crackers brands, RITZ, President's Choice and no name.Mira Nabulsi | Narcity
For this taste test, I bought one of the most famous types of crackers, RITZ and compared it to no name and President's Choice to see which one was the best.
Here's how the taste test went.
President's Choice Crackers
President's Choice Baked Pita Crackers.
I often overlook President's Choice (PC) at grocery stores, but I have been incredibly impressed with their offerings in my past few taste tests.
I previously compared boxed mac & cheese and chocolate chip cookies options, and PC won both challenges. But with the crackers taste test, they weren't my favourite compared to the others.
The PC crackers I found at the grocery store were baked compared to the others that weren't. Also, they were pita bread.
PC has other crackers seasoned with rosemary, salt, and red chilli peppers, but the salt option wasn't available when I was in the store. So these baked pita ones were the next best thing.
I thought they would be my favourite because I love all things baked. They taste lighter, feel healthier and often are best when paired with things like cheese. But in this case, I felt like they weren't the best.
I didn't feel like I was eating a cracker, and honestly wouldn't call it one. Instead, it felt a lot more like baked pita chips, because the pieces were super thin, very crunchy and tasted like charred bread. So, placing them right next to the other crackers in the grocery store might not be the best spot for them, in my opinion.
Additionally, there wasn't enough seasoning or salt on the crackers to give it more taste, which I would've preferred.
Now, with all that in mind, if you were looking to add healthier crackers to your board, I would say grabbing a box of PC baked sea salt pita crackers is not a bad idea. But if you put them right beside the less healthy options, that would be a mistake.
I will also give props to the packaging because it is a resealable bag, which means you can snack on these crackers for longer without them going stale.
Overall, PC's Sea Salt Baked Pita Crackers were not bad, they just weren't great.
Price: $3.49
Score: 4/10
no name Crackers
No name original crackers.
No name has an "original" snack cracker that's as as simple you'd expect from the brand, and honestly, sometimes that's all you need.
The box is filled with round brown crackers that look perfect. The crackers in this box were less broken than the other two brands, with most biscuits intact.
However, the one thing that stopped the no name cracker from being the top spot in this taste test is the crunch element.
The cracker has less salt compared to RITZ, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, you can probably eat more of them in one go without feeling the need to drink water because they don't taste so salty. However, the cracker also feels slightly moist and doesn't quite give you that crunch you'd expect. Because of that, no name crackers get second place in my taste test.
Instead, the no name original cracker was flakier and more airy in comparison to RITZ, which people like my husband like more.
However, you definitely get more bang for your buck with the no name brand. For $3.29, you can get a 225-gram box of crackers compared to the other two with higher price points and less quantity.
Overall, no name original snack crackers are a great addition to any spread, but there is one other competitor that reigns supreme.
Price: $3.29
Score: 8/10
Ritz Crackers
RITZ original crackers.
Most people can't think of crackers without picturing the red RITZ box that screams "buy me" off grocery store shelves.
Before this taste test, the last time I had a RITZ cracker was when I was obsessed with spray cheese as a 13-year-old girl, and my mom then banned me from ever eating them again because I was over-consuming the delicacy.
Years later, my inner child was unleashed after this taste test as I remembered why these biscuits were so good.
The thick, moist, salty, buttery crackers have a delicious after-taste that keeps you returning for more.
With every bite, you can taste a perfect salty to buttery consistency accompanied by a crunch sound that would seriously go viral as an ASMR video on TikTok.
Due to the salt-to-sweet ratio of the biscuit, you can pair the RITZ crackers with savoury items like cheese and smoked salmon or add something sweet like Nutella or jam to each bite.
If I think of a perfect cracker in my dreams, the RITZ circular goodness is what appears with angel wings.
So, next time I'm making a charcuterie board, I'm definitely adding the RITZ cracker and reminding all my adult friends why we love these cheese boards in the first place.
Price: $3.99
Score: 10/10
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