Editing Cracker Jack (section)

== Background ==
The origin of sugar-coated popcorn with a mixture of peanuts is unknown, but periodicals document its manufacture and sale in North America as far back as the early 19th century. The [[Freeport, Illinois]] ''Daily Journal'' newspaper published on January 29, 1857, for example, contains an advertisement by a local merchant selling sugar-coated popcorn.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/freeport-daily-journal-sugar-coated/138090818/|location=[[Freeport, Illinois]] |newspaper=Daily Journal|title=Advertisement for sugar-coated popcorn |date= January 29, 1857 |page =2, second column|access-date=January 6, 2024}}</ref>

Recipes for popcorn and peanut mixtures were mentioned in North American literature and expressions of speech:

*Page 4 of the Friday, August 23, 1867, edition of the [[The Washington Star|''Evening Star'']] newspaper published in [[Washington, D. C.]], contains the notice: ''The Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror'' says, "Peanuts and pop-corn were not mixed up with piety when we first knew camp meetings, nor cigar smoking and psalm singing. But the times are changed and we with them."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-peanuts-and-pop-corn/138086153/ |title=Nantucket Inquirer anecdote |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |page=4 |newspaper=The Washington Evening Star (Washington, DC) |date=August 23, 1867|access-date=January 6, 2024}}</ref>
*An inquiry was published on page 362 of the December 5, 1885 issue of ''[[Scientific American]]'', asking how the sugar coating was prepared after the popcorn had popped.{{cn|date=August 2023}}
*Page 222 of the 1886 edition of the ''Pennsylvania Historical Review, Gazetteer, Post-Office, Express and Telegraph Guide'' lists Goodwin Brothers, 105 North Front Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as manufacturers of Sugar Coated Popcorn, Prize Balls, Corn Balls, Corn Cakes, etc.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

In Chicago, there are two legends of how Cracker Jack originated: The older attributes it to [[Charles F. Gunther|Charles Frederick Gunther]] (1837–1920), also known as "The Candy Man" and "Cracker-Jacks King"; the other attributes it to [[Frederick William Rueckheim]], a German immigrant known informally as "Fritz", who sold popcorn at 113 Fourth Avenue (now known as Federal Street), in Chicago beginning in 1871.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Mary |title=A Century of American Icons: 100 Products and Slogans from the 20th-Century Consumer Culture |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0313314810  |access-date=4 September 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/centuryofamerica00cros/page/28/ |pages=28–29}}</ref> The Rueckheim popcorn was made by hand, using steam equipment. In 1873, Fritz bought out his partner William Brinkmeyer and brought his brother Louis from Germany to join in his venture, forming the company F. W. Rueckheim & Bro.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PopcornHistory.htm |title=History of Popcorn, History of Caramel Corn, History of Cracker Jacks, History of Popcorn Squares |website=Whatscookingamerica.net |year=2004 |access-date=2013-11-20 |first=Linda |last=Stradley}}</ref>

The Rueckheim brothers produced a new recipe, including popcorn, peanuts, and molasses, and first presented it to the public at the [[World's Columbian Exposition]] (Chicago's first [[World's Fair]]) in 1893. The molasses of this early version was too sticky.<ref name=":1">Chmelik, Samantha. [http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=158 "Frederick Rueckheim."] In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 4, edited by Jeffrey Fear. German Historical Institute. Last modified October 10, 2013.</ref>

[[File:Enlist Cracker Jack ad.png|thumb|170px|1918 Cracker Jack ad, asking readers to enlist in the Navy. Eating Cracker Jack would save valuable sugar and wheat for the war effort.]]

In 1896, Louis discovered a method to separate the kernels of molasses-coated popcorn during the manufacturing process. As each batch was mixed in a cement-mixer-like drum, a small quantity of oil was added — a closely guarded trade secret. Before this change, the mixture had been difficult to handle, as it stuck together in chunks.<ref name=":0" />