In this brief article we will discuss some of the nutrition facts regarding animal crackers, as well how to prepare your own homemade crackers so that they are healthy. Animal crackers can be a nutritious and healthy snack if prepared properly, and can be a good daily source of calcium, protein, thiamin, iron, and many other important and essential vitamins and minerals. Obviously not all animal crackers are healthy, especially the extremely sweet premade varieties. Premade animal crackers usually contain preservatives and other additives that can be unhealthy in large doses. Homemade animal crackers can also be unhealthy, especially if made with coconut oil, coconut milk, butter, whole milk, heavy cream, or vegetable oil. In the paragraphs below we will discuss how to make healthy animal crackers. The unhealthy animal cracker varieties do seem to taste the best in my opinion, but I generally only make them every now and then, or on special occasions.
Premade animal crackers generally tend to contain many preservatives and additives that exist only to lengthen the shelf life of that particular product. Obviously these chemical aren't going to be bad for you in small doses, but eating a large dose can cause some health problems in the long term. If you don't have time to make your own homemade crackers, then be sure to carefully read the labels on the premade brands. Some of the brands are healthier than others, having little or no preservatives in them at all. You will also want to be careful with products that claim to be preservative free, yet they do contain trace amounts. Always read the ingredients label, which will tell you exactly what the crackers have in them. Small children and toddlers who eat animal crackers, can also be particularly sensitive to preservatives and synthetic chemicals, so you might consider making the homemade variety for them to snack on instead.
When it comes to homemade animal crackers, it's obviously much easier to pick and choose how healthy you want them to be. The first and foremost area to consider, is whether or not to make a dough base made of butter, margarine, vegetable oil, vegetable shortening, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or fat free vegan butter. Out of all of those choices, I usually pick the extra virgin olive oil when trying to make the animal crackers healthy. Butter and margarine are generally quite heavy with saturated with fats, with coconut oil being the worst. Vegetable oil and shortening are very bad for the cardiovascular system, and vegan butter is heavily processed. If you are curious whether or not your
extra virgin olive oil is premium, then do the water test on it. Dip your finger into the oil, then place your finger under lukewarm running tap water. The quicker the oil washes off, the healthier it will be to consume.
With regard to calcium, you will notice that many premade store varieties of animal crackers are fortified with the mineral, meaning it's not naturally occurring in the snack. To find out whether or not your favorite brand of animal crackers are calcium fortified, simply check the ingredients list for calcium carbonate. Most of the popular brands of animal crackers contain calcium carbonate, such as Barnum's, Keebler, Austin Zoo, and Stauffer's. Some of these brands are also fortified with other vitamins and minerals as well, however it will vary defending on the brand. That concludes this brief article on the nutrition of animal crackers. Please don't forget to bookmark our website, so that you can visit us again in the very near future. If you have any questions of comments about this article that you would like to forward to our web editor or staff, then please use the email address on our contact us web page.
