Biscuit is a very delicious item which ever body loves to munch and enjoy as a snack. Today several companies produce biscuits with various brands, tastes and ingredients. Biscuits may be cookies, crunches, and biscuits produced by companies.
The biscuits originated in France. The early biscuit was a hard cake that was baked twice. Biscuit is derived from the latin words bis (twice) coctus (cooked), biscuit were originally cooked in two fold process first baked then dried out in a slow oven. Biscuits always were food of the poor, Early biscuits were hard, dry, and unsweetened. They were most often cooked after bread, in a cooling bakers’ oven; they were a cheap form of sustenance for the poor.
The earliest known biscuits were ginger breads that were also known as spiced ginger biscuits, they were the cheapest form of molasses cake or spiced cake. The ginger bread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Grégoire de Nicopolis.
Then later on in the 7th century, the Parsis who had learnt the art of cooking mixed a number of ingredients in the flour such as butter, cream, honey to make it tastier.
The medieval period biscuits became sweeter in taste. Also there was variety of Flour used to make the biscuits. During the rule of King Richard, in the 11th century they were prepared by mixing flour such as barley, rye and bean flour.
The other style of biscuits was made for the army and the ship travelers. They were called hardtack biscuits, they were baked hard and dry.
The Army always faced challenge when it came to food and terrain. They would need nutritious, easy to carry and long lasting food on long extreme journeys. This also was a challenge to the seafarers and travelers on long journeys. It was resolved initially using the hunting foraging style with available resource, or by carrying a supply and cook. This initially solved the problem but when it came to travels in difficult terrain or in smaller ships it always remained a challenge.
The introduction of the baking of processed cereals including the creation of flour provided a more reliable source of food. Egyptian sailors carried a flat, brittle loaf of millet bread called “dhourra” cake while the Romans had a biscuit called “buccellum”. Roman cookbook “Auspicious” describes: “a thick paste of fine wheat flour was boiled and spread out on a plate. When it had dried and hardened, it was cut up and then fried until crisp, then served with honey and pepper.”
The early physicians believed that most health problems were associated with digestion. Hence, for both sustenance and avoidance of illness, a daily consumption of a biscuit was recommended and considered good for health.
The early baker baked hardest biscuit possible, called hardtack biscuits to prevent it from getting soft and soggy. It was baked four times instead of one so that it remained hard and dry. This could last longer than the normal two times baked biscuits. The hard biscuits were softened by dipping in coffee, brine, milk or any other liquid accompaniment.
Biscuits were so essential that it is believed around 1958 royal Spanish navy would give a pound of biscuit as allowance to the sailors on board.
The biscuits that are prepared today are the made of several ingredients and available in various flavors, colors, sizes and tastes. Today people consume biscuits very fondly during the time of snack and Tea. Today’s biscuits are sweet and savory. People are also fond of eating biscuits sandwiched with cream or even ice-cream. This biscuits may be flavored with jam, nuts, and chocolate. There are also cheesy bites, salted biscuits.
