83-514: A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake , rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk . In the UK, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive . In Argentina, rusk is called tostadas de mesa (literally 'table toasts'), slices of twice-baked bread generally available in supermarkets in plain and sweetened variants. Cake rusk
166-468: A mihbaj , and cooked together in a skillet, a mehmas , over wood or gas, to produce mixtures with up to 40% cardamom. In Asia, both types of cardamom are widely used in both sweet and savoury dishes, particularly in the south. Both are frequent components in such spice mixes as Indian and Nepali masalas and Thai curry pastes. Green cardamom is often used in traditional Indian sweets and in masala chai (spiced tea). Both are also often used as
249-600: A snack food , and are, in general, made with wheat flour or oats, and sweetened with sugar or honey. Varieties may contain chocolate, fruit, jam, nuts, ginger, or even be used to sandwich other fillings. The digestive biscuit and rich tea have a strong identity in British culture as the traditional accompaniment to a cup of tea and are regularly eaten as such. Some tea drinkers dunk biscuits in tea, allowing them to absorb liquid and soften slightly before consumption. Chocolate digestives , rich tea, and Hobnobs were ranked
332-432: A yeast -free variety called simply rusk is now more commonly used. Various rusk particle sizes are used in the food industry, where uses include: In the UK, Farley's Rusks are a dry teething biscuit dating from the 1880s, but manufactured by Heinz since 1994. They are usually given to infants, either soaked in milk and mashed up or in their original hard form as a teething aid. Sponge rusk (Cuban Spanish: esponru)
415-464: A Swedish form of rusk. They are usually unflavoured or flavoured with cardamom , but can also be flavoured with herbs, dried fruit, nuts, or spices such as anise . Swedish bakery company Pågen makes the world's most-sold rusk brand, Krisprolls. The traditional Swedish way to eat them is dipping them into a beverage such as coffee , milk or juice . Butter and possibly cheese , marmalade or jam can be added on top; they may be eaten together with
498-556: A beverage or a fruit soup. Rusks are known in Sweden at least since the 16th century. Rusks were provisions in the military units and on ships. Back then they could also be crushed with a hammer and the crumbs ended up in svagdricka , beer and soup . In Turkish , rusk is called peksimet . Pek means 'solid, tight, durable' in Turkish and simet/simit is an Arabic word ( سميد ) meaning 'bread' or 'flour'. Another name
581-406: A decline of 6.7 percent in cardamom production for 2012–13, and projected a production decline of 30–40% in 2013–14, compared with the previous year due to unfavorable weather. In India, the state of Kerala is by far the most productive producer, with the districts of Idukki , Palakkad and Wynad being the principal producing areas. Given that a number of bureaucrats have personal interests in
664-424: A dedicated section in most European supermarkets, often in the same aisle as sweet biscuits. The exception to savoury biscuits is the sweetmeal digestive known as the " Hovis biscuit ", which, although slightly sweet, is still classified as a cheese biscuit. Savoury biscuits sold in supermarkets are sometimes associated with a certain geographical area, such as Scottish oatcakes or Cornish wafer biscuits. In general,
747-491: A dense, treaclely (molasses-based) spice cake or bread. As it was so expensive to make, early ginger biscuits were a cheap form of using up the leftover bread mix. With the combination of knowledge spreading from Al-Andalus , and then the Crusades and subsequent spread of the spice trade to Europe, the cooking techniques and ingredients of Arabia spread into Northern Europe. By mediaeval times, biscuits were made from
830-775: A few Hindus in Cachar caught an Englishman eating biscuits with tea, which caused an uproar. The information reached the Hindus of Sylhet and a small rebellion occurred. In response to this, companies started to advertise their bread as "machine-made" and "untouched by (Muslim) hand" to tell Hindus that the breads were "safe for consumption". This incident is mentioned in Bipin Chandra Pal 's autobiography and he mentions how culinary habits of Hindus gradually changed and biscuits and loaves eventually became increasingly popular. Most modern biscuits can trace their origins back to either
913-472: A food that keeps well during long sea journeys. For that purpose, they were brought in rolls of 100 pieces, which was later halved and then halved again for consumers, rounded up to 13. They became Etymologically, biscotto (16th-century Italian), biscuit (19th century, from 16th-century bisket ) and beschuit come from the Latin phrase (panis) bis-coctus , '(bread), twice cooked'. In Norway, rusk
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#1732798693279996-499: A full crop may be obtained in the third year. Cardamoms grown above 600 m (2,000 ft) elevation are considered to be of higher quality than those grown below that altitude. Plants may be raised from seed or by division of the rhizome . In about a year, the seedlings reach about 30 cm (1 ft) in length, and are ready for transplantation. The flowering season is April to May, and after swelling in August and September, by
1079-628: A garnish in basmati rice and other dishes. Individual seeds are sometimes chewed and used in much the same way as chewing gum. It is used by confectionery giant Wrigley ; its Eclipse Breeze Exotic Mint packaging indicates the product contains "cardamom to neutralize the toughest breath odors". It is also included in aromatic bitters, gin , and herbal teas . In Korea, Tavoy cardamom ( Wurfbainia villosa var. xanthioides ) and red cardamom ( Lanxangia tsao-ko ) are used in tea called jeho-tang . The essential oil content of cardamom seeds depends on storage conditions and may be as high as 8%. The oil
1162-462: A good crop, it is still less productive than Guatemala. Other notable producers include Costa Rica , El Salvador , Honduras , Papua New Guinea , Sri Lanka , Tanzania , Thailand , and Vietnam . Much production of cardamom in India is cultivated on private property or in areas the government leases out to farmers. Traditionally, small plots of land within the forests (called eld-kandies ) where
1245-641: A patent for a chocolate-coated biscuit . Along with local farm produce of meat and cheese, many regions of the world have their own distinct style of biscuit due to the historic prominence of this form of food. Biscuits and loaves were introduced in Bengal during the British colonial period and became popular within the Sylheti Muslim community . However, the middle-class Hindus of Cachar and Sylhet were very suspicious of biscuits and breads as they believed they were baked by Muslims. On one occasion,
1328-565: A similar hard, baked product. The difference between the secondary Dutch word and that of Latin origin is that, whereas the koekje is a cake that rises during baking, the biscuit, which has no raising agent , in general does not (see gingerbread / ginger biscuit ), except for the expansion of heated air during baking. Another cognate Dutch form is beschuit , which is a circular and brittle grain product usually covered by savoury or sweet toppings and eaten at breakfast. When continental Europeans began to emigrate to colonial North America,
1411-704: A skillet meal. The collection Sayings of the Desert Fathers mentions that Anthony the Great (who lived in the 4th century AD) ate biscuits and the text implies that it was a popular food among monks of the time and region. At the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the daily allowance on board a Royal Navy ship was one pound of biscuit plus one gallon of beer. Samuel Pepys in 1667 first regularised naval victualling with varied and nutritious rations. Royal Navy hardtack during Queen Victoria 's reign
1494-591: A slow oven. This term was then adapted into English in the 14th century during the Middle Ages , in the Middle English word bisquite , to represent a hard, twice-baked product (see the German Zwieback ). It finally evolved into biscuit to follow the modern french spelling. The Dutch language from around 1703 had adopted the word koekje ('little cake') to have a similar meaning for
1577-541: A sweetened, spiced paste of breadcrumbs and then baked (e.g., gingerbread), or from cooked bread enriched with sugar and spices and then baked again. King Richard I of England (aka Richard the Lionheart) left for the Third Crusade (1189–92) with "biskit of muslin", which was a mixed corn compound of barley , rye , and bean flour. As the making and quality of bread had been controlled to this point, so were
1660-504: A very low temperature. The first one is like a cookie, which can be served with milk, kefir , tea, coffee or cacao. The second one is usually added to soup, clear or otherwise, softening up from absorbed liquids and accompanying it instead of bread. It became a tradition to avoid wasting leftover bread that always was a staple in Russian cuisine. There is much folklore about bread in the Russian language, paying respect to this grain food that
1743-481: Is galeta , a loanword from Catalan . In the US, commonly available types of rusk include melba toast and croutons , which are sold packaged in grocery stores, and biscotti , which are found both at grocery stores and coffee shops. Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage A biscuit , in many English-speaking countries, including Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa but not Canada or
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#17327986932791826-579: Is "any of various hard or crisp dry baked product" similar to the American English terms cracker or cookie , or "a small quick bread made from dough that has been rolled out and cut or dropped from a spoon". In a number of other European languages, terms derived from the Latin bis coctus refer instead to yet another baked product, similar to the sponge cake ; e.g. Spanish bizcocho , German Biskuit , Russian бисквит ( biskvit ), and Polish biszkopt . In modern Italian usage,
1909-756: Is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae . Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia . They are recognized by their small seed pods: triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin, papery outer shell and small, black seeds; Elettaria pods are light green and smaller, while Amomum pods are larger and dark brown. Species used for cardamom are native throughout tropical and subtropical Asia. The first references to cardamom are found in Sumer , and in Ayurveda . In
1992-437: Is a French type of rusk. They are sold packaged in supermarkets. A Finnish type of rusk is called korppu , usually a dried piece of bun, flavoured with cinnamon or sugar . Korppu is a common coffee bread, normally eaten after having been dipped in coffee . A sour version, called hapankorppu , is a flat rusk made from rye flour and salt, and can be eaten like crispbread . Zwieback (literally 'twice baked')
2075-581: Is a form of rusk in Germany. Like the Danish and French words, the name refers to being baked or cooked twice. The term paximadi ( Greek : παξιμάδι ) covers various forms of Greek rusk, commonly made from barley or chickpea flour, and softened with wine, water, or oil before eating. Paximadi form the basis of the Cretan snack dakos (Greek: ντάκος ). In India rusk (often called toast biscuit)
2158-610: Is a traditional dried bread or cake. It is also known as papay, rattan, khasta ( Hindi : खस्ता ), russ or cake rusk in Hindi-Urdu , and Punjabi or porai பொறை in Tamil or kathi biskut in Bengali . It is usually eaten dipped in milk tea which softens the rusk. The sweet "cake rusk" version is made of cake whose ingredients include wheat flour, sugar, fat, leavening agent , and, optionally, eggs. A popular variant
2241-485: Is called tosta . Tosta is a hard coarse-textured slice of bread – which can be sweet, but most often savory – and it can be of various shapes and thicknesses. It is often ground up and used as bread crumbs . The Russian version is called sukhar' (Cyrillic: сухарь ), from сухой 'dry'. They are either baked a second time from sweet challah -like bread, sliced in biscotti fashion or made of leftover stale bread, cut into small cubes and air-dried or baked at
2324-482: Is called bay biscuit ; its ingredients are egg, sugar, oil, self-rising flour, and vanilla. Rusk is called sukhary ( Azerbaijani : suxarı – a loanword from Russian via Persian ) in Azerbaijani. It is usually made from stale bread and buns. In Baku , some bakeries use their stale buns and bread for making rusks. The price of rusk in those bakeries is usually low, as the bakeries do this to avoid wasting
2407-662: Is eaten as a dunking biscuit, particularly with Persian chai (tea). The most common brand of naan sukhaari is Vitana. In Italy, rusk is called fette biscottate (twice-baked slices). It should not be confused with biscotti (sweet cookies or biscuits). In Japan, rusk is often a delicacy made from baguette, cake or croissant. It is often sweet. In the Levant this form is called boksum ( Arabic : بقصم ) in Iraq and Syria or qurshalla ( Arabic : قرشلة ) in Jordan . It
2490-460: Is either available as a spherical shape that is akin to a bun or as separate rectangular pieces. It is a popular breakfast food, and is usually eaten by dipping it into milk tea, locally known as doodh chai , to soften it. It is called papay ( پاپے ) in Punjabi . The Philippine version of rusk is called biscocho . Cake rusks are called mamon tostado . The Portuguese version of rusk
2573-583: Is flavoured with cardamom . Double baked bread in Indonesia is called bagelen , believed to originate from Bagelen , a village in Central Java . Before the second bake, the bread is smeared with sugar and buttercream. It is usually eaten as a snack. In Iran , rusk is called nān-e sokhāri ( Persian : نان سوخاری ). It is made from wheat flour, sugar, skimmed milk powder, vegetable oil, gluten, malt extract, soy flour, salt, yeast, and water. It
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2656-429: Is for domestic purposes, and India is itself by far the most important consuming country for cardamoms in the world. India also imports cardamom from Sri Lanka. In 1903–1904, these imports came to 122,076 kg (269,132 lb), valued at Rs. 1,98,710. In contrast, Guatemala's local consumption is negligible, which supports the exportation of most of the cardamom that is produced. In the mid-1800s, Ceylon 's cardamom
2739-468: Is made from flour, eggs, oil or butter, sugar, yeast or baking powder, and sometimes a small amount of cardamon . It is topped with roasted sesame seeds, black caraway seeds, or anise, and eaten as a dunking biscuit, especially with herbal tea. Beschuit , also known as Dutch crispbakes, are light, round, rather crumbly, rusks as eaten in the Netherlands and Belgium . When a baby is born in
2822-446: Is now ranked the third most expensive spice following saffron and vanilla . Cardamom production began in ancient times, and has been referred to in ancient Sanskrit texts as ela . The Babylonians and Assyrians used the spice early on, and trade in cardamom opened up along land routes and by the interlinked Persian Gulf route controlled from Dilmun as early as the third millennium BCE Early Bronze Age, into western Asia and
2905-776: Is now used less frequently, usually with imported brands of biscuits or in the Maritimes ; however, the Canadian Christie Biscuits referred to crackers. The British meaning is at the root of the name of the United States' most prominent maker of cookies and crackers, the National Biscuit Company, now called Nabisco . [REDACTED] Media related to Biscuits at Wikimedia Commons Cardamom Cardamom ( / ˈ k ɑːr d ə m ə m / ), sometimes cardamon or cardamum ,
2988-525: Is one of the cornerstones of Slavic nations' life and history. Rye bread rusks are the major ingredient in making of the Russian kvass , a traditional fermented beverage . Rusks is the anglicized term for beskuit and is a traditional Afrikaner breakfast meal or snack. They have been dried in South Africa since the late 1690s as a way of preserving bread, especially when traveling long distances without refrigeration. Their use continued through
3071-454: Is referred to as kavring , and is similar to the Swedish skorpor . Crushed kavring , called strøkavring , is used, amongst other things, for making kjøttkaker and in the traditional dessert tilslørte bondepiker . Kavring is also broken up and can be served with regular, soured or cultured milk. In Pakistan, rusk is colloquially known as russ ( Urdu : رس ). It
3154-501: Is similar to biscotti but it is made out of twice-baked yellow cake batter. The yellow cake batter is baked into a flat, rectangular cake pan. After it is baked and cooled, it is sliced into strips and baked again or toasted to make cake toast. It is usually eaten with café cubano (Cuban espresso) or as an accompaniment to ice cream , custard , or other dessert dishes. Tvebak is derived from Dutch tweebak (literally 'two bake'), an archaic synonym of beschuit . A biscotte
3237-408: Is to serve strawberries on beschuit , which is usually topped with sugar or whipped cream. Beschuiten are made by first baking a flat round bread ( beschuitbol ), slicing it in half, and then baking each half again, usually at a lower heat. It is almost always sold in rolls; a roll typically has 13 rusks (a baker's dozen ). They became popular in the 17th century, as scheepsbeschuit ,
3320-408: Is typically 45% α-terpineol , 27% myrcene , 8% limonene , 6% menthone , 3% β-phellandrene , 2% 1,8-cineol , 2% sabinene and 2% heptane . Other sources report the following contents: 1,8-cineol (20 to 50%), α-terpenylacetate (30%), sabinene, limonene (2 to 14%), and borneol . In the seeds of round cardamom from Java ( Wurfbainia compacta ), the content of essential oil is lower (2 to 4%), and
3403-426: Is used as a spice, a masticatory , or is smoked. Cardamom has a strong taste, with an aromatic, resinous fragrance. Black cardamom has a more smoky – though not bitter – aroma, with a coolness some consider similar to mint. Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart flavor. It is best stored in the pod, as exposed or ground seeds quickly lose their flavor. Grinding
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3486-915: The Great Trek and the Boer Wars through to the modern day. Rusks are typically dunked in coffee or tea before being eaten. Rusks are essentially double-baked bread dough. Round balls of dough are closely packed in pans and baked like bread, after which long chunks are cut or broken off and slowly re-baked to a dry consistency. Several modern-day, mass-produced versions are available, the most famous brand being Ouma Rusks . Many bakeries, delis, and home industries sell commercial rusks, sometimes made from non-traditional ingredients, such as baking powder rather than sourdough. In addition to plain and buttermilk flavours, aniseed , wholewheat , condensed milk , muesli , and lemon poppyseed variations are also available. Skorpor (plural; singular skorpa ) are
3569-802: The Mycenaean Greek ka-da-mi-ja , written in Linear B syllabic script, in the list of flavorings on the spice tablets found among palace archives in the House of the Sphinxes in Mycenae . The modern genus name Elettaria is derived from the root ēlam attested in Dravidian languages . The two main types of cardamom are: Both forms of cardamom are used as flavorings and cooking spices in both food and drink. E. cardamomum (green cardamom)
3652-617: The Travancore plantations was given as 290,000 kg (650,000 lb), or just a little under that of Ceylon. The yield of the Mysore plantations was approximately 91,000 kg (200,000 lb), and the cultivation was mainly in Kadur district . The volume for 1903–04 stated the value of the cardamoms exported to have been Rs. 3,37,000 as compared with Rs. 4,16,000 the previous year. India, which ranks second in world production, recorded
3735-757: The UK , and the former USSR . According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development , 80 percent of cardamom's total consumption occurs in the Middle East . In the 19th century, Bombay and Madras were among the principal distributing ports of cardamom. India's exports to foreign countries increased during the early 20th century, particularly to the United Kingdom, followed by Arabia, Aden, Germany, Turkey, Japan, Persia and Egypt. However, some 95% of cardamom produced in India
3818-478: The 16th century, where they were sold in monastery pharmacies and town square farmers markets. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution in Britain sparked the formation of businesses in various industries, and the British biscuit firms of McVitie's , Carr's , Huntley & Palmers , and Crawfords were all established by 1850. Chocolate and biscuits became products for
3901-739: The 1980s, principally from China, for both Wurfbainia villosa and Lanxangia tsao-ko , has provided a key source of income for poor farmers living at higher altitudes in localized areas of China, Laos, and Vietnam, people typically isolated from many other markets. Laos exports about 400 tonnes annually through Thailand according to the FAO . Cardamom production's demand and supply patterns of trade are influenced by price movements, nationally and internationally, in 5 to 6-year cycles. Importing leaders mentioned are Saudi Arabia and Kuwait , while other significant importers include Germany , Iran , Japan , Jordan , Pakistan , Qatar , United Arab Emirates ,
3984-553: The 21st century, it is cultivated mainly in India , Indonesia , and Guatemala . The word cardamom is derived from the Latin cardamōmum , as a Latinisation of the Greek καρδάμωμον ( kardámōmon ), a compound of κάρδαμον ( kárdamon , " cress ") and ἄμωμον ( ámōmon ), of unknown origin. The earliest attested form of the word κάρδαμον signifying "cress" is
4067-503: The British, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Singaporeans, Nigerians, Kenyans, and Irish use the British meaning of "biscuit" for the sweet biscuit. The terms biscuit and cookie are used interchangeably, depending on the region and the speaker, with biscuits usually referring to hard, sweet biscuits (such as digestives, Nice, Bourbon creams, etc.) and cookies for soft baked goods (i.e. chocolate chip cookies). In Canada, biscuit
4150-599: The Mediterranean world. The ancient Greeks thought highly of cardamom, and the Greek physicians Dioscorides and Hippocrates wrote about its therapeutic properties, identifying it as a digestive aid. Due to demand in ancient Greece and Rome, the cardamom trade developed into a handsome luxury business; cardamom was one of the spices eligible for import tax in Alexandria in 126 CE. In medieval times, Venice became
4233-521: The Netherlands, it is customary to serve beschuit met muisjes (with 'little mice', which are aniseeds covered in a white and pink or blue sugar layer, depending on the newborn's gender). Beschuiten are also eaten as a breakfast food with a variety of toppings, most commonly butter and sprinkles in flavours such as chocolate ( chocoladehagel or chocoladevlokken ) or fruit ( vruchtenhagel ), jam or cheese. A longtime Dutch favourite
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#17327986932794316-469: The Scandinavian Yule bread Julekake , the Swedish kardemummabullar sweet bun, and Finnish sweet bread pulla . In the Middle East , green cardamom powder is used as a spice for sweet dishes, and as a traditional flavouring in coffee and tea. Cardamom is used to a wide extent in savoury dishes. In some Middle Eastern countries, coffee and cardamom are often ground in a wooden mortar,
4399-599: The UK's top three favourite dunking biscuits in 2009. In a non-dunking poll the Chocolate Hobnob was ranked first with custard creams coming third. Savoury biscuits or crackers (such as cream crackers , water biscuits , oatcakes , or crisp breads ) are usually plainer and commonly eaten with cheese following a meal. Many savoury biscuits also contain additional ingredients for flavour or texture, such as poppy seeds , onion or onion seeds, cheese (such as cheese melts), and olives. Savoury biscuits also usually have
4482-619: The US, is a flour-based baked and shaped food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened . They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar , chocolate , icing , jam , ginger , or cinnamon . They can also be savoury, similar to crackers . Types of biscuit include biscotti , sandwich biscuits , digestive biscuits , ginger biscuits , shortbread biscuits, chocolate chip cookies , chocolate-coated marshmallow treats , Anzac biscuits , and speculaas . In most of North America, nearly all hard sweet biscuits are called " cookies " and savoury biscuits are called "crackers", while
4565-468: The absence of regular re-plantation, and ecological conditions associated with deforestation. In 1873 and 1874, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka ) exported about 4,100 kg (9,000 lb) each year. In 1877, Ceylon exported 5,039 kg (11,108 lb), in 1879, 8,043 kg (17,732 lb), and in the 1881–82 season, 10,490 kg (23,127 lb) In 1903, 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) of cardamom growing areas were owned by European planters. The produce of
4648-528: The benefit of cardamom producers. In 1979–1980, Guatemala surpassed India in worldwide production. Guatemala cultivates Elettaria cardamomum , which is native to the Malabar Coast of India. Alta Verapaz Department produces 70 percent of Guatemala's cardamom. Cardamom was introduced to Guatemala before World War I by the German coffee planter Oscar Majus Kloeffer. After World War II, production
4731-564: The earliest spiced biscuits was gingerbread , in French, pain d'épices , meaning "spice bread", brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Grégoire de Nicopolis . He left Nicopolis Pompeii, of Lesser Armenia to live in Bondaroy , France, near the town of Pithiviers . He stayed there for seven years and taught French priests and Christians how to cook gingerbread. This was originally
4814-529: The first half of October usually attain the desired degree of ripening. The crop is accordingly gathered in October and November, and in exceptionally moist weather, the harvest protracts into December. At the time of harvesting, the scapes or shoots bearing the clusters of fruits are broken off close to the stems and placed in baskets lined with fresh leaves. The fruits are spread out on carefully prepared floors, sometimes covered with mats, and are then exposed to
4897-444: The ground is again weeded, and by September to November a light crop is obtained. In the fourth year, weeding again occurs, and if the cardamoms grow less than 180 cm (6 ft) apart a few are transplanted to new positions. The plants bear for three or four years; and historically the life of each plantation was about eight or nine years. In Malabar the seasons run a little later than in Mysore , and – according to some reports –
4980-440: The hardest biscuit possible. Because it is so hard and dry, if properly stored and transported, navies' hardtack will survive rough handling and high temperature. Baked hard, it can be kept without spoiling for years as long as it is kept dry. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two. To soften hardtack for eating, it was often dunked in brine , coffee, or some other liquid or cooked into
5063-517: The hardtack ship's biscuit or the creative art of the baker: Biscuits today can be savoury ( crackers ) or sweet. Most are small, at around 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter, and flat. Sandwich-style biscuits consist of two biscuits sandwiching a layer of "creme" or icing , such as the custard cream , or a layer of jam (as in the biscuits that are known as " Jammie Dodgers " in the United Kingdom). Sweet biscuits are commonly eaten as
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#17327986932795146-692: The industry, in India, several organisations have been set up to protect cardamom producers such as the Cardamom Growers Association (est. 1992) and the Kerala Cardamom Growers Association (est. 1974). Research in India's cardamom plantations began in the 1970s while Kizhekethil Chandy held the office of Chairman of the Cardamom Board. The Kerala Land Reforms Act imposed restrictions on the size of certain agricultural holdings per household to
5229-474: The leftover bread and buns. Rusk is commonly called toast biscuit. Toast biscuits come in a variety of flavours, such as ghee toast, garlic toast, and sugar toast, and are usually served with tea. Cake rusk is commonly known as dry cake. Butcher rusk is a dry biscuit broken into particles, sorted by particle size and sold to butchers and others for use as a food additive in sausage manufacture. Though originally made from stale bread, now called bread-rusk,
5312-510: The market with new products and eye-catching packaging. The decorative biscuit tin , invented by Huntley & Palmers in 1831, saw British biscuits exported around the world. In 1900 Huntley & Palmers biscuits were sold in 172 countries, and their global reach was reflected in their advertising. Competition and innovation among British firms saw 49 patent applications for biscuit-making equipment, tins, dough-cutting machines and ornamental moulds between 1897 and 1900. In 1891, Cadbury filed
5395-589: The masses, thanks to the Industrial Revolution and the consumers it created. By the mid-19th century, sweet biscuits were an affordable indulgence and business was booming. Manufacturers such as Huntley & Palmers in Reading, Carr's of Carlisle and McVitie's in Edinburgh transformed from small family-run businesses into state-of-the-art operations. British biscuit companies vied to dominate
5478-482: The oil contains mainly 1,8-cineol (up to 70%) plus β-pinene (16%); furthermore, α-pinene , α-terpineol and humulene are found. In 2022, world production of cardamom (included with nutmeg and mace for reporting to the United Nations) was 138,888 tonnes, led by India, Indonesia and Guatemala, which together accounted for 85% of the total (table). According to Nair (2011), in the years when India achieves
5561-590: The pods and seeds together lowers both the quality and the price. For recipes requiring whole cardamom pods, a generally accepted equivalent is 10 pods equals 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoons (7.4 ml) of ground cardamom. Cardamom is a common ingredient in Indian cooking. It is also often used in baking in the Nordic countries , in particular in Sweden , Norway , and Finland , where it is used in traditional treats such as
5644-603: The principal importer of cardamom into the west, along with pepper, cloves and cinnamon , which was traded with merchants from the Levant with salt and meat products. In China, Amomum was an important part of the economy during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). In 1150, the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi noted that cardamom was being imported to Aden , in Yemen , from India and China. The Portuguese became involved in
5727-459: The sheets sufficiently coherent to be placed in the oven in one piece and when baked they were easy to separate. The hexagonal shape rather than traditional circular biscuits meant a saving in material and was easier to pack. Biscuits remained an important part of the Royal Navy sailor's diet until the introduction of canned foods . Canned meat was first marketed in 1814; preserved beef in tins
5810-461: The skills of biscuit-making through the craft guilds . As the supply of sugar began, and the refinement and supply of flour increased, so did the ability to sample more leisurely foodstuffs, including sweet biscuits. Early references from the Vadstena monastery show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease digestion in 1444. The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to
5893-458: The sun. Four or five days of careful drying and bleaching in the sun is usually enough. In rainy weather, drying with artificial heat is necessary, though the fruits suffer greatly in colour; they are consequently sometimes bleached with steam and sulphurous vapour or with ritha nuts. The industry is highly labour-intensive, each hectare requiring considerable maintenance throughout the year. Production constraints include recurring climate vagaries,
5976-567: The term biscotto is used to refer to any type of hard twice-baked biscuit, and not only to the cantucci as in English-speaking countries; it is the same for the modern French term biscuit . The need for nutritious, easy-to-store, easy-to-carry, and long-lasting foods on long journeys, in particular at sea, was initially solved by taking livestock along with a butcher/ cook . However, this took up additional space on what were either horse-powered treks or small ships, reducing
6059-606: The term biscuit is used for a soft, leavened quick bread similar to a savoury version of a scone . The modern-day difference in the English language regarding the word biscuit is remarked on by British cookery writer Elizabeth David in English Bread and Yeast Cookery , in the chapter "Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes" and section "Soft Biscuits". She writes: It is interesting that these soft biscuits (such as scones) are common to Scotland and Guernsey , and that
6142-529: The term biscuit as applied to a soft product was retained in these places, and in America, whereas in England it has completely died out. The Old French word bescuit is derived from the Latin words bis ('twice') and coquere, coctus ('to cook', 'cooked'), and, hence, means 'twice-cooked'. This is because biscuits were originally cooked in a twofold process: first baked, and then dried out in
6225-525: The time of travel before additional food was required. This resulted in early armies' adopting the style of hunter- foraging . 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 Apicius describes: "a thick paste of fine wheat flour
6308-481: The trade in the 16th century, and the industry gained wide-scale European interest in the 19th century. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : G. Watt's "The Commercial Products of India: Being an Abridgement of "The Dictionary of the Economic Products of India."" (1908) [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which
6391-412: The two words and their "same but different" meanings began to clash. The words cookie or cracker became the words of choice to mean a hard, baked product. Further confusion has been added by the adoption of the word biscuit for a small leavened bread popular in the United States. According to the American English dictionary Merriam-Webster , a cookie is a "small flat or slightly raised cake". A biscuit
6474-421: The wild or acclimatised plant existed are cleared during February and March. Brushwood is cut and burned, and the roots of powerful weeds are torn up to free the soil. Soon after clearing, cardamom plants spring up. After two years the cardamom plants may have eight-to-ten leaves and reach 30 cm (1 ft) in height. In the third year, they may be 120 cm (4 ft) in height. In the following May or June
6557-453: 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." Many early physicians believed that most medicinal problems were associated with digestion . Hence, for both sustenance and avoidance of illness, a daily consumption of a biscuit was considered good for health. Hard biscuits soften as they age. To solve this problem, early bakers attempted to create
6640-465: Was chiefly imported by Canada. After saffron and vanilla , cardamom is currently the third most expensive spice, and is used as a spice and flavouring for food and liqueurs. Cardamom has been used in flavorings and food over centuries. During the Middle Ages, cardamom dominated the trade industry. The Arab states played a significant role in the trade of Indian spices, including cardamom. It
6723-418: Was increased to 13,000 to 14,000 tons annually. The average annual income for a plantation-owning household in 1998 was US$ 3,408. Although the typical harvest requires over 210 days of labor per year, most cardamom farmers are better off than many other agricultural workers, and there are a significant number of those from the upper strata of society involved in the cultivation process. Increased demand since
6806-554: Was made by machine at the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard at Gosport , Hampshire, stamped with the Queen's mark and the number of the oven in which they were baked. When machinery was introduced into the process the dough was thoroughly mixed and rolled into sheets about 2 yards (1.8 m) long and 1 yard (0.9 m) wide which were stamped in one stroke into about sixty hexagonal-shaped biscuits. This left
6889-506: Was officially added to Royal Navy rations in 1847. 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. By the 7th century AD, cooks of the Persian empire had learnt from their forebears the techniques of lightening and enriching bread-based mixtures with eggs, butter, and cream, and sweetening them with fruit and honey. One of
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