Chew with Care
We know hardtack by other names—ship’s
biscuit, pilot bread, or sea biscuit, for instance. Some of the poor sailors
who had to eat it referred to it as worm castles and molar breakers.
Hardtack is dry bread that keeps and
is edible for a long, long time. Stored properly, it can last for years. Some
say it’s good for fifty years or more. It’s
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| Pieces of Civil War hardtack |
baked hard, to remove all moisture. This keeps it from molding, and you can still get nourishment from it, if you’re careful in how you eat it.
Hardtack was developed many years
ago, when people had no refrigeration, or even canning. To preserve foods, they
had to be dried or salted.
Made of flour, water, and sometimes
salt, the closest things we have regularly today are saltine crackers and
matzo. However, hardtack was baked up to four times to make it drier to ensure
it wouldn’t mold if kept dry, and this makes it much harder to bite and chew
than our crackers. It’s also thicker.
Hardtack was used when people knew
they would be without perishable foods for a long time—during sea voyages, long
overland trips, or military campaigns, for example. Museums have pieces of
hardtack on display that is asserted to be 150 to 200 years old.
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| Wrapper for Civil War hardtack |
Inexpensive and lightweight, it was
perhaps the first convenience food. But there are many accounts of soldiers
from the Civil War and other times, as well as sailors, telling that their
bread was full of weevils or grubs. This could happen easily before the
hardtack was packed. It only takes a fly landing on it and laying eggs, which
happened a lot in the old days. So if you plan to try this not-too-tasty treat,
be sure you keep it dry and in a sealed container.
In ancient times, soldiers carried
dry breads. The Egyptians had a brittle loaf made from millet. Roman soldiers
carried wheat biscuits. King Richard I of England carried mixed grain biscuits
when he went on the Third Crusade in 1189. They were reportedly made of barley,
rye, and bean flour.
When the biscuits had been in
storage a while, they weren’t always easy to bite into. They were thicker and
harder than our modern crackers. Sailors and soldiers dunked them in coffee or
whatever liquid they had at hand to soften them. Sometimes they would be cooked
into a meal such as a stew or fried in a pan of grease.
Try it Yourself
You can make your own hardtack by
combining six cups of flour and one cup of water. Mix it and knead it until
it’s a consistent texture, then roll it out about a half inch thick. Cut in
pieces about three inches square. Poke holes in the pieces and bake it at 375
degrees for 30 minutes, then turn it over and bake it another 30 minutes.
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| Hardtack cutter that pokes holes in the biscuits |
Some people only bake it once, and
it won’t be as hard if you do that, but baking it again is supposed to remove
more moisture, thus giving it a longer shelf life. Some bakers who made
hardtack for sailing ships reportedly baked it four times.
You can make the biscuits more
palatable by adding salt. Some people also want to add oil or shortening, but
this will make it go rancid after a while—maybe months instead of years. So
don’t grease the pan or add fat unless you plan to eat it soon.
You can also make it taste better by
adding sugar, cinnamon, or whatever you want, but beware: this will encourage
mold and vermin, and it won’t last nearly as long as the plain variety.
Kept dry and sealed, your hardtack
should last for years. Even if you’re not going to sea or the battlefield, you
might want to try it for backpacking or other outings.
Fire up the oven and enjoy your
historic meal! Just be careful not to break any teeth on it.
Susan’s book The Outlaw Takes a Bride
was recently named a finalist in the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Awards. If
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Susan
Page Davis is the author of more than sixty published novels. She’s always
interested in the unusual happenings of the past. Her newest books include River Rest, Heart of a Cowboy, and Sleight of Hand. She’s a two-time winner
of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol
Award and the Will Rogers Medallion, and a finalist in the WILLA Literary Awards
and the More Than Magic Contest. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com .
Some photos from Creative Common licenses.
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7409083@N03/5860762345">Civil War hardtack pieces and wrapper</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(license)</a>
