History of Biscuits

The history of biscuits can be chased back to a recipe prepared by the Roman chef Apicius, in which he used a dense paste of fine wheat flour that was boiled and scattered out on a plate. When it got condensed and hardened it had cut into the pieces and then baked until crisp, then catered with pepper and honey. The word 'Biscuit' came out from the Latin words 'Bis' which means 'twice' and 'Coctus' which means something cooked or baked. Earlier, biscuits were unleavened, hard and thin wafers that, due to their low water content, were perfect food items to store.

As individuals initiated to explore the world, biscuits emerged as the ideal food items for traveling as they remained fresh for longer duration. The naval age, hence, witnessed the expansion of biscuits when these were packed in airtight containers to last for even a time. The hard track biscuits (initial version of the biscuits and today's crackers) were part of the basic diet of English and American sailors for number of centuries. In fact, the countries that led this naval charge, like those in Western Europe, are the places where biscuits are extremely popular even now. The Italian version of Biscuit which was popular as Biscotti that means cookies in Italian, is said to have been a preference of Christopher Columbus who discovered America.

Manufacturing awesome biscuits is an art, and history bucks testimony to that. Amidst the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, baking was a cautiously controlled profession, managed by an order of 'organizations' or professional alliances. To learn baking, one had to complete many years of apprenticeship, working by the ranks of apprentice, journeyman, and ultimately a master baker. Moreover, the quality and number of biscuits baked were also meticulously monitored.