Crumbs! 8 biscuit facts to celebrate National Biscuit Day!
Happy National Biscuit Day! Or as we normally just call it, Thursday. To celebrate this joyous occasion we’ve rounded up a few factual crumbs that you might not know about these tasty treats.
1.
The name biscuit comes from the Latin word ‘biscoctum’ which means twice cooked. It was given this name as bread was cooked twice to extract all its moisture and then left to harden, and this then became known as the biscuit.
2.
As biscuits were initially baked hard without leavening they were originally a diet staple for soldiers and sailors. This was because they had little moisture, so could be stored for months (the biscuits, not the soldiers and sailors).
3.
The first British biscuits were initially used as breath fresheners. They would be flavoured with aniseed or musk and eaten at the end of a meal to hide bad breath.
4.
Digestive biscuits were originally developed by doctors, in the 19th century, as an aid to combat flatulence.
5.
The country with the most biscuit eaters in the world is Britain.
6.
Cadbury first patented the idea for a biscuit covered in chocolate. The Cadbury brothers, George and Richard, submitted their design in 1891.
7.
The largest biscuit ever made weighed 40,000lbs and was 101ft in diameter. It was created by the Immaculate Baking Company in North Carolina, America, in 2003.
8.
The first food to reach the South Pole was biscuits (in 1911 with the explorer Roald Amundsen).
