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The Biscuit VanThis website has come about as the result of The (famous) Biscuit Van on the A5 dropping the URL. The biscuit, we know here in the UK is a small baked product but the exact meaning varies markedly around the world. The origin of the word "biscuit" is derived from Latin via Middle French and means "cooked twice", hence biscotti in Medieval Italian, similar to the German Zwieback. In modern Italian usage the term biscotti is used to refer to just about any type of cookie or cracker. Some of the original biscuits were British naval hard tack, a simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it is and was used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military campaigns. A biscuit is a hard, sometimes crumbly, baked sweet or savoury product like a small, flat cake, which in the USA may be called a "cookie" or "cracker". The term biscuit also applies to sandwich-type biscuits, where a layer of 'cream' or icing is sandwiched between two biscuits. In the UK, "cookie" is usually only used in the combination "chocolate chip cookie". Referring to the Sesame Street character the Cookie Monster, British author Chris Roberts quipped that he prefers the word cookies over biscuits "as a character called Biscuit Monster would never have worked". The British usage of the word biscuit was defined in the defence of a tax judgement found in favour of McVitie's and their product Jaffa Cakes which Her Majesty's Customs and Excise claimed was a biscuit and was therefore liable to value added tax—chocolate-covered biscuits are liable to VAT, chocolate-covered cakes are not. The successful defence rested on the fact that "biscuits go soft when stale, whereas cakes go hard when stale". In Britain, the digestive biscuit has a strong cultural identity as the traditional accompaniment to a cup of tea, and is regularly eaten as such. Many tea drinkers "dunk" their biscuits in tea, allowing them to absorb liquid and soften slightly before consumption. Although there are many regional varieties, both sweet and savoury, "biscuit" is generally used to describe the sweet version. Sweet biscuits are commonly eaten as a snack and may contain chocolate, fruit, jam, nuts or even be used to sandwich other fillings. Savoury biscuits (such as cream crackers, water biscuits or crisp breads) are plainer and commonly eaten with cheese following a meal. Generally, Australians, New Zealanders and the Irish use the British meaning of "biscuit" (colloquially referred to as bickie or biccie or bikkie) for the sweet biscuit. Two famous Australasian biscuit varieties are the ANZAC biscuit and the Tim Tam. Despite the difference, this sense 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). Text edited From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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