by Michael Totten

Created on: February 02, 2010

ANZAC biscuits are a type of sweet biscuit which are made without eggs. Instead, the binding ingredient is treacle. This keeps them edible for much longer than most other forms of biscuits made without preservatives. As long as moisture is kept out, ANZAC biscuits can last a very long time.

As the name indicates, their creation is connected with the ANZAC World War I forces of Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The ANZAC name is protected in Australia by federal law, and ANZAC biscuits are one of the only items which can be marketed under that name.

During World War I, all supplies were carried by merchant ship. This meant that any food sent to the Australian and New Zealand forces engaged halfway around the world would take at least 2 months to get there. Most merchant ships still had no refrigeration facilities, so all sent food had to have a long shelf life. At the same time, the future ANZAC biscuit was intended for soldiers' rations, so it also had to have high energy and nutritional content.

The basic ingredients of ANZAC biscuits are rolled oats, sugar, flour, butter, coconut, treacle, and bicarbonate of soda. The golden syrup variety of treacle gives a gentler, less bitter taste than dark treacle. Molasses can be used instead of treacle, although the taste is stronger and does not work as well with coconut. Honey is not traditional but can also be used. It gives a pleasing taste similar to halvah. Some varieties use ginger for flavor.

As with all biscuits, the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients are mixed separately before combining the two. Boiling water can be added to the melted butter and treacle to make it easier to mix. The final mixture is baked for 15 or 20 minutes.

These ingredients are all ones that are resistant to spoilage. After the ANZAC biscuit is baked, cooled, and placed into an airtight container, it can last for years.

Unlike most types of biscuits, eggs are not used. Eggs spoil much more quickly than the other ingredients. However, eggs were also scarce in Australia during World War I, because so many poultry farmers had volunteered for ANZAC.

These biscuits were originally called Soldiers' Biscuits by the Country Women's Association and other women's organizations which made them and packed them into airtight bins to keep moisture out. After the landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, they were renamed ANZAC biscuits. The name stuck. Today, ANZAC biscuits are an Australian icon.

However, the sources for this type of biscuit go back much further than the Battle of Gallipoli. Hard sea biscuits, also known as hardtack or pilot bread, have been part of long sea voyages and military campaigns since ancient Egypt. Their basis is a cereal grain mixed with flour. Because its hardness is the reason for its long shelf life, this unsweetened wafer had to be softened with water before it could be eaten. During the Gallipoli campaign, hardtack issued to ANZAC soldiers became known as ANZAC tiles or ANZAC wafers.

A more direct source for the sweetened rolled oats version which became ANZAC biscuits is the traditional Scottish oatcake. Scottish influence is strong in Dunedin, New Zealand. Even the city takes its name from the Scottish Gaellic name for Edinburgh. Oats were the cereal grain which grew best in northern Scotland and the South Island of New Zealand, where Dunedin is located. Thus it should come as no surprise that Dunedin had preserved the old Scottish recipe for oatcake, along with other parts of Scottish culture.

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