The History of the Biscuit (2024)

FAQs

Who invented the biscuit? ›

Britain's favourite snack began life in the ancient world when slices of bread were dried to store them. The Romans called these rusks panis bicoctus (bread twice-baked), and so the original method for making biscuits is embedded in their name.

The story of American biscuits can be traced back to European settlers who brought their baking traditions to the New World. The term "biscuit" itself comes from the Latin "bis coctum," meaning "twice-baked," a nod to the process of baking biscuits to preserve them for long journeys at sea.

Aberffraw biscuits are said to be Britain's oldest biscuit! The Welsh shortbread is pressed with the shape of a scallop shell and are made with high quality ingredients to create a rich, buttery shortbread.

Biscuit facts

Biscuits are bought by 27 million households and eaten on 6 billion occasions a year. 61 per cent of the UK have a biscuit tin, with the city of Norwich the biggest fans of biscuit tins. Biscuits were the first food to reach the South Pole with the explorer Roald Amundsen in 1911.

The term biscuit comes to English from the French biscuit (bis-qui), which itself has a Latin root: panis biscotus refers to bread twice-cooked. The Romans certainly had a form of biscuit, what we'd now call a rusk and, as the name suggests, it was essentially bread which was re-baked to make it crisp.

The word "biscuit" itself originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked". The modern Italian baked goods known as biscotti (also meaning "twice-cooked" in Italian) most closely resemble the Medieval Latin item and cooking technique.

But they became a mainstay in colonial times because they could be baked quickly and required few ingredients. In Southern colonies, successful wheat harvests gave the colonists access to fresh flour, cows and pigs supplied buttermilk and lard, and biscuits gradually began to transform into something more palatable.

Since then, Parle G has been the largest selling biscuit brand globally. Parle G, the world's largest selling biscuit brand 2021, is manufactured by maker Parle Products. They first began manufacturing these biscuits in 1939, and after Independence, the Parle Gluco or Parle G became extensively famous.

What is the most bought biscuit? ›

Leading 'Sweet Biscuits (Excluding Breakfast Biscuits)' brands in GB 2022, by number of consumers. Considering the 41 different brands presented in this statistic, 'McVities Chocolate Digestives' leads the British ranking for the most frequently selected brand with 9.6 million people.

The Story of the Vanishing Cookie Hydrox® “The Original Sandwich Cookie,” debuted in 1908 as the signature product of Sunshine Biscuits®. The cookie ruled the category until 1912 when National Biscuit, later Nabisco®, created Oreo® to compete with Hydrox®.

Brits are the world's biggest biccy eaters - scoffing an average of three tasty treats a day. Brits eat more biscuits than anywhere else on earth, a study has revealed. The average Brit munches on three biccies aday, which works out at 204m-a-day across the UK's 68m population.

Use Cold Butter for Biscuits

When the biscuit bakes, the butter will melt, releasing steam and creating pockets of air. This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside. We default to our Land O Lakes® Salted Butter when baking biscuits.

The biscuit was introduced in 1910 (originally under the name "Creola") by the biscuit company Peek Freans, of Bermondsey, London, originator of the Garibaldi biscuit. The Bourbon name, dating from the 1930s, comes from the former French and Spanish royal House of Bourbon.

It's a naval expression from around the 1700's. If you were on a long voyage and having a hard time, all food gone except the ship-biscuit or hardtack, then the last misfortune was to run out of it, or loose it through spoilage. If the biscuit was taken, then things were desperate.

Lively Willoughby's Canned Biscuits

Lively B. Willoughby of Bowling Green was an inventor of canned biscuits. During the 1920s, Willoughby owned a wholesale bakery, and he wanted to perfect his idea of ready-to-bake, refrigerated biscuits.

Although the details vary, all were in agreement that “had the biscuit” comes from the Catholic practice of last rites where someone who is facing death is given final sacraments, which includes receiving the communion wafer.