Yummy Biscuits

Humans enjoy eating. Bakery products are liked by all. Biscuits are one of our favourite food stuffs. A biscuit is actually a baked food product and the term has been applied differently in North America and other Commonwealth Nations for different edible items. In United States biscuits are related to small, soft and leavened bread which resembles scone. In Common wealth English nations biscuits are actually somewhat hard, flavoured, often hard products, sweet in taste often known as cookies or cracker in case of cheese biscuits. Modern day confusion in the English Language about the word biscuit is based on its etymology.

The word biscuit is believed to have originated from Middle French word biscuit which is made up of two words, bis (twice) and coquere (to cook). This is because biscuits are first baked and then allowed to dry in ovens. The term was then adopted in the English Language in the 14th century during the middle ages. Presently the whole world uses the term biscuit for hard, sweet, flavoured, crisp bread except in United States where it denotes a soft bread product baked only once. In modern Italian usage the term biscotto is used for biscuits. Biscuits have solved the problem of man in being easily manageable and transportable so can be carried to long distances while travelling without any problem. The introduction of baking of processed cereals, making of flour has resulted in the production of a number of edible food item and biscuits are one of them. Egyptian sailors carried a soft loaf of millet, Romans also used biscuits during their travel.

Many physicians suggest that majority of medicinal problems arise due to digestion so consumption of at least one biscuit in a day can keep the individual healthy without any problem of digestion. Presently biscuits are softer and very fine flour is used in their preparation. For making then soft they are dipped in brine or coffee. They are baked hard so that they can be used even after a long time and can be easily transported from one place to other during journey. Old World biscuits were hard, dry and unsweetened. They were cheap and were allowed to cook for prolonged periods. With the combination of Muslim invasion in Spain and then the crusades developing spice trade the cooking techniques of Arabia spread into Northern Europe. By the mediaeval times biscuits were prepared from the sweetened, spiced paste of breadcrumbs and then baked. The paste was sweet in taste as it was loaded with sugar.

Biscuits that are consumed today are actually sweet, small, 2 inches in diameter and flat. Sweet biscuits are liked as snacks and are made up of wheat flour or oats, sweetened with honey or sugar. Different varieties may contain chocolate, fruits, nuts or jams as fillings. In Britain digestive biscuits and tea highly flavoured in the tea time. Crackers are plain biscuits usually consumed with cheese. Some biscuits are flavoured with poppy seed, onion seeds and olives.

Biscuits constitute a very important part of our life as they are good sources of fibers as well as nutrients but must be consumed within a limit.