I knew I had used this information before...(around Anzac Day..) and have
found it again for anyone interested...
Cheers
Gay
During World War 1 and World War 2, Australians were fiercely patriotic.
This can best be described in the words, my country - right or wrong. The
wives, mothers and girlfriends were concerned for the nutritional value of
the food being supplied to their men. Here was a problem. Any food they sent
to the fighting men had to be carried in the ships of the Merchant Navy.
Most of these were lucky to maintain a speed of ten knots (18.5 kilometres
per hour). Most had no refrigerated facilities, so any food sent had to be
able to remain edible after periods in excess of two months. A body of women
came up with the answer - a biscuit with all the nutritional values
possible. The basis was a Scottish recipe using rolled oats which were used
extensively in Scotland, especially for a heavy porridge that helped
counteract the extremely cold climate.
The ingredients they used were rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut,
butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water. All
these items did not readily spoil. At first the biscuits were called
Soldiers' Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli, they were renamed
ANZAC Biscuits.
A point of interest is the lack of eggs to bind the ANZAC biscuit mixture
together. Because of the war, many of the poultry farmers had joined the
services, thus eggs were scarce. The binding agent for the biscuits was
golden syrup or treacle. Eggs that were sent long distances were coated with
a product called ke peg (like Vaseline) then packed in air tight containers
filled with sand to cushion the eggs and keep out the air.
As the war drew on, many groups like the CWA (Country Women's Association),
church committees, schools and other women's organisations devoted a great
deal of time to the making of ANZAC biscuits. To ensure that the biscuits
remained crisp, they were packed in used tins such as Billy Tea tins. You
can see some of these tins appearing in your supermarket as exact replicas
of the ones of earlier years. Look around. The tins were airtight, thus no
moisture in the atmosphere was able to soak into the biscuits and make them
soft.
During World War 2, with refrigeration in so many merchant navy ships, the
biscuits were not made to any great extent as it was now possible to send a
greater variety of food such as fruit cake.
ANZAC biscuits are still made today. They can also be purchased from
supermarkets and specialty biscuit shops. Around ANZAC Day, these biscuits
are also often used by veterans' organisations to raise funds for the care
and welfare of aged war veterans.
(Source:- http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww1/anecdotes/bikkies.html