Rusk

For other uses, see Rusk (disambiguation).

Rusk squares made of rye sourdough bread

A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food. In the United Kingdom, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive.

International variations

France

The French call rusk Biscottes, in reference to it being baked twice. It is very similar to toast. They sell it in small pre packaged slices in supermarkets.

Germany

German Zwieback

The Zwieback (baked twice) is a form of rusk eaten in Germany.

Greece

The term paximadi (Greek: παξιμάδι) covers various forms of Greek rusk, made commonly from barley or chickpea flour, and softened with wine, water or oil before eating. Paximadi form the basis of the Cretan snack dakos (Greek: ντάκος).

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

In India and Pakistan, rusk (or toast biscuit) is a traditional dried bread (also khasta in Hindi,papay in Urdu, katti toos in Bengali) that is eaten after having been dipped in coffee or tea.

Italy

In Italy, this form is called fette biscottate (twice-baked sliced bread).

Japan

In Japan, rusk is often a delicacy made from baguette, cake or even croissant. It is often sweet.

Croissant rusk covered with chocolate and nuts, Japan

Netherlands

Beschuit

Beschuit, also known as Dutch crispbakes, are light, round, rather crumbly, rusks as eaten in the Netherlands. It is customary to serve beschuit met muisjes (sprinkled with "little mice" which are anise seeds covered in white, pink or blue sugar) at the birth of a baby. Beschuiten are also eaten as a breakfast food with a variety of toppings, most commonly butter and sprinkles in flavours such as chocolate (chocoladehagel) or fruit (vruchtenhagel), or cheese. A longtime Dutch tradition is to serve strawberries on beschuit usually topped with some sugar or whipped cream.

Beschuit is almost always sold in rolls; a roll typically has 13 rusks (a baker's dozen). They are made by first baking a flat round bread (beschuitbol), slicing it, and then baking each half again, possibly at a lower heat, as in the oven after the main baking is over. Etymologically, biscotto (16th-century Italian), biscuit (19th century, from 16th-century bisket) and beschuit come from Latin (panis) bis+coctus, (bread, twice cooked). The South African beskuit (Afrikaans) tradition derives from beschuit.

Philippines

The Philippine version of rusk is called biskotso.

South Africa

In South Africa, rusks or beskuit in Afrikaans (derived from the Dutch word beschuit) is a dried bread that is eaten after having been dipped in coffee, tea, or rooibos tea. Historically, rusks evolved (along with biltong) during the latter country's early pioneering days as a way to preserve bread in the dry climate. It was also extensively used during times of war or when travelling long distances.

Traditionally, it is baked at home using a favourite bread recipe (generally sweeter than normal bread) that is then dried under low heat. Several mass-market versions are also available, the most famous probably being Ouma Beskuit. Many bakeries, delis and home industries sell them, often using more exotic ingredients than their mass-market counterparts. In addition to plain and buttermilk flavours, usually there are aniseed, wholewheat, condensed milk, muesli, and lemon poppyseed versions.

The humble rusk – whether an Ouma factory model or one of my mother's delicious home baked ones – is a South African icon, kant en klaar

—T Coetzer, An ode to the rusk, Go! magazine, November 2009

Sweden

Skorpor are a Swedish form of rusk. They can be flavoured with herbs, dried fruit, nuts, or spices such as anise or cardamom. Swedish bakery company Pågen makes the world's most-sold rusk brand, Krisprolls.

Norway

In Norway, rusk is referred to as kavring, and is similar to the Swedish skorpor. Crushed kavring, called strøkavring, is used, amongst other things, for making kjøttkaker and in the traditional dessert tilslørte bondepiker.

Denmark

Tvebak is a Danish type of rusk.

The Levant

In the Levant this form is called Boksum. It's made from flour, eggs, oil or butter, sugar, yeast or baking powder, and sometimes cardamon is used in little amount. Then it's topped with roasted sesame seeds, black caraway seeds, or anise. It's eaten as a dunking biscuit, especially with herbal tea.

United Kingdom

Butcher's rusk

To the British, butcher rusk is a dry biscuit broken into particles, sorted by particle size and sold to butchers and others for use as a food additive in sausage manufacture. Though originally made from stale bread, now called "bread-rusk", a yeast-free variety called simply "rusk" is now more commonly used.

Various rusk particle sizes are used in the food industry, where uses include:

• A carrier for flavours, colours and seasonings
• A binding agent in hamburgers, sausages, stuffings, pies, and other compound meat products
• As an ingredient for dried stuffing mixes

Farley's Rusks

In the United Kingdom, Farley's Rusks are a dry biscuit dating from the 1880s, but manufactured by Heinz since 1994. They are usually given to infants, soaked in milk and mashed up. They have a cult following among university students.

In 2006, a short-lived scare was caused when some Farley's Rusks were found to contain traces of the weedkiller chlorpropham. The affected products were recalled and the contamination was traced to a batch of flour used during the manufacturing process. The level of contamination was not high enough to be considered a health risk.

Cake rusk

In the United Kingdom, a sweet quick bread marketed as 'cake rusk' is sold in many foreign supermarkets and bakeries by the likes of Kashmir Crown Bakeries, Regal Bakery and more recently by imported brands such as Crispy (TWI Foods); it is typically made from wheat flour, hydrogenated vegetable oil and/or margarine, sugar, baking powder or other raising agent, and flavouring, often in that order. It is sliced into bar-like strips and packaged in large plastic boxes.

See also

• Milk toast, some modern store-bought forms of which strongly resemble rusks with slight flavouring and sweeteners.