Rusk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the dry biscuit. See also Rusk documents (Official documents) Dean Rusk (the United States Assistant Secretary.) Andrew Rusk (Professional Snowboarder.)

A rusk is a rectangular, hard, dry biscuit or twice-baked bread.

The former definition is used in South Africa, where it is considered a traditional food (called beskuit in Afrikaans) and is eaten after having been dipped in coffee or (less often) tea. Historically, it was baked at home, but there are now several mass-market versions available, the most famous probably being Ouma Rusks. In addition to the traditional "plain" and buttermilk flavours, there are now numerous other flavours available, such as condensed milk, muesli, and lemon poppyseed.

The term also refers to a slice of bread baked again until it is hard and crisp (also called a zwieback).

The word beschuit (which, like Zwieback, means the same as "biscuit," namely baked twice) refers to the light and round rusks savoured in the Netherlands. It is customary to serve beschuit met muisjes at the birth of a baby.

In the UK rusks are biscuits given to infants, sometimes soaked in milk and mashed up.

In Finland, rusks called korppu are topped with cinnamon and sugar and traditionally dipped in coffee. Finnish immigrants brought korppus to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they are also known as Trenary Toast (after a bakery in Trenary, Michigan that produces them).

In Italy rusks are called Fette Biscottate and are mass-marketed by many Italian companies. The normal way to eat rusks in Italy is to spread Nutella, jam, or honey on it and eat it for breakfast [1].

Greece is also a place where rusks are a major part of the inhabitants' diet. The most notable production and consumption of rusks happens in the island of Crete where a special type of hard bread called paximadi is traditionally used instead of bread in many cases. Corn, barley, rye and wheat can be used to make different versions of paximadi. The Cretan rusk is also used as the base when making the traditional dish of Crete called "ntakos". The other types of European rusks are called "fryganies" in Greece.