Hardtack Cutter

This Handmade Tin Hard Tack Cutter is made with solid copper pegs to make the indentations for more even baking. The cutting surface measures 3 inches square and ½ inch deep. It is made of food grade USA tinplate and soldered with lead free food grade solder. The sharp edge offers a superior cutting edge and releases the cookie dough easily. With proper care these cutters can be passed on to future generations as a “family air loom”.

The Royal Navy (England) were the first to mass Hardtack as early as 1660’s.  The key to an extended shelf life is to get the as dry as possible which sometimes required them to be baked as many as 4 times.  Once “bone dry” with no trace of moisture they would last indefinitely making them a practical food to take on long sea voyages or use as army rations.

Soldiers in the Civil War lived on three crackers a day when on a campaign. While these crackers looked a lot like today’s saltines, they were anything but. Most noticeably, these approximately three-inch square crackers were rock hard, hence the name “hardtack.” These crackers were so hard that they were also called “tooth dullers” and “molar breakers” by the soldiers. Because they often arrived infested with weevils, they were also known as “worm bread” or “worm castles.”

Back in these days the only way to prevent food from spoiling was to store it below ground in a cellar, store it in salt, dry it, or can it. Drying or dehydrating was the only practical way for soldiers to carry food for long periods without spoiling. Hardtack provided about 250 calories per cracker of sustenance that was simple and cheap to make in large quantities.

Original 1862 Hard Tack Recipe

Ingredients

• 2.5 C Flour (not “self-rising”)
• 2 C Water
• 3t Salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together is a large mixing bowl
2. Kneed this mixture until it makes a non-sticky dough
3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured cookie sheet (or line the sheet with parchment paper).  Make it about 1/2″ thick and shape it into a rectangle.
4. Cut into 3″x 3″ squares preferably with your “Hardtack Cutter” which will put perforating holes in each square which will help to bake it evenly.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 35 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and place on a drying rack.
7. Let them air-dry for 3 days.  When they are “as hard as a brick” they are done drying store in a cool DRY place.

To Eat Hardtack…

Soak the Hardtack in either milk, coffee, soup or water for about 15 minutes and either eat them directly or fry them in a buttered skillet.