National Shortbread Day!

Hi everyone,

Happy National Shortbread Day! There is nothing more wonderful than the crumbly texture of a shortbread melting in your mouth, accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee or even a delightful cold glass of milk. 
While researching into shortbread I came across some interesting facts and I thought I would share a brief history behind the tasty, yet humble shortbread biscuit.
The story of shortbread begins with the medieval “biscuit bread”. In medieval times, any leftover dough from bread making was dried out in a low oven until it hardened into a type of rusk. The word “biscuit” means “twice cooked”. Gradually the yeast in the bread was replaced by butter, and biscuit bread developed into shortbread.
Here are some interesting facts:

1. Shortbread is one of Scotland’s main contributions to the culinary scene, and it originated in Scotland, with the first printed recipe, in 1736, from a Scotswoman named Mrs. McLintock.
2. Shortbread was actually defended by early Scottish bakers who fought to prevent shortbread from being classified as a biscuit to avoid paying a government tax on biscuits.
3. Traditional shortbread comes in either rounds, fingers or “petticoat tails” which are triangles cut from a larger circle, made to resemble the petticoats which medieval ladies, like Mary Queen of Scots would have worn.

Today, you can find many different flavoured shortbreads ranging from chocolate to tea infused biscuits... but I think you just cannot beat the classic buttery melt in the mouth biscuit, yes my mouth is watering too! 
With all these interesting facts about shortbread under your belt, don’t forget to enter the shortbread competition at ABST 2020!!

Thanks for reading,

Caroline, ABST Rep

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