Military biscuit facts for kids
The Military Biscuit is a special snack made for the Swiss army. It's known by different names depending on the language spoken in Switzerland: German: Militärbiscuit (German), French: biscuits militaires (French), Italian: biscotti militari (Italian), and Romansh: biscuits militars (Romansh).
Contents
History of the Biscuit
Back in 1959, a man named Oscar J. Kambly created the recipe for the Military Biscuit. He was part of the family that owned the famous Swiss company Kambly SA. Oscar wanted to make a biscuit that tasted plain. This way, soldiers could eat it with anything they had, like cheese, sausage, or even chocolate! It also had to last a very long time, at least three years.
This new biscuit replaced an older army snack called Bundesziegel. That name means 'federal brick' in German, which sounds pretty tough! Since 1959, the Swiss army has given out about a million servings of these biscuits every year. They are so popular that even people who are not in the army enjoy eating them.
Selling to Everyone
For a while, it was against the rules for private shops to sell Military Biscuits. The packaging even said that trading army food was not allowed. But things changed! Since 2010, Kambly, the company that still makes the biscuits, is allowed to sell them to big stores. However, the biscuits sold to the public must have different packaging than the ones given to the soldiers.
A Special Gift
Since 2009, Military Biscuits have also been part of a special gift. They are put into gift boxes along with military chocolate. These boxes are given to soldiers who have finished their service in the army. About 25,000 of these gift boxes are made each year for soldiers in Switzerland.
Besides the regular-sized packages, you can also find smaller ones. These tiny packages usually have two biscuits inside and weigh about 9 grams. They are often used as special promotional items.
What's Inside?
The Military Biscuit is made from simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- Wheat flour
- Potato starch
- Palm oil
- Glucose
- Sugar
- Powdered milk
- Malt
- Leavening agent (to help it rise)
- Sodium hydrogencarbonate (baking soda)
- Ammonium bicarbonate
- Salt
Nutritional Values
Here's what 100 grams of Military Biscuits provides:
- 450 kilo Calories (energy)
- 14 grams of fat
- 73 grams of carbohydrates
- 15 grams of which are sugars
- 6.9 grams of protein
- 1.9 grams of salt
