Has anyone ever made this stuff?

I've been wondering about it ever since reading civil war books when I was 12. Anyway, looks like it might be fun to make if it can be made tasty and we can eat it while in the woods.

The South did not loose the civi war, it was beaten into submision by being forced to eat hardtack on regular basis. That damn Sherman killed all the hogs and squished the tomatos on the way South and they had no choice. Ever had to eat Muskrat stew 3 months straight?? Lee had no choice but give up!!

An old-timer once told me that "Pilot Bread" was similar to hard tack. It would be interesting to see and use an authentic recipe for grins!

If it can be made tasty ?? In the Civil War half the casualties were disease caused by miserable conditions and malnutrition.Hard tack is basically white flour water and salt baked to a hard dry cracker.Poor taste, poor nutrition but keeps well. There are all kinds of breads for traveling like 'johnny cake ' [from journey cake].Some made with wheat, some corn, some oats. A haversack [havre ,the norwegian word for oats]carried your oat cakes. Typically these are made without yeast and often without baking powder or baking soda - a flat bread to keep better.They can however be made nutritious and delicious.Yes pilot crackers comes the closest and I think they [Nabisco] still make it at least in New England.

This is a good explaination of the real thing - www.6thtx.org/Making%20Hardtack.htm

There are lots of recipes I googled. Here is the original factory made.....

http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/hardtack.htm

There was a good article on hardtack, and how to make it (good) in an issue of The Backwoodsman a few months ago. I'll try to remember to look it up for you. The guy who wrote the article, made hardtack all the time. (he really liked the recipe).

mike