The Anzac biscuit is a cultural icon, infused with mythical value, representing the connection between women on the home front and soldiers serving overseas during the first world war.

A baked good developed to survive the trip to the trenches and lift the spirits of the troops has the seductive appeal of folklore specific to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

There is another story linked to the myth, however, about women who worked to provide necessities and small comforts to those serving in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Soldiers at the front had biscuits, of a sort, in their rations but these were more like 18th century “ship’s biscuit”, or hard tack, called “tile”, “wafers”, or “army biscuits”.

Made from flour, water and dry milk, tile was nonperishable and didn’t get mouldy, but it was so hard it had to be soaked before eating to avoid cracking a tooth. Soldiers would sometimes grate the moistened biscuit and cook it with water for an improvised porridge.

The biscuits were so tough that soldiers even used them as stationery.

Cakes and biscuits in sealed tins were requested as donations from the public, but had to meet requirements to ensure they would not spoil by the time they arrived.

It is unlikely Anzac biscuits made according to today’s recipe were packed in tins by mothers, wives and girlfriends and shipped overseas to soldiers. As a matter of practicality, shredded coconut included in the recipe would have probably become

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