About the Recipe

Soft, creamy chocolate encased in crispy Phyllo Pastry

Introduction:

The word “rusk” is the anglicized term for “beskuit” which in turn takes it origins from the French term “biscuit de guerre” but why do most South Africans (SAFFAS) especially, and many others from across the globe, go gaga for rusks?

Well, aside from the taste speaking for itself, with regards to SAFFAS, it something that most of us grew up with and together with rugby and sunny skies, it is historically as much a “cultural thing” as what “braaivleis” is (or “Braai” as it is more commonly referred to - and, No - it is not a “BBQ”! – in Saffa-speak, the latter refers to a row of gents waiting in line to have their hair cut! It’s a BRAAI!)

But where do rusks originate from?

During South Africa’s pioneering days of the late 1830’s – a period historically referred to as "The Great Trek" that occurred in short succession to the American Pioneering history of the late 1700’s to early 1800’s - following the birth of the Afrikaner nation that resulted from the confluence of the Dutch -, French -, British - and German Settlers’ presence in the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town), the Afrikaners (colloquially referred to as the “Boers” meaning “farmers”), had become sufficiently disenchanted with the British rule of the Cape Colony so as to seek a new life in the vast hinterland of the then as-yet un-tamed Southern African interior.

During those long and arduous journeys with their ox-wagons, it was customary to form wood-burning ovens in hollowed out ant-heaps in which they would bake bread and for preservation purposes / preventing mold between encampment days, they would dry the bread out to later enjoy with a cup of “Boere-troos” (Strong ground coffee fondly referred to as “farmers’ consolation”)

In later years, 1939 to be exact, during the Great Depression, an Afrikaner “Ouma” named Elizabeth Ann Greyvenstein ( “Ouma” is the Afrikaans word for “granny” – it literally means “old mother”) decided to bake rusks with a trusted family recipe, as a way to render help to her community and so on a North-Eastern Cape farm near a town called Molteno, one of South Africa’s favorite brands was born.

To this day that same recipe is followed and over time “Ouma” rusks have become as interwoven into South African cuisine as what Mrs. Ball’s Peach Chutney is!