Hardtack
A very hard, dry cracker made from flour, water and salt, baked until it keeps for months; long carried by sailors and soldiers.
- Cakes, cookies, pastries and baked goods
Also called: brewis, cabin bread, hard biscuit, hard bread, hard tack
Hardtack was a ration on ships and in armies for centuries because it does not spoil as long as it stays dry. The stiff dough is rolled thick, cut into squares, pricked with holes and baked slowly, sometimes more than once, until it is nearly as hard as stone.
It is usually soaked in water, coffee, soup or milk before eating, or crumbled into stews. Today it is made mostly for history reenactments, camping and emergency food kits. Newfoundland and Alaska still have a tradition of cabin bread.
Bake it at VanillaGoods
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Sources
Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.
- Hardtack during the Civil War, U.S. National Park Service (Manassas National Battlefield Park)
- Soldiering - Provisions, Smithsonian Institution (The Civil War and American Art / Smithsonian Civil War site)