22. Fig Biscuits いちじくのビスケット

Ingredients:

<pastry>

226g plain flour

Pinch of salt

1 egg

56g margarine

Water to mix

 

<filling>

56-85g fig

4 tablespoon water

½ teaspoon ginger and mixed spice

Few drop lemon essence

 

 ＜ペーストリー＞

小麦粉　226g

塩　ひとつまみ

卵　１個

マーガリン　56g

水　少量

 

＜中身＞

いちじく　56-85g

水　大さじ４

ジンジャーとミックススパイス　小さじ½

レモンエッセンス　数滴

 

Instructions:  

1.     Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan.

2.     Mix flour and salt, and rub in the fat.

3.     Add the egg and water, and work to a stiff dough.

4.     Chop up the fig and simmer in the water till quite soft.

5.     Add spices, and lemon essence, and allow to become quite cold.

6.     Roll pastry out into an oblong  30cm x 60cm and 6mm think.

7.     Spread half the pastry with the filling.

8.     Cover with the other half and cut into squares, diamonds, circles, etc.

9.     Bake in a oven for 10 minutes.

This quantity makes approximately 40 biscuits. If like this may be cooked in one big slab, cut into squares and used as a pudding.

 

1.     オーブンを220℃（コンベクションオーブンの場合は200℃）に予熱する。

2.     小麦粉と塩を混ぜ、マーガリンを加えて指先でこするようにして馴染ませる。

3.     卵を加え、水を適量加えてこね、固めの生地をつくる。

4.     いちじくを刻み、柔らかくなるまで大さじ４杯の水で煮る。

5.     いちじくにスパイスとレモンエッセンスを加え、さます。

6.     生地を30cm x 60cm、厚さに6mm伸ばす。

7.     生地の半分にいちじくのペーストを塗る。

8.     塗っていない半分を塗った部分にかぶせ、型で抜く。

9.     オーブンで10分焼く。

この分量で約40個のビスケットができる。型で抜かずに焼き、焼いてからカットしてカスタードを添えていただいても良い。

Background:

This is a recipe from the Ministry of Food’s Making the Most of the Sugar booklet.

Figs were mainly imported from Turky, but as the fruit is easily perishable, they came in dried. In January 1942, dried fruits were added to the ‘point’ rationing system, in which consumers had a freedom to choose a selection of items to buy using points.

Presumably some fruits were available in the market during the season, and some people had fig trees in their garden or allotment, but I could not find any information about them.

Researching on figs in wartime, what came up time and again was California Syrup of Figs. According to the company’s advertisement, "Syrup of Figs” was “the ideal safe family laxative”, “derives its laxative principles from senna, made pleasant to the taste, and more acceptable to the stomach, by being combined with pleasant aromatic syrups and the juice of figs.” Delia Daws remembers that every Friday night, she was given a dose to ‘clean us out for the weekend’. Michael Black wonders with annoyance, when he could not get toys or anything because of the war, why there was never a shortage of California Syrup of Figs. Did the war time diet cause constipation? In fact, it was also used as ‘a cure for everything’. Not only digestive problems, but also colds were treated with Syrup of Figs. Of course, when many healthcare professionals were serving in the ranks of the Royal Army Medical Corps and hospitals were constantly at ready to treat the injured, people would think prevention was the best remedy. Obviously California Syrup of Figs is a medicine rather than food, but I thought it was an interesting bit of information to add here. 

Process:

Ingredients　材料

Rub in fat and flour and salt, then add an egg and water　小麦粉と塩にマーガリンを加えて指先で擦るようにして馴染ませ、卵と水を加える

Make a stiff dough　混ぜて固めの生地を作る

Chop the figs　いちじくを切る

 

Simmer the fig until soft　いちじくをやわらかくなるまで茹でる

Add spice and lemon essence and allow the paste to cool　スパイスとレモンエッセンスを加えて冷ます

Roll out the dough and spread the fig paste on half of it　生地を伸ばし、半分にいちじくのペーストを塗る

Cut or cut out the pastry　型抜きするか、切る

Bake in the oven　オーブンで焼く

Baked!　できあがり！

Verdict:

This is one the most “wartime” recipes I have tried so far. The pastry is not puffy and hardly has any flavour. It is more a flat bread than a biscuit. Notice no sugar is used in this recipe, neither in the dough or the filling, so the sweetness comes from fig and fig alone. The filling is very nice, though, with spices.

I should have rolled the dough out to 30 x 60cm according to the recipe, but the best I could do was 25 x 40cm. Even that, my dough was thinner than 6mm. I also found that the filling would not be enough if I made a bigger pastry. I guess when sweet was a luxury, you would stretch whatever you have at hand and make the most of it.

It is a frugal version of the modern fig rolls. I think I will stick to fig rolls for now.

いちじくはドライフルーツとして、主にトルコから輸入されました。ドライフルーツはポイント制で配給されました。つまり、決まったアイテムの中から、そのポイント分の物を選んで買うことができました。イギリスの果樹園で作られていたものもあったでしょうが、数は限られていたかもしれません。また、庭や市民菜園にもいちじくの木があったと思うので、夏に果物がなれば、個人やグループで採って食べていたでしょう。ただこれに関しては記録が見つからなかったので、はっきりしたことはわかりません。

このビスケットですが、いままで試したレシピの中でも、いちばん戦時中らしいレシピの一つです。まずは、全く砂糖が使われていません。いちじくの甘みのみです。ペーストリーも特にふわっともサクッともしてるわけではなく、どちらかというとフラットブレッドのようです。いちじくのペーストはスパイスのおかげもあり、とてもおいしいです。

レシピによると生地を30 x 60cmの大きさまで伸ばすのですが、25 x 40cmがせいぜいでした。しかも、厚さは6mmよりも薄くなりました。また、これ以上伸ばしたら、中身も足りなくなるような気がしました。でも、甘いものがなかなか手に入らない時には、少しでも甘いものがあれば、とってもうれしかったでしょう。

いちじくのペーストはおいしかったですが、また作るとしたら、生地を変え、ペーストを多めにしたいです。

Bibliography:

BBC, WW2 People’s War, contributed by bedfordmuseum, “Childhood during the war” available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/86/a7761486.shtml

BBC, WW2 People’s War, contributed by cavafy, “Some memories continued” available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a4368468.shtml

BBC, WW2 People’s War, contributed by Researcher 232211, “California Syrup of Figs” available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/40/a1087940.shtml

Daws, Delia, 2013,  ‘NOSTALGIA: Friday night was time for syrup of figs’, The Westmorland Gazette, 14 December

HC Deb 17 January 1940, Economic Warfare, Volume 356, available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1940-01-17/debates/6dc1cf09-0d76-45b2-8249-26808c431989/EconomicWarfare?highlight=figs#contribution-7b539f68-cd3c-4f21-96d3-b8bd279e8759

The Ministry of Food, 1946, How Britain was Fed in War Time: Food Control 1939-1945 (His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London)

The Ministry of Food, 1945, Making the Most of Sugar (His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London)

Shoemaker, John V., ed., 1896, The Medical Bulletin: A Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, Volume XVIII, 1896  (F.A Davis)