Update on the Hardtack

     It has been about three weeks since I made hardtack for the first time. When I finished with it I placed it regular ziplock bags and I have left it since then to see how it will fare. Today I pulled it out to check on it.

     So how is it going? It still has that slightly spoungy texture, which I think means that the second bake or possibly even the first bake didn't go on long enough. What this means is that not enough water was baked out of the hardtack.

     Another thing that proves that there was still to much water in the hardtack is mold. Yup. In the three weeks the hardtack has been sitting in the ziplock bags, it has molded. And by mold I don't mean a spot or two, but a lot of mold.What this tells me is that next time I try and make hardtack I need to keep the hardtack in the oven longer for both the first and second bake.

     My conclusions on hardtack are that it has good possibility for a survival food in a survival cache but not if it hasn't been made correctly. As a result, if the process of actually making your own isn't important, it is going to be easier and more effective to buy hardtack or use saltine crackers in your survival cache.

~Sara