Arrowroot biscuits?

[P-Kasso2]

Everyone of my generation has fond memories of being parked in a pram outside a pub and given an arrowroot biscuit.

Arrowroot biscuits were available on every bar throughout the land...right next to the jars of pickle eggs (bleergh!)

But in these days of gastro boozers, your humble and once ubiquitous arrowroot bickies seem to have totally disappeared.

OK they were dry as old bones but they are infinitely healthier than a packet cheese and onion crisps stuffed full of additives...just how much more healthful arrowroot is can be seen in the asterisked bits below*.

So what happened? Why did arrowroot biscuits suddenly disappear?

Are they still available?


* It is easily digestible and mixes well wide range of food ingredients.

Arrowroot is very low in calories...a hundred fresh roots provide only 65 calories, less than that of one single potato.

Arrowroot contains more protein than that of other tropical food sources like yams, potatoes, cassavas, plantains, etc.

Contains very good levels of B-complex group of vitamins (niacin, thiamin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid and riboflavin).

It's also a good source of folates. 100 g arrowroot provides 338 µg or 84% of daily required levels of folates. Folates (along with vitamin B-12) are one of the essential components take part in DNA synthesis and cell division.

Good folate diet during preconception periods and during pregnancy is known to help prevent neural-tube defects and other congenital malformations in the offspring.

Further, it contains moderate levels of some important minerals such as copper, iron, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium, and zinc.

In addition, it is an excellent source of potassium (454 mg per 100g or 10% of your Recommended Daily Allowance and Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that help regulate your heart rate and blood pressure.

[imfeduptoo]

Yes, they are still available -
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254922614

From various sites it seems that they are very useful for preventing morning sickness and digestive problems although they are reputed to cure both constipation AND diarrhoea!
Arrowroot is sometimes given to people recovering from illnesses as they are supposed to be easy to digest.

Also Milk arrowroot biscuits -

The Milk Arrowroot biscuit has a long history. It was first introduced in 1888, and in those days arrowroot was seen as an easy to digest food suitable for invalids and babies. As such, these were one of Arnott’s flagship lines, and the health-giving properties of these biscuits was marketed strongly.......

......We now know, of course, that arrowroot is not very good for you at all, consisting as it does of almost pure refined carbohydrate.

http://chillikebab.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/milk-arrowroot/

[P-Kasso2]

Yes, they are still available -
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254922614

From various sites it seems that they are very useful for preventing morning sickness and digestive problems although they are reputed to cure both constipation AND diarrhoea!
Arrowroot is sometimes given to people recovering from illnesses as they are supposed to be easy to digest.

Also Milk arrowroot biscuits -

The Milk Arrowroot biscuit has a long history. It was first introduced in 1888, and in those days arrowroot was seen as an easy to digest food suitable for invalids and babies. As such, these were one of Arnott’s flagship lines, and the health-giving properties of these biscuits was marketed strongly.......

......We now know, of course, that arrowroot is not very good for you at all, consisting as it does of almost pure refined carbohydrate.

http://chillikebab.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/milk-arrowroot/

I am sorry to say that the website in your link, Mrs Too, is very suspect.

If you plough through the site, you'll find it is almost exclusively about biscuits in the range made by Arnott's...an Australian company that is Oz's biggest biscuit and snacks manufacturer.

Hype!

This makes me highly suspicious of the blog. The site doesn't come out and overtly declare it is bought-and-paid-for but hides under the cloak of being an unbiased independent biscuit-mad consumer penning his own crumby thoughts from the suburbs of Sydney.

As such, I am a serious sceptic of the site's statement that you quoted..."arrowroot is not very good for you at all, consisting as it does of almost pure refined carbohydrate"

...because, while that might well be true of Arnott's own appallingly unappetising arrowroot biscuits, it certainly isn't true of Arrowroot itself.

As my earlier post's footnotes pointed out...Arrowroot contains protein than that of other tropical food sources like yams, potatoes, cassavas, plantains, etc.

Plus very good levels of niacin, thiamin, riboflavin etc. It helps prevent congenital malformations in new-born babies while containing some important minerals such as copper, iron, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium, and zinc and potassium to help regulate your heart rate and blood pressure.

If the dear old Aussies, and particularly the bakers at the unscrupulous Atwood's factories, prefer to make their arrowroot biscuit without any arrowroot in it then it just goes to show why Cell Block H was so full.

Interestingly, the Atwood blog went on tellingly after the quote about 'that arrowroot is not very good for you at all, consisting as it does of almost pure refined carbohydrate'.


In full it said of their very own fake arrowroot biscuits "We now know, of course, that arrowroot is not very good for you at all, consisting as it does of almost pure refined carbohydrate. In any case, arrowroot flour is not the major ingredient in these biscuits; neither do they contain much milk. For the most part this is just a conventional plain biscuit made with wheat flour and vegetable oil."

So, rotten bakers they may be...arrowroot still stands as a healthy substance in anyone else's opinion.

Apart for it tasting like chalk, I am still trying to work out why (and when) it suddenly fell out of favour with the drinking classes.

Would somewhere in the mid-60s seems to be the beginning of Arrowroot's demise?




 

[antonymous]

See here;

[P-Kasso2]

See here;

Whooo, that takes the biscuit, Ant! You don't pull any punches do you?

I don't care though because I hated arrowroot biscuits but they were part of my childhood culture (like terrible haircuts, shoes embarrassingly too big [Don't worry son, you'll grow into them], horrible grey flannel short trousers and spindly legs etc).

But it's not all gloom and doom... your pic does mention Bourbon biscuits...ah! Bourbons! My weak spot.

Forget Arrowroots. It's just a shame that pubs don't have jars of Bourbon biscuits on the bars...and, seeing as pubs now serve decent coffee, I think I'll recommend Bourbon biscuits to the owner of the Black Horse.

[Hiheels]

Is that review from A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down?