A recent trip to a maritime museum gave Travis the chance to play in a pretend galley kitchen.

We returned home with a recipe for hard tack, the hard-as-a-rock cracker that was a staple on many sea voyages. We couldn’t wait to try making it!

First scoop 2 cups flour into a bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Begin adding water, about 1/4 cup at a time, until you have a workable dough. Our recipe was vague, so I did a bit of research online to see how much we’d need. 1 cup of water made our dough a little too sticky, so we added an extra 1/4 cup of flour. Knead the dough about ten times, then roll out into a rectangle and score into squares on a baking sheet.

Prick the squares with a fork, and bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Turn over and bake an additional 30 minutes.

I recommend letting your little sailors test the hard tack now. It won’t break their teeth yet, and they’ll get a sense of what it was like!

Travis pretended he was not just any seafarer, but a pirate of course. H-arrgh-d Tack, it became!

For true hard tack, leave it out on the counter for a couple of days until really really hard. To serve, you’ll need to dip in water, non-dairy milk of your choice, or tea (Travis loves a cup of caffeine-free rooibos).

Ahoy mateys!