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In World War ll Island Bay’s Derwent St was the source of tens of thousands of gingernuts distributed to New Zealand troops.
But this was no industrial war effort. It was the work of Mrs Helena Marion Brown Barnard who used the gingerbread recipe she developed as a tramping snack for her family to bring a little comfort to literal thousands of New Zealand troops.
She began this work in World War I - a conflict in which six of her sons took part. Two, Charles and Henry, died. Helena purchased a commemorative bell for the Wellington Carillon and named it Suvla Bay.
As well as her baking she knitted – socks and balaclavas – and raised funds for the war effort.
Her gingerbread biscuits were about the size of a two-dollar coin (a shilling, she said) and were packed into cocoa or golden syrup tins along with newspaper because she had heard the troops were short of reading material. She received photos from troops showing them reading her packing.
In World War ll Mrs Barnard, then aged 80, was living at 201 Derwent St and resumed her gingernutting. At the time butter and flour were rationed so she went to military headquarters and said she asked ‘not for anything, but for permission’. She was given special rations.
By the time the war was over, her combined gingerbread exports for both conflicts amounted to four and a half tons of 4,500 kilograms.
Grateful letters arrived, some addressed, she said, to ‘Mrs Barnard, maker of gingernuts, Wellington New Zealand’.
Mrs Barnard lived to become a centenarian and died in 1965.
Ngā Taonga Sound Archives New Zealand have a 1965 recording of Mrs Barnard discussing her work and giving her recipe, which we reproduce here. Ngā Taonga have experimented with modern versions and detailed their results. Even halved, the recipe will make 60-100 biscuits!
Mrs Barnard’s fallen sons as they appeared after their deaths in the grim photographic record maintained by the Weekly News
Ingredients
Ingredients
Plain flour
Butter
Light brown sugar
Ground ginger
Golden syrup
Recipe
Recipe
Mrs Barnard
Mrs Barnard
2 ¼ lb
½ lb
1 lb
1 oz
2 lb
Halved (Metric)
Halved (Metric)
510g
110g
225g
15g
454g
Halved ( volume)
Halved ( volume)
3 ½ cups
½ cup
1 ½ cups
2 ½ tablespoons
2 cups
Mrs Barnard’s fallen sons as they appeared after their deaths in the grim photographic record maintained by the Weekly News
Mrs Barnard’s method: Rub all the dry ingredients together with the butter. Mix with the golden syrup made warm (not hot) and mix into a firm dough. Cut the dough into slices, then strips, then small sections about 1 inch in size. The biscuits should be about the size of a shilling.
Suggestions from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision staff:
Camilla Wheeler: Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Combine the flour, sugar and ginger in a big bowl. Soften the butter, then mix it with the dry ingredients (like making crumble topping). Warm the golden syrup in a pan, then mix this in with everything else. It’s easiest to use your hands for that part. Make the dough into little balls and place them on the baking tray. Press flat with the back of a spoon. Bake for 15 mins.
Sarah Johnston: Preheat the oven to 190°C. Grease baking trays. Combine the flour, sugar and ginger in a big bowl. Melt the golden syrup and butter together over a low heat on the stove, then mix this in with dry ingredients to make a firm dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured bench. Divide the dough into 6 portions and roll each on the bench into a long, thin sausage. Keep your hands floured.
Cut small, marble-sized sections of dough off and roll briefly in your hands and place them on the baking tray. Press flat with your hand. (They hardly spread at all during baking, so can be placed fairly close together on the tray.) Bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the tray with a spatula and cool on a rack.
Thank you to Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision for permission to republish your culinary researches! ngātaonga.org.nz
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