Ouma Rusks
Encyclopedia
Ouma Rusks are South Africa
's best-known brand
of rusk
s - a traditional South African snack
that is dipped in coffee
or tea
before being eaten.
Owing to the South African diaspora
, the brand has become an icon
ic South African product that is consumed all over the world. It is usually marketed with the slogan
Doop 'n Ouma (in Afrikaans) or Dip 'n Ouma (in South African English
), meaning an "Dunk an Ouma".
According to the manufacturer, the history of Ouma Rusks began in the 1939 in the small Eastern Cape
town of Molteno
, where the effects of the Great Depression
were bringing many people to their knees. During this time, a certain Ouma Greyvensteyn and her friends attended a church meeting where ways in which to help mission work were discussed. At the end of the meeting, each of the women were given a half-a-crown coin and told to multiply it using their talents, as in the Gospel
. Ouma Greyvensteyn used this money to buy ingredients in order to make rusks using her family recipe. The rusks she baked proved to be extremely popular and orders continued to be placed for her rusks.
Ouma Rusks are now owned by NOLA - one of South Africa’s leading food manufacturers and a division of Foodcorp.
Currently, the rusks are available in single, 500 g
and 1 kg packs in the following flavours:
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
's best-known brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
of rusk
Rusk
A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food. In the United Kingdom, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive.- Germany :The zwieback A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food....
s - a traditional South African snack
Snack
A snack is a small portion of food eaten between meals. The food might be snack food—items like potato chips or baby carrots—but could also simply be a smaller amount of any food item.-Snacks and health:...
that is dipped in coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
or tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
before being eaten.
Owing to the South African diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
, the brand has become an icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
ic South African product that is consumed all over the world. It is usually marketed with the slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
Doop 'n Ouma (in Afrikaans) or Dip 'n Ouma (in South African English
South African English
The term South African English is applied to the first-language dialects of English spoken by South Africans, with the L1 English variety spoken by Zimbabweans, Zambians and Namibians, being recognised as offshoots.There is some social and regional variation within South African English...
), meaning an "Dunk an Ouma".
According to the manufacturer, the history of Ouma Rusks began in the 1939 in the small Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...
town of Molteno
Molteno, Eastern Cape
Molteno is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.It was founded in 1874 and named for Sir John Molteno, the first prime minister of the Cape Colony....
, where the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
were bringing many people to their knees. During this time, a certain Ouma Greyvensteyn and her friends attended a church meeting where ways in which to help mission work were discussed. At the end of the meeting, each of the women were given a half-a-crown coin and told to multiply it using their talents, as in the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
. Ouma Greyvensteyn used this money to buy ingredients in order to make rusks using her family recipe. The rusks she baked proved to be extremely popular and orders continued to be placed for her rusks.
Ouma Rusks are now owned by NOLA - one of South Africa’s leading food manufacturers and a division of Foodcorp.
Currently, the rusks are available in single, 500 g
G
G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,...
and 1 kg packs in the following flavours:
- Condensed MilkCondensed milkCondensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if unopened. The two terms, condensed milk and sweetened...
- Aniseed
- ButtermilkButtermilkButtermilk refers to a number of dairy drinks. Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. It also refers to a range of fermented milk drinks, common in warm climates where unrefrigerated fresh milk otherwise sours quickly...
- MuesliMuesliMuesli is a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital...
- Wholewheat
- Original Sliced
- Buttermilk Sliced
- Dunkems BlueberryBlueberryBlueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
- Sliced MarmaladeMarmaladeMarmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits, boiled with sugar and water. The benchmark citrus fruit for marmalade production in Britain is the "Seville orange" from Spain, Citrus aurantium var...
- Sliced Nutri
External links
- Ouma Rusks at Foodcorp