As a patriotic nibble, Anzac biscuits are second to none. But for years New Zealand has had a better claim to the original recipe and name.

Now Australia might be able to take back the biscuit, or at least a few crumbs of national pride, after the discovery of a recipe published in a Melbourne newspaper in 1921.

Now Australia might be able to take back the Anzac biscuit after the discovery of a recipe published in a Melbourne newspaper in 1921.

Australian and New Zealand troops on Gallipoli in 1915 probably ate nothing resembling today's Anzac biscuit, that delicious combination of rolled oats, golden syrup, sugar, flour, desiccated coconut and melted butter. (They had to make do with the dreaded hard-tack "tiles" in their ration-packs.)

Until now, the first Australian-published recipe for a recognisable "Anzac Biscuit" was credited to a 1923 edition of Mrs H W Shaw's Six Hundred Tested Recipes.