Recreating Historical Wartime Ration Bars

About half a year ago I had thoughts to make myself a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate, because the now-a-days chocolate bars are of a different sizes then the wartime ones. This way I could have a right sized Cadbury’s at events and would not have to change the size of a repro Cadbury’s wrapper. So I was looking for the right size of a Cadbury’s and asked on several forums about it. I got the measurements by email and started to make a wooden model. Next thing was to make a mold.

Then I found out that Lawrence Kelatow, a friend and fellow military re-enactor of mine, already had created edible WW2 D-Ration bars using Smooth-Sil 940 food-safe silicone. A wooden model was made and molded using Smooth-Sil 940. After the mold was thoroughly post-cured and washed according to the techincal bulletin, milk chocolate was melted and poured into the mold.

Lawrence describes the D-Ration and his process:

“What always catches my attention when I look at old photos of airborne troopers who have spread out their gear for inspection, is that there are always a couple of D-Rations between all the equipment and weapons.

What where those D-Rations? According to the QMC a bar that is able to sustain a soldier for one meal with enough calories (600) to survive. Thought up by Col. Paul Logan in 1937 the D-Ration was comprised of chocolate, sugar, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, vanilla essence, oat meal and vitamin B1. The logic behind it was that it had to taste slightly better than a potato or a soldier might eat it as a snack before he would actually need it in an emergency. Sounds good to me!

In this instance I have decided to use “normal” chocolate – although I already purchased or localized all products needed and have the original recipe – it is easier to obtain.”

– Lawrence Kelatow.