Results of the British Biscuit Trial

It’s not been all fun in the sun with me, you know. I’ve been busy putting your British biccies to the test.

Without going far afield, I tracked down both McVitie's HobNobs and McVitie's Ginger Nuts in my neighbourhood.

Both biscuits proved excellent dunkers. They withstood crumbling and distentegrating in both tea and milk. A couple of “tough cookies” you might say.

The ginger nuts became even more gingery when immersed in tea and the HobNobs even oatier.

One drawback, however, was that the tea took on a ginger flavour following the ginger nut dunking.

I’m gloating over the fact that I’ve mastered the art of the dunk. Just a few seconds of immersion does the trick. No lingering! The biccies held their shape yet still maintained a slight crunch following dunking. And not a single crumb of residue left over in the cup.

Just when I was reveling in my newly acquired dunking skill, I read that a tearoom in Brighton has outlawed biscuit dunking. If you dunk your biscuit, you’ll be invited to leave the establishment. The tearoom owner is nothing short of a tea Nazi! He said: "People have to obey the rules and if not they are asked to leave. It is the art of tea drinking - this is not going to Starbucks with a mug of coffee."



Left to right: HobNob and Ginger Nut.


Which biscuit did I prefer? In the final crunch, I’ll be purchasing more packets of HobNobs and sharing them with other ignorant Canucks to show them what they’re missing out on over here.

In future, I’ll have to make a sidetrip to the British specialty shops to find any other kind of British biccies as this was all my neighbourhood had to offer.

Thanks, all of you, for your biccie suggestions from last week. It’s been a treat.

DUNKING : Naff or Not?

As I’m about to embark on my British biscuit trial, I’ve noticed that some of you mentioned biscuit-dunking in the comments.

Dunking was discouraged in the Infomaniac childhood homestead as it was considered naff. Of course I dunked the minute my mother’s back was turned.

So, how about you? Are you dunkers?

Do you have a preferred method of dunking? A certain level of sogginess you must attain? How do you prevent the biscuit from disintegrating into a sludgy mess at the bottom of your cup? How much of the biccie do you dunk? A little at a time? Or the entire biscuit in one go? And for how long should the biscuit be submerged? Does dunking improve the flavour of certain biscuits? Are certain types of biccies more dunkable than others?

I’ve so much to learn.

And look at this clever bit of design. A dunk mug with a compartment to store your biscuits…