Digestive biscuit
The digestive biscuit is a semi-sweet Scottish invention, and in the United Kingdom the McVitie's version sells 80 million packs a year. That makes it the best-selling biscuit in the country. Yet it began as something closer to medicine than a snack. Why did a biscuit get its name from the stomach? How did a product pitched at weak digestions end up on cheese boards and in cheesecake bases? And what did a box of these biscuits have to do with a bitter argument inside one of the most famous recording studios in the world? The answers start with two doctors, a pinch of baking soda, and a belief that has long since faded.
In 1839, two Scottish doctors developed the biscuit with one goal in mind. They wanted something that would aid digestion. The name came from a belief held around that time, namely that the biscuits worked like an antacid. The reason was sodium bicarbonate, which went into the dough as a raising agent. Some producers added a second idea to the recipe. They used diastatic malt extract, which was meant to break down, or "digest", part of the starch in the flour before the biscuits ever reached the oven. The result is sometimes called a sweet-meal biscuit, a plainer label that says nothing about its doctors.
In 1851, an issue of The Lancet carried an advertisement in its London section for brown meal digestive biscuits. The brown meal itself has a story told in percentages. Grain millers of the day recognised only bran and endosperm. They removed 10% of the whole grain, the coarse outer bran coat. They kept the innermost 70%, pure endosperm, for other purposes. What remained was brown meal, just 20% of the grain. It was about 15% fine bran and 85% white flour. By 1912, people understood that brown meal also contained the germ of the grain, and that the germ gave it a characteristic sweetness.
In 1876, the Berkshire biscuit company Huntley & Palmers put digestives into its advertisements. Chemists sold them right next to indigestion powder. Across the border, the Edinburgh firm McVitie's began baking its own digestives in 1892, following a secret recipe developed by Sir Alexander Grant. Two years later, Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book printed a recipe, so home bakers could try one too. Meanwhile, a Scot named John Montgomerie filed a United States patent application in 1889, and it was granted in 1890. He pointed to an earlier English patent from 1886. His patent, titled Making Malted Bread, included instructions for making digestive biscuits. Montgomerie claimed that his saccharification process would produce "nourishing food for people of weak digestion".
A rumour has circulated that digestive biscuits cannot legally be sold in the United States under their usual name. The rumour is false. They sit in the imported food sections of grocery stores, and they can also be ordered by mail. North of that border, McVitie's digestives are distributed in Canada. Canadian companies also bake their own versions, and the Christie company is one example. Their ingredients are the next puzzle, because the same biscuit tastes different depending on which side of the ocean it was made.
Coarse brown wheat flour gives the typical digestive its texture and flavour, which resemble those of Graham flour. Sugar, malt extract, vegetable oil, wholemeal and salt complete the base. The raising agents are usually sodium bicarbonate, tartaric acid and malic acid. Some varieties add dried whey, oatmeal or cultured skimmed milk, along with emulsifiers such as DATEM. Sweetening also varies by geography. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, makers use natural white sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup, so the sugar content can come out higher than in ordinary cookies. A single biscuit averages around 70 calories, though production methods shift that figure.
A digestive in a cup of tea has a very short window. The biscuit tends to break or disintegrate once wet, so the dunker has to eat it quickly. In 2009, the plain digestive ranked fourth among British favourites for dunking, and it is among the top 10 for the task. Ahead of it, in first place, sat the McVitie's chocolate digestive. The same biscuit works just as well with cheese. It appears in the "cracker selection" packets sold in supermarkets, and on restaurant cheese boards. Cooks crush it into bases for cheesecakes and similar desserts. It also goes into traybakes, such as the Ulster traybake called Fifteens.
In 1925, McVitie's introduced a version with chocolate on its lower side, under the name Chocolate Homewheat Digestive. Buyers can now choose dark, milk or, more rarely, white chocolate. Other varieties scatter chocolate shavings through the biscuit, or add a layer of caramel, mint chocolate, orange-flavoured chocolate or plain chocolate. The McVitie's versions are made at the company's Harlesden factory in London. The American travel writer Bill Bryson called the chocolate digestive "a British masterpiece". The McVitie's chocolate version is routinely ranked as the favourite snack in the UK. A YouGov poll placed the Cadbury's digestive second among British biscuits, behind McVitie's.
Beatles fans know McVitie's digestives for a quarrel during the recording of the group's 1969 album Abbey Road. Recording engineer Geoff Emerick told the story in his book Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. The band was in the control room, listening to a playback. Yoko Ono, John Lennon's wife, was in the studio and helped herself to George Harrison's box of McVitie's. Harrison became angry at her. His outburst made Lennon lose his temper in turn. The biscuit has also been used as a test of skill on television. Chocolate digestives formed the technical challenge in series 13, episode 6 of The Great British Bake Off. The Great Canadian Baking Show set the same task for its bakers in episode 2 of season 2.
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Common questions
Where did the digestive biscuit originate?
It originated in Scotland. Two Scottish doctors developed it in 1839 to aid digestion.
Why is it called a digestive?
The name comes from a belief around the time of its introduction that the biscuits had antacid properties, because sodium bicarbonate was used as an ingredient.
When did McVitie's start making digestives?
McVitie's first made its digestive in 1892, using a secret recipe developed by Sir Alexander Grant. It added the chocolate version in 1925.
Are digestive biscuits illegal in the United States?
No. The rumour is false. They are widely available in the imported food sections of grocery stores and by mail order.
What happened between George Harrison and John Lennon over digestive biscuits?
According to engineer Geoff Emerick, Yoko Ono helped herself to Harrison's box of McVitie's during an Abbey Road session. Harrison became angry, and his outburst led Lennon to lose his temper.
All sources
31 references cited across the entry
- 2BookChamber's encyclopaedia: a dictionary of universal knowledge, Volume 2J.B. Lippencott Company — 1888
- 9BookThe LancetGeorge Churchill — 31 July 1851
- 10BookThe People's journalThe People's Journal Office — 1848
- 11BookThe Pharmaceutical journal and TransactionsJohn Churchill — 1857–1858
- 12BookProcesses of flour manufacturePercy A. Amos — Longman, Green, and Co. — 1912
- 14QI, Season B, Episode 7, "Biscuits", In America it is illegal to call them "digestives"
- 16BookThe Oxford encyclopedia of food and drink in AmericaAndrew Smith — Oxford University Press — 2013
- 17What are Digestive Biscuits?Carol Luther — Livestrong.com
- 19BookBaked Products: Science, Technology and PracticeYoung, Linda et al. — Wiley-Blackwell — 2006
- 23Classic Northern Irish No-Bake FifteensCJ — 2016-02-18
- 26Bryson, Bill. (1996). Notes from a Small Island; William Morrow,
- 28BookHere, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The BeatlesGeoff Emerick et al. — Penguin — 2006
- 29BookHere, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the BeatlesGeoff Emerick et al. — Penguin — 16 March 2006
- 31BookHere, There and Everywhere My Life Recording the Music of The BeatlesGeoff Emerick et al. — Penguin Books — 2006