Are You Eating Your Chocolate Digestive Wrong?

Some of us prefer them dunked in a cup of tea, others nibble around the edges, but what is the correct way to eat a chocolate digestive biscuit? Chocolate side up or chocolate side down? The head of the McVitie’s HQ has settled the debate once and for all – and it seems many of us have got it wrong.

McVitie’s Boss Reveals Correct Way To Eat Chocolate Digestives

Anthony Coulson, general manager at the McVitie’s chocolate refinery in Stockport, has revealed the chocolate digestive was originally meant to be eaten with the chocolate-covered side facing down. ‘It’s the world’s most incredible debate, whether you have the chocolate on the top or the chocolate on the bottom,’ he told the BBC, admitting that he prefers eating it with the chocolate on top. 

The company’s chief marketing officer Caroline Hipperson has previously explained why this is the case, saying the biscuits ‘swim through a reservoir of chocolate when we make them, which dips their bottoms in chocolate.

‘So, we can officially confirm that the side with the chocolate on is in fact the bottom of a McVitie’s chocolate biscuit. We will, however, leave it up to biscuit lovers everywhere to decide how they enjoy theirs.’

 

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In 2021, researchers from Oxford University decided to delve into the science of biscuit eating. Their studies concluded you should pick up the biscuit with the chocolate side up, allowing the brain to register the chocolate coating, before flipping it to maximise the ‘oral-somatosensory experience’ of the chocolate melting on the tongue. Then, you should take a ‘substantial bite’ to allow for maximum enjoyment.

Food scientist Professor Charles Spence, who was involved in the study, added that chocolate biscuits are best eaten at room temperature. ‘Which side up a half-coated chocolate biscuit should be eaten is a topic that’s been hotly debated, which is why we wanted to get to the bottom of the million dollar question,’ he said. 

‘My research suggested that whilst there are merits in both ways, holding the biscuit chocolate side up first to maximise the visual experience and then switching it over as the biscuit is brought toward the mouth provides the best multi-sensory experience.’

The McVitie’s story began in 1839 when a Scottish baker named Robert McVitie launched a bakery business with his father William in Edinburgh. Some years later, in 1982, Sir Alexander Grant began working for the company, and created the first McVitie’s Digestive – with his recipe still used today. Fun fact: the name came from the belief that the baking powder in the biscuit would help with digestion.

During the First World War, McVitie’s opened a new bakery in Stockport, Manchester, and in 1925 the first Chocolate Homewheat Digestive (as it was initially known) was produced – meaning the teatime treat celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. A century on, the biscuit remains a staple British teatime treat, with 800 million packets made every year.