Tower Gate Rich Tea Biscuits 300g Vegetarian

Product Information

Once I did take it home, I was just disappointed. I didn't feel the biscuit had that milk chocolate digestive taste. And then we have 'Woodgate' which has essentially copied not one, but all of Strongbow's branded products, like this apple cider: Not surprising when you think that a biscuit recipe is: Take butter, sugar and flour, mix together and bake! If you fancy a real treat, I'd recommend splashing out for a Magnum or two - but it's worth knowing that there's a cheaper alternative that's just as indulgent on the shelf below.

It was only the next morning that I realised that these biscuits were not quite what I had assumed them to be. They were Tower Gate digestives not McVitie’s digestives. I tried Marks and Spencer Percy Pig pancakes ahead of Pancake Day and felt like I was at a children’s birthday party' Tbf Lidl are making bougie, overpriced muesli available to the masses. For the many, not only the few. A staple in the biscuit barrel and often the first to go, the milk chocolate digestive has always been one of the nation’s favourite biscuits.In fact, when the recipe was invented by two Scottish doctors in 1839 (McVitie’s manufactured its own secret recipe, created by Sir Alexander Grant, in 1892), the supposed “digestive” benefit came from the dose of bicarbonate of soda which lightens the texture, and, they postulated, might help with acid reflux. These days, commercial forms of baking powder (bicarb mixed with acid) are used, which helps the biscuit rise a bit, but whether there was ever any real digestive benefit is debatable. In my opinion, Co-op's version were my least favourite. For me, they resembled a slightly upgraded rich tea biscuit. The base was dull and the chocolate on top was thin and tasteless. Worst of all, they were among the most expensive I tried. They were 83 calories each if you're interested. A homemade digestive might taste good, but it wouldn’t taste right. So put away your baking trays. A digestive biscuit is meant to be bought.

But while there's certainly very little difference in appearance, how would they fare against each other in a taste test? I headed down to Lidl in Cathays, Cardiff, to fill my basket and find out for myself. And you know you're on to something good when you know that you've tried something and you want another bite.With the cost of living soaring in the UK, especially at the supermarket, I have been conducting a series of food comparison tests to see if cheaper alternatives can match the well-known household names. So, next time you're in Lidl, maybe consider swapping your Oreos for a Neo - I know I certainly will. When it comes to chocolate digestives, most supermarkets do not bother with the hard sell. Unwisely, Asda chooses to up the ante with its promise of “golden, crunchy biscuits topped with smooth milk chocolate”. True, this biscuit has a promising bronzed tan, a strong baked wholemeal flavour and a sweetness nicely modulated by a residual salty tang. This is a punchy, heavyweight biscuit. However, the chocolate is so anonymous, so shouted down by the biscuit flavours, that you could be eating a plain digestive. It fails to fulfil its brief. 5/10 M&S, Simply milk chocolate digestives, 300g, 86p Perhaps this should have been a very straightforward race to find the best milk chocolate digestive biscuit but that just isn't so.

However, many lookalike items are still on offer, with Neo biscuits, Malt Wheaties and Snaktastic crisps available on the shelves alongside Oreos, Shreddies and Pringles. Tesco's digestives were a good all-rounder. There was the perfect amount of chocolate on top and the base was nice and golden. They contained 85 calories per biscuit. Aside from providing a calorie boost for exhausted health workers, are digestives (whose recipe is nearly two centuries old) any better for you than other biscuits?So I feel, quite strongly, that I, as a predator of digestive biscuits, was a victim of digestivian mimicry where a slightly less tasty species takes the general pattern and colouration of a more tasty species (of biscuit). Mullerian mimics are where two nasty-tasting species evolve to look more similar to each other to cash in on the combined advantage of getting the message across really strongly. Even cheaper was Aldi's Belmond biscuits coming in at just 59p a tube. I would happily gobble up these bargain beauties at 81 calories per piece. Christmas wouldn't be complete without Scottish shortbread to nibble on over family visits or curling up to watch a festive film. Along with the famous historic brands from Scotland like Paterson's and Walkers, supermarkets are all doing their own versions. It's like going to a favoured car wash and knowing that they're going to do a great job every time.