McVities boss on the correct way to eat a chocolate digestive
The boss of the biscuit factory where McVitie's chocolate digestives have been made for the last 100 years joined BBC Radio Manchester on air to deliver an important message: we've all been eating our biscuits wrong.
Mr Coulson told listeners: "One of the very first things I learnt when I got to join McVitie's was chocolate side down to eat the digestive."
"Now, up until then I'd always eaten it the other way round, I still do, if I'm honest," he added. "You can do it exactly how you want to do it."
While the debate has likely raged since the treat's inception 100 years ago ("it's the world's most incredible debate"), Coulsan says that by eating it chocolate side down, the chocolate "starts to melt, you start to get the flavour, and away you go".
Before too many could argue, he adds: "It makes sense, right?"
Renowned for its long-standing range of biscuits, UK brand McVities has been around since 1839, when it started as a small provision shop in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The brand enjoyed continued success but it wasn't until 1892 that Alexander Grant developed the original recipe for the famous McVitie's Digestives biscuit – a recipe that remains secret to this day.
In 1927, the brand continued to innovate in the snack sphere by creating the Jaffa Cake (named after the Jaffa oranges used in their centre), followed by the penguin bar of 1932, and the Hobnobs launch of 1985.
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RTÉ News
25-04-2025
- RTÉ News
McVities boss on the correct way to eat a chocolate digestive
The boss of the biscuit factory where McVitie's chocolate digestives have been made for the last 100 years joined BBC Radio Manchester on air to deliver an important message: we've all been eating our biscuits wrong. Mr Coulson told listeners: "One of the very first things I learnt when I got to join McVitie's was chocolate side down to eat the digestive." "Now, up until then I'd always eaten it the other way round, I still do, if I'm honest," he added. "You can do it exactly how you want to do it." While the debate has likely raged since the treat's inception 100 years ago ("it's the world's most incredible debate"), Coulsan says that by eating it chocolate side down, the chocolate "starts to melt, you start to get the flavour, and away you go". Before too many could argue, he adds: "It makes sense, right?" Renowned for its long-standing range of biscuits, UK brand McVities has been around since 1839, when it started as a small provision shop in Edinburgh, Scotland. The brand enjoyed continued success but it wasn't until 1892 that Alexander Grant developed the original recipe for the famous McVitie's Digestives biscuit – a recipe that remains secret to this day. In 1927, the brand continued to innovate in the snack sphere by creating the Jaffa Cake (named after the Jaffa oranges used in their centre), followed by the penguin bar of 1932, and the Hobnobs launch of 1985.
Irish Independent
25-04-2025
- Irish Independent
McVitie's boss says we're not eating our chocolate digestives the right way
Anthony Coulson is general manager at McVitie's chocolate refinery and bakery in Stockport, Greater Manchester, which opened in 1917 and has produced chocolate digestives ever since they were invented eight years later. But despite more than 70 million packs being sold every year, Mr Coulson believes fans of the biscuit – including himself – have been eating them incorrectly. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Coulson said the biscuit was originally supposed to be eaten with the chocolate 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,' said Mr Coulson, who eats them with the chocolate on top. McVitie's, which first began as a small shop on Edinburgh's Rose Street in 1839, first developed the recipe for its digestive biscuits in 1892. It is credited to an employee named Alexander Grant. The biscuits go through a reservoir of chocolate which enrobes them so the chocolate is actually on the bottom of the biscuits and not on the top Named in reference to the belief that the inclusion of baking powder could aid digestion – as touted in an 1851 issue of The Lancet medical journal – the chocolate variety of the biscuit was then introduced by McVitie's more than a quarter-of-a-century later, two years before the creation of Jaffa Cakes in 1927. It is not the first time McVitie's has sought to flip the narrative around the method in which its prize product is consumed. In 2014, an email purportedly sent by a United Biscuits spokesperson, which was then circulated on social media, said: 'For your information, the biscuits go through a reservoir of chocolate which enrobes them so the chocolate is actually on the bottom of the biscuits and not on the top.' Contacted by the media at the time of that assertion, a McVitie's spokesperson was quoted as saying: 'The McVitie's stamp is on the other side, which is the top of the biscuit.' As they mark the biscuit's 100th year, employees at the Stockport factory were reported to have expressed their belief in the biscuit's enduring popularity. Lynn Loftus, who has worked there for 36 years, described it as 'just timeless', while Alix Knagg, who has spent six months at the factory, said the chocolate digestive was 'still a great product even after 100 years'.
Irish Times
24-04-2025
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