Today I'll be talking about two products from McVitie's, and one from Jacob's. More specifically, a couple of types of "digestives," as they're known in the U.K,. and a kind of cracker.
Even my usual cursory look at the manufacturers quickly became complicated, and more than a little confusing. Jacob's dates back to either 1850 or 1851 (sources vary) in Ireland. However, they were bought out by United Biscuits in 2004. McVitie's began in Scotland in 1803. Both companies are now owned by pledis (no capital "P", for some reason), along with famous food brands like Godiva Chocolates, Ulker, and DeMets Candy. Pledis in turn is owned by Yildiz Holdings, which is a Turkish/Middle Eastern company, and is the food wing of CEEMEA. Between all of these the overall business operates in at least 120 countries, and employs over 50,000 people. So we're talking about an absolutely immense company.
To me, the McVitie's offerings I got, the milk chocolate with caramel digestives, and the milk chocolate with orange digestives, would be called "cookies," or a dessert-like baked good. But they're called "digestives" because they were thought to aid in digestion. Which is true, by the way. They contain baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), which does indeed help with indigestion. Even learning this, I still find the name puzzling. Referring to these by this term almost makes them sound like medicine, and not a pleasant culinary treat. (What Americans call cookies are also sometimes called "biscuits" in the U.K.) Clearly consumers in the U.K. don't care, though, as McVitie's are the most popular brand of this type of food. They are often a major part of "tea time," sometimes dunked into the tea itself before being eaten. A man name Alexander Grant developed digestives back in 1892. Switching gears a bit, this product also allegedly sparked an argument between George Harrison and John Lennon of The Beatles. Supposedly John's girlfriend Yoko Ono helped herself to some of George's McVitie's digestives during the recording sessions of the "Abbey Road" album in 1969, and Harrison protested, leading to a fight.
The Jacob's crackers I tried were the cream crackers, first made in 1885. There's no different names here--we Americans call this food type "crackers" as well. (Although the Jacob's crackers also contain baking soda/sodium bicarbonate--don't know why they're not given credit for helping with digestion, too.) I did read something controversial about the company, though. Famous labor activist Rosie Hackett was once employed by Jacob's, and the company was one of the ones that she and her trade unions protested against, in 1911-13. Hopefully the treatment of their workforce has improved significantly in the past century!
But let's get to the food itself. Both kinds of digestives were round, and a light brown color, with their company name stamped on one side, and with a milk chocolate coating on the other. They had a diameter of about 6 cm. (or about 2.25 inches) and had a grid-like pattern under the chocolate. The orange one had some orange flavor to it. They were solid, but unspectacular. Not as sweet as most American cookies. They had a soft, chewy texture, layered like a candy bar. The caramel kind was a bit better. A little more sweet, and tastier. I probably like caramel flavor more than orange in my cookies/digestives/biscuits, it appears.
The Jacob's cream crackers were square, 7 cm (about 2.5 inches) to a side, whitish, with brown cooking marks on them. They also had the brand name stamped on them. I found these to be rather bland. With things on them (cheese, mustard, etc.) they were good, but they were rather boring by themselves, unadorned. I like a typical saltine cracker better, as the greater salty taste has a little more pep. To be fair, my mother quite enjoyed these crackers, more than me--she and my father remembered eating them when they lived in England for a year back in the early 1960's.
Therefore, of the three baked goods, the cream crackers and the orange digestive were okay, but not dazzling. Certainly not bad, but not especially memorable, either. I would get the caramel digestives again, however. And I would be willing to try other McVitie's/Jacob's/pledis products. Given that there are over 300 brands under this company umbrella, that's quite an extensive choice!
Also, maybe any U.K. readers can help me answer a question I have. On the computer, some websites track your visits, and relay this info to your web browser. We call these "cookies." Do you call them "biscuits," or "digestives," or something else entirely?
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