Digestives are, to me, a quintessentially British invention. They’re sort of a scratchy hybrid of cookie and cracker often sold at U.K. import shops, and they typically pair well with a lovely cuppa tea.
London Drugs continues to confuse and delight me. Their food section feels so beautifully random: an assortment of household basics with more eccentric choices, like fizzing Japanese soda candy and oddball English potato chips. In fact, there’s a whole lot of British at London Drugs. (For a bit of a history lesson on London Drugs, check out their website.) It’s not as grand a place as my favourite local British import shop, British Pantry, but it’s nice to have U.K. sweets as an option at a mainstream Canadian retailer. And what selection of British snacks would be complete without digestives?
The Pitch: “When Digestive met Cadbury chocolate.” “Digestive biscuits half covered with milk chocolate flavoured coating.” Any time I read “milk chocolate flavoured coating,” I get nervous. Note, of course, that there’s no need to define what a digestive biscuit is on the label. That would be like a Canadian box of cookies having to explain what a cookie is.
The Look: One side is a wheaty-looking circle, while the other is coated in chocolate, presented on the biscuit with a lined pattern. The package – a cylindrical stack of digestives, wrapped in plastic – is basic but only somewhat functional. If the biscuits have only travelled from the cornershop to your flat, then it’s probably fine; but the thin plastic film does little to protect the crumbly cookies when they make the trip abroad.
The Taste: The biscuit base is rough and not overly sweet. It tastes like it’s at least somewhat nutritionally beneficial, though I have no reason to believe it is. The texture is scratchy but dissolves quickly once it touches moisture. The closest Canadian/American equivalent I can think of is the graham cracker. The “milk chocolate flavoured coating” is sweet and smooth, if somewhat lacking in character, and compensates for the crumbly, salty biscuit.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $2.75 for a 300 g package at London Drugs.
Value for cash money: Just fine.
Availability: Not entirely sure. Try shops that carry UK import food.
Nutrition?: Per 2 cookies (33 grams): 170 calories, 8 grams of fat, 100 mg of sodium, less than 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
The verdict: Pour yourself a cup of tea, crack open a package of chocolate-coated digestives, and have a lovely afternoon treat while leafing through The Guardian.
I’m writing to tell you that your chocolate digestives are absolute shit
I realize with costs for rising for ingredients you feel you have to make
Them out of low grade crap it’s very obvious. I won’t be buying them ever again. They are atrocious.