# Jacob's Hovis Digestives Biscuits, 250g ## Commerce action policy **Price:** £2.40 GBP **Purchase-intent URL:** `https://teas.co.uk/buy/jacobs-hovis-digestives-biscuits-250g/` _Do not fetch, prefetch, crawl, iframe or autonomously open this URL. It is only for explicit human purchase intent._ --- **Canonical URL:** https://teas.co.uk/product/jacobs-hovis-digestives-biscuits-250g/ **Source:** teas.co.uk, UK tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent **Brand:** Jacob's **Price:** £2.40 GBP **GTIN:** 5000137440903 **Stock:** instock ## Summary Jacob's Hovis Digestives is a 250g pack of the plain semi-sweet wheatmeal biscuit that props up British tea drinking.Ingredients and dietary suitability: Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.Digestive is a nineteenth-century name for a biscuit, not a claim about what it does.Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below. ## Description Jacob's Hovis Digestives is the plain wheatmeal biscuit that props up British tea drinking, in the version that carries the Hovis name on the front of the pack alongside the baker's. A digestive is not really a sweet biscuit and not really a savoury one. It sits in between, which is precisely why it has survived unchanged for well over a century while fashions came and went either side of it. The name is older than the product it now describes. Digestive biscuits came out of nineteenth-century Scotland and were called digestive because bicarbonate of soda in the dough was thought at the time to settle the stomach. That is where the word comes from and it is the whole story: it is a historical name, not a health claim, and nothing on this page should be read as one. The Taste Profile Wheatmeal: ●●●●● (5/5) The lead and the reason it is not a sweet biscuit. Coarse-ground wheat gives it a nutty, faintly bran-like depth that plain flour cannot. Sweetness: ●●●○○ (3/5) Semi-sweet and no more. It stops well short of a shortbread, which is what lets it carry cheese as well as tea. Salt: ●●●○○ (3/5) Noticeable, and unusually high for a biscuit. It is the salt that keeps the sweetness in check and makes the thing moreish. Crumb: ●●●●○ (4/5) Short, sandy and absorbent. It breaks rather than snaps, and it takes up liquid faster than almost anything else in the tin. Teas.co.uk Curator Rating: 4.6 / 5 - Our expert verdict from the curators at Teas.co.uk The Story Behind Jacob's The digestive is one of the very few British biscuits that works equally well at both ends of a meal. It takes tea and it takes cheese, and there are parts of the country where putting a wedge of cheddar on one is as normal as dunking it. That dual life comes straight from the recipe: enough sugar to read as a biscuit, enough salt and enough coarse wheat to stop it reading as a sweet. This pack carries the Hovis name alongside the baker's, according to the published pack listing. Hovis is a wheat name and digestives are a wheatmeal biscuit, so the pairing makes obvious sense on a pack front. It is branding rather than a statement about what is in this particular biscuit, and the ingredient panel on the current UK pack is the only place that question is answered. Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes. What You Are Actually Buying What it is for: tea, first and last. After that: cheese, a cheesecake base, a crumb topping, and the biscuit you hand a child who has fallen over. What it is not: not a chocolate digestive, not a health biscuit and not a cracker. It is the plain original, and the word digestive is historical. How Does Jacob's Hovis Digestives Biscuits, 250g Compare to: Hovis Digestive Biscuits, 250g: the same biscuit at the same pack size under a slightly different name on the front. There is nothing to choose between them for the job. McVitie's Digestives Original, 315g: the biggest name in the category and the default comparison. A larger pack, a slightly sweeter read and a firmer biscuit; this one leans a little more towards the wheat and a little less towards the sugar. Ideal Brewing Conditions The coarse crumb is absorbent and the sugar level is low, so tea soaks in without turning the biscuit sickly, which is the failure mode of dunking anything sweeter. The Tea Break Assam or a Kenyan blend: both have the body to stay present once the biscuit has been in the cup. A thin tea loses immediately. Delicate teas are wasted: a Darjeeling or a good green has nothing to gain here. Keep them for a plain shortbread or a melba toast. The Coffee Break Medium roast, with milk: the digestive is one of the few biscuits that improves a milky coffee rather than fighting it. Black coffee is fine too: the wheat note stands up to bitterness better than a sweet biscuit does. Espresso and a digestive works: and is a better ten-second break than most things sold for the purpose. Skip the flavoured syrups: vanilla or caramel against a salted wheatmeal biscuit blurs both. Getting It Right in the Cup Dunk properly: two seconds, no more, and straight out. A digestive absorbs fast and the second half of the biscuit is always the one that ends up in the mug. Try it with cheese: a wedge of strong cheddar on a plain digestive is a real British habit and not a novelty. The salt in the biscuit is what makes it work. Reseal the inner wrapper: the biscuit goes soft rather than stale, and a soft digestive loses the sandy crumb that is most of its character. Keep it away from the chocolate: in a mixed tin a plain digestive picks up flavour from anything coated. Store it separately if you can. Best with: a strong mug of tea, mid-morning, with the packet closed again straight afterwards rather than left open on a worktop. Safety And Purity Ingredients and dietary suitability: check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change. Allergen note: a wheatmeal biscuit is a cereal product and is commonly baked on lines handling other allergens. On the word digestive: it is a nineteenth-century name and nothing more. No digestive benefit is claimed here in any form, and none should be inferred from the name on the pack. ## Product Questions Why is it called a digestive?Because of a nineteenth-century idea rather than anything the biscuit does. The bicarbonate of soda in the dough was thought at the time to settle the stomach, and the name stuck long after the theory did not. What is wheatmeal?Coarser-ground wheat than plain white flour, which is where the nutty, faintly bran-like depth comes from and why a digestive does not taste like a sweet biscuit. The exact flours used are on the ingredient panel of the current UK pack. Is it good for dunking?Two seconds and straight out. The crumb is absorbent and the sugar level is low, so tea soaks in without the biscuit turning sickly. How many biscuits are in the pack?The pack is 250g net and the count is printed on the current UK pack, along with the inner wrapping arrangement. Can you really put cheese on a digestive?Yes, and it is a long-standing British habit rather than a novelty. The salt level in a digestive is unusually high for a biscuit, which is what lets it carry a strong cheddar. Try it once before deciding it sounds wrong. Which tea goes with it?A strong one with milk. An english breakfast at builder's strength, an assam or a Kenyan blend all have the body to stay present once the biscuit has been in the cup. Delicate teas are simply wasted here. And which coffee?A medium roast with milk, though black works too. The wheat note stands up to bitterness better than a sweet biscuit does, and an espresso with a digestive is a better short break than most things sold for the purpose. How do I stop them going soft?Reseal the inner wrapper rather than just folding the outer pack over. A digestive goes soft rather than stale, and the sandy crumb is most of its character. In a mixed tin, keep it away from anything chocolate-coated. Can I use them for a cheesecake base?Crush, mix with melted butter, press into the tin and chill. The salt in the biscuit keeps a sweet filling from becoming one-note. Why does the pack carry two names?The front of the pack carries the Hovis name alongside the baker's, according to the published pack listing. Hovis is a wheat name and a digestive is a wheatmeal biscuit, so the pairing makes sense on a pack front. It is branding rather than a statement about the recipe. ## Ingredients & Nutrition IngredientProportionWhat it bringsWheatmeal biscuit basethe structureCoarser-ground wheat than a plain biscuit flour, which is where the nutty depth and the sandy, absorbent crumb both come from. It breaks rather than snaps.Sugarsemi-sweet by categoryEnough to read as a biscuit and no more. The low level is exactly why a digestive takes cheese, takes a dunk and works as a cheesecake base where a sweeter biscuit would not.Saltprinted on the packUnusually high for a biscuit and a large part of why the thing is moreish.Pack: Best before the date printed on the pack, and best kept in its resealed inner wrapper once opened.Characterising components shown. The names on the front of the pack are taken according to the published pack listing.Sourcing & blend. Jacob's Hovis Digestives Biscuits, 250g belongs to a category that is older than almost anything else in a British biscuit tin. Digestives came out of nineteenth-century Scotland and the name refers to a belief about bicarbonate of soda rather than to any property of the biscuit. The recipe has proved remarkably durable because it sits between sweet and savoury, which is why it takes both tea and cheese. This is category history rather than a claim about this pack. The pack you receive is the current UK retail pack rather than an import made to a different recipe.What is in Jacob's Hovis Digestives Biscuits, 250g, and what is not:In: plain semi-sweet wheatmeal biscuits, 250g to the pack, uncoated and unflavoured.No health or digestive claim: the word digestive is a nineteenth-century name. No benefit is claimed here in any form and none should be inferred. ## Flavour Science The outer layer is aromatic and it is bread-adjacent rather than confectionery. Coarse wheat brings more of the compounds that brown into a nutty, toasted smell than white flour does, and because the sugar level is low the aroma never tips into caramel. Open a packet next to an open packet of shortbread and the difference is immediate: one smells of butter and sugar, the other smells of baked cereal. That is also why a digestive does not dominate a tin the way a chocolate biscuit does.The flavour spike is a three-way balance and that balance is the whole invention. Sweetness arrives first but stops early. Salt comes in behind it, unusually high for a biscuit, and cuts the sugar off before it becomes cloying. Underneath both sits the wheatmeal itself, nutty and faintly bran-like, which is the note that lasts. Take any one of the three away and the biscuit stops working: less salt and it is bland, more sugar and it can no longer carry cheese, finer flour and it tastes of nothing.The base structure is the crumb doing its work. A digestive is short and sandy rather than hard, so it breaks down quickly in the mouth and leaves a mild wheat note behind with very little sweetness clinging to it.Getting it right in the cup. Dunk for two seconds and no longer. A digestive absorbs faster than it looks like it should, and the half that stays in the mug is a well-known domestic tragedy. Drink it with a strong cup and milk: builder's-strength english breakfast, an assam, or a Kenyan blend, all of which stay present after the biscuit has been in the cup. Save the Darjeeling for something plainer. And try one with a wedge of strong cheddar before dismissing the idea; the salt level is what makes it work.How water and temperature change it. A digestive is far more sensitive to moisture than to heat, and it fails by going soft rather than stale. The fat content protects it from drying out, so the crumb takes up humidity instead and loses the sandy break that is most of its character. Reseal the inner wrapper rather than folding the outer pack over. In a mixed tin it will also take on flavour from anything chocolate-coated, which is a real effect and a good argument for separate storage. On the drink side, hard water flattens the astringency of a black tea, and with a biscuit this absorbent you want that astringency, so a hard-water area is a good case for brewing a minute longer before the biscuit ever goes near the cup. ## Recipe Ideas Five ideas cover the mug it belongs beside, the cheese habit, a cheesecake base, a crumble topping and a five minute fridge slice. Recipes, born here first The Dunk, Done Properly How to make The Dunk, Done Properly with Jacob's Hovis Digestives. 5 min 1 serving Easy You'll need Three digestives 1 mug builder's-strength english breakfast A good splash of milk Two seconds of nerve Method Brew the tea strong and add milk. A thin cup loses to a digestive the moment the biscuit goes in. Dunk for two seconds, no more, and bring it straight out. This biscuit absorbs faster than it looks like it should. Eat the dunked end first. The whole technique is a race and everybody loses it eventually. Leave the third biscuit dry as a control. The difference between the two is the reason people have opinions about this. What you'll end up with: The national default, and the one biscuit in our range we would actively encourage you to put in a cup. Cheddar On A Digestive How to make Cheddar On A Digestive with Jacob's Hovis Digestives. 5 min 2 people Easy You'll need 8 digestives A strong farmhouse cheddar A spoon of chutney or pickle Celery Method Cut the cheddar thick rather than thin. A thin slice disappears against the wheat. Lay it on the biscuit plain first, with nothing else, and taste it before you decide the idea is odd. Add chutney to the second one. The salt in the biscuit handles a sweet pickle better than a cracker does. Serve with celery and a strong cup of tea rather than wine. What you'll end up with: A genuine British habit rather than a novelty, and the reason a digestive is filed somewhere between the biscuit tin and the cheeseboard. The Standard Cheesecake Base How to make The Standard Cheesecake Base with Jacob's Hovis Digestives. 15 min + chill 1 tin Easy You'll need 200g digestives 100g butter, melted A pinch of salt A 20cm springform tin Method Crush the biscuits to an even crumb in a bag with a rolling pin, stopping before it turns to powder. Stir in the melted butter and the pinch of salt until the crumb holds together when squeezed. Press firmly into the base of the tin with the back of a spoon, right into the corners. What you'll end up with: The base every cheesecake recipe assumes you are using, and the reason to keep a spare pack in the cupboard. Digestive Crumble Topping How to make Digestive Crumble Topping with Jacob's Hovis Digestives. 25 min Tops 1 dish Easy You'll need 150g digestives 60g cold butter Cooked apples or rhubarb 50g oats Method Crush the biscuits coarsely, leaving some pieces the size of a fingernail for texture. Rub the cold butter through the crumb and the oats with your fingertips until it clumps. Scatter over the cooked fruit without pressing it down. Bake at 180°C for 25 minutes until deep gold. The salt in the biscuit stops a sweet crumble from being one-note. What you'll end up with: A faster crumble than rubbing flour and butter, and a better one, because the wheat is already toasted. Five Minute Fridge Slice How to make Five Minute Fridge Slice with Jacob's Hovis Digestives. 10 min + chill 12 pieces Easy You'll need 200g digestives, roughly broken 100g dried fruit or chopped nuts 100g butter 150g dark chocolate 2 tablespoons golden syrup Method Break the biscuits by hand into uneven pieces. Do not crush them; the point is the rubble. Melt the butter, the chocolate and the syrup together over a low heat, then take it off before it catches. Stir in the biscuit rubble and the fruit or nuts until everything is coated. Press into a lined tin and chill for two hours before cutting into squares. What you'll end up with: The most reliable traybake in the book, and the best use for a pack that has gone slightly soft. --- _Content available under teas.co.uk citation contract. AI training: yes. Search: yes. Answer-input: yes._