Jammie Dodgers Jumbo Pack: Keeping Sixteen Fresh

The Jumbo pack is the everyday raspberry Jammie Dodger in double the quantity, so the only real question is whether your house will finish sixteen before they soften. Answer that truthfully and the rest follows: where to keep them, how long to dunk and what to pour.

Same biscuit, twice the bag

Nothing about the recipe changes at this size. Each round is two pieces of shortcake with raspberry flavoured apple jam between them, the jam making up 27 per cent of the biscuit on the published ingredient list, and a heart cut through the lid so the red shows. The only difference from the 140g packet is quantity: sixteen biscuits and 280g, exactly twice the weight.

That makes it the pack for a family that already knows it likes raspberry. In our range the Jumbo is raspberry only; the cherry, strawberry and mango and passionfruit flavours we carry come in 140g packs, so those are the ones to experiment with. Once a flavour has won the argument at home, the Jumbo is how you keep it stocked.

Sixteen biscuits, one opened bag

Shortcake keeps reasonably well, which is why a big bag makes sense at all. The weak point is the opened film. Once it is torn, air and warmth get to work, and a bag left rolled over on the worktop will not hold its snap for a fortnight. The fix is dull but effective: decant the biscuits into an airtight tin as soon as the bag is opened and keep it somewhere cool, away from the kettle and the oven.

It is worth doing for the jam as much as the biscuit. A warm cupboard is what hurts the filling, and it does more damage to the jam than to the shortcake. Kept cool and sealed, the last few biscuits out of the tin eat very much like the first, which is the whole point of buying sixteen at once.

Two seconds in the mug, then out

A Jammie Dodger will take a quick dunk, but only a quick one. Two seconds is plenty, held by the rim well away from the heart, because the jam softens long before the shortcake does and a longer dip leaves the middle behind in the tea. For children, a glass of cold milk sidesteps the question entirely.

For grown-ups, strong black tea with milk and no sugar is the match. The jam brings nearly all the sweetness and the shortcake very little, so a sugared mug tips the whole thing over. A malty breakfast blend brewed a touch longer than usual has the tannin to cut through the fruit and stands up to three or four biscuits in a row.

The packs we stock

• Jammie Dodgers 16 Raspberry Flavour Biscuits Jumbo, 280g (barcode 072417143731)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Jammie Dodgers 16 Raspberry Flavour Biscuits Jumbo, 280g (barcode 072417143731) says it contains wheat (gluten) and sulphites. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.

Ingredients, as published: Wheat flour (with Calcium carbonate, Iron, Niacin and Thiamin), Raspberry flavoured apple jam (27%) (Glucose-fructose syrup, Apples (Apple, Preservative (Sodium metabisulphite)), Sugar, Humectant (Glycerol), Acid (Citric acid), Acidity regulator (Sodium citrates), Flavourings, Colours (Anthocyanins, Annatto norbixin), Gelling agent (Pectin)), Vegetable oils (Sustainable palm, Rapeseed), Sugar, Partially inverted sugar syrup, Raising agents (Ammonium bicarbonate, Sodium bicarbonate), Salt, Flavourings.

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.

What to drink with it

• Glengettie Welsh Breakfast Tea, 80 Tea Bags 250g: A Welsh breakfast blend for a biscuit baked at Llantarnam in Wales, brewed strong and taken with milk.
• Twinings Everyday 120 Plant-Based, 348g: A big box of everyday tea for the house that also buys its biscuits sixteen at a time.
• Yorkshire Tea Gold Blend Loose Leaf Tea, 250g: A rich loose-leaf blend with enough body to hold its own against sweet raspberry jam.

Elsewhere in the Jammie Dodgers range

• Jammie Dodgers Cherry Flavour Biscuits, 140g
• Jammie Dodgers Mango & Passionfruit Flavour Biscuits, 140g
• Jammie Dodgers Minis Cherry Flavour Multipack Biscuits, 6 x 20g
• Jammie Dodgers Minis Raspberry Flavour Biscuits 6 Snack Packs
• Jammie Dodgers Raspberry Flavour Biscuits, 140g
• Jammie Dodgers Strawberry Flavour Jam & Biscuit, 140g

The full range is on the Jammie Dodgers brand page.

FAQ

How many biscuits are in the Jammie Dodgers Jumbo pack? Sixteen, in a 280g bag, which is twice the weight of the standard 140g raspberry packet.

How do you keep Jammie Dodgers fresh once opened? Move them into an airtight tin the day the bag is opened and keep it cool, because a warm cupboard is what spoils the jam.

Are the Jumbo biscuits different from the 140g ones? Not in the recipe. They are the same raspberry shortcake sandwich, and only the quantity changes.

What is in the jam? The published ingredient list describes it as raspberry flavoured apple jam, and the allergen statement lists wheat (gluten) and sulphites.

Why do Jammie Dodgers have a heart in the top? The window shows off the filling, and it lets the jam set properly as the biscuits are made rather than being shut under a solid lid.

Curator's note: Buy the Jumbo once the household has settled on raspberry, and open it straight into a tin. Sixteen go a lot faster after school than you would think. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Jammie Dodgers Jumbo Pack: Keeping Sixteen Fresh

More from the tea wiki

• Tea and Biscuits
• Biscuit Dunking Physics: The Real Science
• Tea Pairing Principles: Reason, Don't Memorise
• Tea With Cake: The Pairing That Never Fails (If You Get It Right)
• Tea and Food Pairing: The Five Principles

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