McVitie's Milk Chocolate Hobnobs Jumbo Pack: Buying and Keeping

A jumbo pack is bought for a whole household, not for one person, and the one thing that keeps an open pack crisp is how you close it. Get that right and a biscuit this filling goes a long way.

What goes into a milk Hobnob

Rolled oats top the published ingredients at 30%, with the milk chocolate at 25% and wholemeal wheat flour at 16%. The chocolate is sugar, cocoa butter and cocoa mass with milk in three forms, skimmed milk powder, whey and butter oil, bound with soya lecithin. The allergen advice names wheat and oats, which contain gluten, plus milk and soya.

Rolled oats go into the dough whole rather than milled, so each biscuit bakes with its own bumps and hollows. The chocolate pools in the hollows instead of lying flat, which is why no two biscuits look quite alike and some seem more generously covered than their neighbours. It is not a fault; it is the mark of a biscuit that has not been ground smooth.

Keeping a big pack at its best

An oat crumb holds out against damp slightly longer than wheatmeal does, and that is the whole margin. Once the film is torn the biscuits start taking moisture from the kitchen, and a pack parked open next to the kettle will soften long before it is finished. Fold the top over and clip it from the first day, or tip the biscuits into a tin with a tight lid.

Match the pack to the household. The jumbo earns its place where several people reach into it every day. These are heavier than they look, and most people find one or two plenty, so a pack that seems large on the shelf goes further than its weight suggests. For one person working through it slowly, a smaller pack will stay crisper to the last biscuit.

Dunking and the afternoon cup

Chocolate side up, a milk Hobnob will take about five seconds in hot tea, roughly twice what a digestive manages. The tea finds its way into the gaps between the oats rather than saturating the whole biscuit, so it keeps its shape, although the chocolate softens before the biscuit gives way. The ridged surface helps the coating grip, too.

Brew the tea strong. A black blend with milk, given four minutes rather than three, suits the sweetness of milk chocolate and oats, and a milky coffee works as well. This is the biscuit for late afternoon, with the evening meal still an hour or two away, when something lighter would not carry you through.

The packs we stock

• McVitie's Hobnobs Milk Choc Jumbo Pack Biscuits, 431g (barcode 5000168188713)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for McVitie's Hobnobs Milk Choc Jumbo Pack Biscuits, 431g (barcode 5000168188713) says it contains wheat and oats (gluten), milk and soya. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.

Ingredients, as published: Rolled Oats (30%), Milk Chocolate (25%) [Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Dried Skimmed Milk, Dried Whey (Milk), Butter Oil (Milk), Vegetable Fats (Palm, Shea), Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, E476), Natural Flavouring], Wholemeal Wheat Flour (16%), Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Palm), Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate). Salt.

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

• Barry's Tea Gold Blend, 80 Tea Bags 250g: A strong, full blend to give four minutes and a splash of milk, the dunking cup for a five-second Hobnob.
• Yorkshire Tea Caramelised Biscuit Brew, 40 Tea Bags 112g: Its caramelised-biscuit theme makes it a playful afternoon match for oats and milk chocolate.
• Clipper Fairtrade Everyday Tea, 80 Pack 232g: A no-fuss everyday black tea for a household working its way through a big pack.
• Dragonfly Organic Cape Chai Rooibos, 40 Tea Bags 80g: A spiced rooibos chai for a change of cup, its warmth running alongside the toasted oat.

Elsewhere in the McVitie's range

• McVitie's Club Layers Orange, 39g
• McVitie's Club Mint Biscuit Bars Multipack, 7 Bars 154g
• McVitie's Club Orange Biscuit Bars Multipack, 7 Bars 154g
• McVitie's Club Salted Caramel Flavour Biscuit Bars Multipack, 7 x 22g
• McVitie's Dark Chocolate Digestive Biscuits, 266g
• McVitie's Digestive Pink Raspberry & Cream Flavour, Limited Edition, 232g

The full range is on the McVitie's brand page.

FAQ

How do you keep an open pack of Hobnobs crisp? Close it from the first day with a clip, or move the biscuits into an airtight tin, and keep them away from kettle steam.

How long can you dunk a milk chocolate Hobnob? About five seconds, chocolate side up, which is roughly twice as long as a digestive lasts.

Why do some Hobnobs have more chocolate than others? Whole rolled oats give each biscuit an uneven surface, and the chocolate settles into the hollows, so coverage varies from one to the next.

How big is the jumbo pack of milk chocolate Hobnobs? The net weight is 431g; the biscuit count is printed on the current pack.

What tea goes with milk chocolate Hobnobs? Strong black tea given four minutes and a splash of milk. A milky coffee also works.

Curator's note: Put the clip on before you eat the first one. With a pack this size it is the one habit that pays off. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: McVitie's Milk Chocolate Hobnobs Jumbo Pack: Buying and Keeping

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
• Tea with Chocolate: Pair by Cocoa Percentage
• Tea and Chocolate Pairing

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