McVitie’s weighs in on debate about which side of a chocolate digestive is the top

For a curious species, we’re all guilty of asking too few questions.

Well, maybe not all of us. Some of us are flush with enough time to wonder such things as: is the chocolate part of a chocolate digestive the top or the bottom of the biscuit?

If that’s been keeping you up at night, then prepare yourself for a decent night’s kip because we can finally put that agonising quandary to bed.

McVitie’s has lifted the lid on the perspective from which it views its chocolate digestives, and who better to set the standard for the rest of us than the undisputed king of British biscuits?

Their manufacturing process looks like something out of Mordor (Bloomberg / Contributor/Getty Images)

Even if it’s a question you’ve never come close to asking, we can at least agree that we’re all familiar with the simple delight of a chocolate digestive. Their curious blend of sweet and savoury, dunkability, and moreishness have made them a British institution, not least among those of us who are partial to a couple alongside a cup of tea.

You may even be having one right now, so enraptured in this article that you’ve forgotten to stop dunking it in your tea. Now it’s collapsed into the bottom of your mug to sit there like sediment at the bottom of the Thames; we can only apologise.

If you aren’t familiar with their origin, the story goes that they were designed to aid digestion – hence the name – and supposedly to help curb flatulence. It’s safe to say that less sugary alternative remedies are available.

Now, if you aren’t au fait with the orientation of these bad boys, we’re getting there.

You might assume that the chocolatey part is the top. If you put them down on a surface, for example, you wouldn’t want the chocolate to potentially melt slightly and leave a residue, so in that case the chocolate should be facing up.

However, you could argue that the chocolate being on the bottom means it hits your taste buds before the digestive bit. Of course, when you chew your food you’ll mash it all over your tastebuds regardless, so making first contact isn’t all that important.

If you refer to the packaging, McVitie’s chocolate digestives are described as 'crunchy wheat biscuits, topped with a layer of its signature silky-smooth, milk chocolate'.

‘Topped’! Case closed, or so you might think.

Perhaps not. After all, before they’re coated in chocolate, these guys are just regular digestives. One side has an angular edge around the circumference with a kind of hatched texture, then the top side has a curved edge and the branding printed into it. There’s no doubt the curved, branded side is the top side.

When the chocolate goes onto the biscuit, it goes onto the hatched side – in other words, it goes on the bottom.

A change of perspective? (Bloomberg / Contributor/Getty Images)

It seems this is the truth of it. A Reddit user got in touch with McVitie’s to settle the score, and the company replied: "For your information, the biscuits go through a reservoir of chocolate which enrobes them so the chocolate is actually on the bottom of the biscuit and not the top.

"We hope this helps settle your argument."

We’re sorry to quite literally turn your world upside down, but knowledge is power so err… go forth and conquer.

Topics: UK Food