The other day I reviewed M&S's Eton Mess Shortbread Rounds (see here) as a Scottish instalment in the brand's growing 'Taste of..." promotion. Two problems I had with this offering were that the Eton Mess twist wasn't at all Scottish and, in the tasting, didn't really come through. That said, the core shortbread was lovely and I thought the range still had promise in it so I turned to this much more Scottish sounding oats and Heather Honey variant.
As with the Eton Mess rounds, the packaging for this offering is lovely. Refined type, tartan strip and delightful photography come together in a mature design that reinforces the quality and provenance of the product. The rounds themselves aren't quite as visually interesting as the Eton Mess ones; however, they are still nicely baked with a slightly knobbly top thanks to the oats.
Taste-wise, thankfully, these are a step up from the Eton Mess ones. The oats supports the lovely buttery shortbread with their coarser texture whilst the Heather honey comes through gently with its distinctive flavour appreciable. Indeed, there's a bit of the flapjack about these that's hard to resist.
In summary, these shortbread rounds boast the strong basic packaging that's shared across the accompanying range. Moreover, they deliver on flavour with the character of the Heather honey evident and working in almost flapjack-like concert with the oats. Simple yet effective stuff that gets another recommend from me.
At its
very simplest, shortbread is just the combination of flour, butter and sugar
meaning it could easily be written off as a bit boring. But, for me, this
humble buttery mass ranks as one of my very favourite biscuits to enjoy with a
cuppa and I pretty much always have some knocking about the kitchen
somewhere. To that end, I was more than delighted to recently see
M&S's range of 'Taste of Scotland' shortbread, including this new Eton
Mess inspired offering. Admittedly, for a range trading on its provenance, I
didn't quite see the relevance of Eton Mess to Scotland - something like Cranachan would have been more appropriate. That
aside, the biscuit sounded mighty fun and I was intrigued tosee how well the dessert translated.
I thought the packaging for these biscuits was great. The primary panel sported a lovely photograph of the Scottish landscape alongside a very appropriate tartan design which was brought together nicely by a shared purple tone. Whilst the white type boasted low stroke weight and some italicised, serif font to reinforce a sense of refinement and quality.
As for the taste, the basic shortbread was beautiful with a rich, buttery flavour that ticked all the boxes for me. Though, unfortunately, on the Eton Mess front, I was less enthusiastic. I got some pleasing textural contrast from the strawberry and meringue pieces but, unlike M&S's 'Summer Berry Eton Mess' from their 'British Treat Cakes' offering, I didn't really get much flavour at all. Indeed, the berry component in particular needed to be much more pronounced to give the biscuit a fighting chance of imitating the dessert.
Summing up, the packaging was smart with simple white type complemented by lovely photography and a particularly appropriate tartan strip. Taste-wise, the basic shortbread was very good and the added ingredients provided some pleasant textural contrast; however, ultimately, the biscuits failed in delivering that all important Eton Mess flavour. Close but no cigar I'm afraid.
Brown sauce or red sauce? It's a divisive question with many Brits firmly falling on one side or the other. Personally, forced to choose, I would have to go with brown sauce; however, I do appreciate both - you certainly wouldn't catch me eating a fish finger sandwich without the liberal application of ketchup. To that end, I've kept an open mind about Burton's new Fish 'n' Chips products which pitch these two mighty accompaniments against one another in savoury biscuit form.
Adorned in the brand's classic 80's newspaper-inspired livery, I'll get straight to it and say that these look great. Opening the multi-pack reveals five very sweet, miniature packets - somewhat evocative of the old Mini Cheddars bags in size. Whilst, thanks to that newspaper design, the packaging artwork is full of the charm and interest that made this brand so memorable in the first place. As for the look of the snacks themselves, they're fun too with the biscuits sporting rudimentary yet effective fish and chip forms. Brilliant stuff that speaks for itself.
Taste-wise, the base snack sports a reasonably thick frame with a light biscuit texture that's pretty distinctive. With regards to the brown sauce flavour, the key ingredient is prominent with a definite taste of vinegar bounding through to ensure the snack can't be accused of blandness. Given its acidity, I can't say it's the brown sauce flavour I'm most accustomed to, that is, HP or Daddies Sauce; however, it's consistent with other brands I've tried in the past.
Moving on to the tomato ketchup variant, once again, this flavour isn't on the fence with tomato very much identifiable. That said, yet again, I can't say the flavour is totally reminiscent of the sauce I'm most used to, Heinz ketchup. Indeed, the tomato in these biscuits is actually less synthetic tasting with much more of the vegetable's flavour coming through.
So which flavour did I like best and why? Well, I have to give it to brown sauce on this occasion. Whilst both products could have benefited from a touch of sweetness in my book, the tomato one was just a bit to tomatoey for my palate.
Overall, these look superb and I'm impressed how Burton's have incorporated the flavour of the sauces so distinctly. For those that like a vinegary twang and/or a reasonably natural tasting tomato snack, I think these will be a particular winner. Oh, and if you do pick them up, be sure to vote for your favourite flavour on the brand's Facebook page - there's a chance of winning £10,000.
Some months back, M&S launched a wave of retro-inspired products. All sporting a 'Tastes of the British Isles' banner, the offerings spanned sweet and savoury and aimed to celebrate the best of traditional foods - something GBD wholeheartedly supports. One particularly fun element came in the form of biscuits based on classic British cakes and puddings, including, as featured here, good old Battenberg cake. Admittedly, at the time, I missed out on all of this as M&S wasn't terribly accessible where I lived; however, a store has recently opened in my local town and, seeing these biscuits still knocking around, I knew I had to give them a go.
Presentation-wise, I liked these. The imagery was clean and fresh conveying a distinctly summery feel. The product name text sported fine, unfussy lettering that stood out elegantly against the pink background. The accompanying bit of historical text was a nice touch and provided insight in to the source of inspiration. As for the biscuits themselves, I thought they looked great with that classic square, checkerboard design certainly bringing something different to the biscuit tin.
With regards to taste, I will start by saying that, as a cake, Battenberg is something I'm slightly wary of. Shop-bought versions all too often reduce this offering to a barrage of sweetness leaving all but quirky looks and nostalgia to redeem things. Indeed, homemade Battenberg should burst with flavour from the nuttiness of the marzipan to the light sponge punctuated with sweet jam. To that end, I was really hoping this biscuit spin-off would shine were others have faltered.
Digging in, the almonds immediately shone through and the initial hit was pleasant. However, unfortunately, things almost immediately went downhill as the almond flavour became really quite bitter. First, I thought the biscuits just lacked a touch of sweetness but, on reflection, I'm confident too much 'flavouring' - what I assume to be something like almond essence - has been added. I suppose you could pair these with sweet tea to offset the taste but, at the end of the day, the almonds really need to reigned in to balance things and allow other flavours to express themselves.
To sum up, these Battenberg biscuits looked the part with a quirky, colourful appearance. Moreover, for a product purporting to represent the best of British, kudos to M&S for using an all butter recipe and not resorting to cheap vegetable oils. However, I have to admit that I found the almond flavour overdone and really quite bitter. There were elements of promise but, ultimately, these didn't work for me. BRAND LINKS M&S Website - Food & Wine Page
Well over a century old now, the McVitie's Digestive is a true brand icon with a great story behind it. To that end, I've done a bit of research for my website and put together both a McVitie's manufacturing page and a Digestives resource that shows the brand's evolution.
As said before, this work is part of an ongoing project that will see me revise a number of my articles on the website to create more comprehensive resources that are regularly updated to contain all relevant brand-related information. Therefore, expect more soon!
Long before people started reaching for the alcohol to get the party started they relied on simpler, more innocent things. Indeed, no self-respecting children's party was complete without the merry addition of Party Rings. With their cheerful packaging, brightly-coloured surfaces and sugary hit there wasn't much to not like about this brand of biscuit as a young child.
THOUGHTS
Packaging:
The front of the packaging is as cheery as ever utilising a bright colour scheme of varying hues to impress upon the eye the feeling of energy and fun. The large brand name text is positioned on a slight diagonal and the letters are orientated at differing angles to inject a further playful spirit in to the design.
The main side of the packaging for display purposes carries on over the principal design in a nicely condensed fashion with the playful brand name featured against the biscuit decorated blue background. Moreover, Vinnie's 'quality guarantee' graphic features on the far right to help connect the product with the larger spirit of the Fox's brand. As for the other side, the primary design is cut short to allow for product information to be featured, which, at least by virtue of the bright background, doesn't feel overly dominant to the eye.
The back just includes the basic product text with a little notice to the far left referring consumer's to the product's variant, Party Footballs - a worthwhile inclusion as I didn't know this spin-off existed.
Biscuits:
Being reasonably small biscuits (around 45mm diameter), a Party Ring weighs in at a light 7g. Appearance-wise, I thought they still looked great with colourful toppings nicely finished off and decorative biscuit undersides - I particularly nice touch I thought.
Taste-wise, well, firstly, I will say they smelt inviting with a nice sweet - but not overly so - aroma. Eating one, the biscuits provided that nice bite of biscuit and, by virtue of their topping, a slight chew which I found quite pleasant and unexpected. Moreover, I thought the biscuits were going to hit me over the head with a sugar but, again, I was surprised to find the sweetness not too intense - don't get me wrong, these will still make kid's very happy.
SUMMING UP
I was pleasantly surprised with these. The packaging's design supports the biscuits positioning with its fun, vibrant overtones. The Rings themselves are still colourful and, I imagine, very attractive to the young children they are targeted at. Moreover, the biscuits aren't just a wave of sugar there is some pleasant textures to appreciate and the sweetness is not overdone. All in all, with all the nostalgia these evoked, I enjoyed this old favourite of the biscuit tin.
Browsing the biscuit aisle in a local supermarket with the blog in mind my eyes drifted to an area so positioned as to almost demand that it be overlooked. In this land of biscuit obscurity I spotted a brand pushed right back on the shelf that I hadn't eaten let alone seen for a very long time, Fox's Sports biscuits. Getting them home and quickly researching, the only information I could glean about these little shortcake beauties was that they were invented by a chap called David Glen in 1971. Indeed, with very little background and no advertising to memory these biscuits have seemingly been left to march on all by themselves and, to that end, I thought it was about time they got some attention.
THOUGHTS
Packaging:
Employing a red background with a large streak of light blue across it and accents of white, the basic look had a fluid, energetic feel about it that keyed in to the type of designs we've become accustomed to seeing in sports products. Building on this, the product shot was centralised to draw in the eye to the sporting depictions. This imagery worked well with the background: a streak of white lined up with the batsman to signify a ball's trajectory, and a cyclist's wheel connected with an area of red as if it was a road surface. This little interplay between the background and the product shot created a bit depth and added to the overall dynamism of the presentation. As for the 'Sports' brand name, italicisation supported the energetic feel whilst the 'stocky' font spoke of a certain solidness and dependability.
The sides condensed the primary elements of the design to reinforce the sports positioning and create an appealing display angle. The little 'quality guarantee' graphic featuring the brand's panda mascot, Vinnie, was a nice touch as it brought a bit of added interest and personality to an area which is usually more of copy and paste job.
The underside offered the usual, no-thrills design. That said, clean lines and use of the same colour scheme brought clarity to the content and reinforced the athletic, sporting connotations of the presentation as a whole.
Biscuits:
The biscuits were pretty large but weighed in at a relatively light 8g each. On the looks front, I loved their quaint little border design and embossed sporting depictions. Obviously, the depictions weren't of the quality shown on the packaging; however, they were sufficient to imbue each biscuit with a bit of its own sporting personality. As for their taste, the biscuits gave off a lovely sweet aroma that translated to the palette in a well balanced fashion with the salt and fats included.
SUMMING UP
The packaging did well in bringing together colour scheme, graphics and font to reinforce the key sports theme. Moreover, the interplay between the product shot and background was a nice touch that brought a little bit of depth and added dynamism to the design. The biscuits themselves proved the highlight with their embossed depictions of various sports. Whilst these depictions were not of the quality on the packaging, they effectively imbued each biscuit with a bit of its own personality. Taste-wise, the flavour balanced out the sweetness in the flour mix well with salt and fat to create a lovely, well rounded offering. Indeed, it may be a simple proposition but it did the simple things well and with charm - something that will always be a winning combination in my books.
Launched back in August 2013, the Fox's Caffè range is a relatively recent addition to a biscuit aisle still dominated by age old brands. Pitched as made-for-coffee biscuits, this proposition did get my attention at the time purely for the fact that I didn't exactly know what made a biscuit specially suited to a cup of coffee. Therefore, when I saw this product from the range, together with its caramel variant, so prominently displayed in packaging that diverges markedly from other Fox's offerings, I thought it time to give it a go for the blog.
THOUGHTS
Packaging:
- Primary panels:
In terms of the colours used, black and grey combine to give the product an air of sophistication and luxury. The presence of red injects the design with warmth and significantly amplifies the sense of indulgence felt in the product shot to the right of the panel. Basic colour principles continue to be employed well with a central black graphic accentuating the redness of the key product text, in particular, the smart 'Hazelnut' cursive text. Moreover, the creamy white of the Fox's graphic contrasts well with the other components setting it off nicely. Indeed, the three overlapping components of the Fox's graphic on the left through to the product shot on the right are visually delineated by shape and/or colour whilst sharing enough tonally to sit as a cohesive whole.
As for the front panel, here the basic nutritional information was displayed in a manner that continued to be very clean in its lines. The only thing I will say against this area of the packaging is the positioning - I would have rather seen such content buried on the opposite panel as it does slightly detract from the main presentation angle.
- Secondary panels:
In following on from my last thought, the content pictured here on the back panel would have been ideal for the front. Its quick description of the biscuit and condensed 'Caffè Slices' graphic would have been coherent with the top panel's presentation and added that extra bit of visual impact. That said, I'm not sure why the brand chose to invert the content as it simply makes it awkward to read.
More basic product information was given on the bottom. Admittedly, this was a no-thrills presentation but one that retained a sense of maturity about the design and, subtly, made a visual link back to the main product logo with the small top-hat graphic on the far left.
Looking underneath the flap a lovely bit of content was exposed. Serif-style text on the left provided a bit of historical background to the Fox's brand. Whilst, next to this, a more relaxed, sans-serif style of text quickly explained the Caffè range. This was a great touch for me that helped place the range amongst the larger brand narrative.
Opening up the pack the biscuits came in a pull-out black plastic tray that was partitioned to hold three lots of two stacked biscuits. Simple and effective with my only gripe being that, just like the back panel, everything seemed inverted with the biscuit's smart Fox's branding pointing away from me.
With respect to the individual biscuits, these were pretty substantial offerings. Each biscuit weighed in at roughly 23 grams (over twice the weight of the Maryland Cookies I reviewed the other day) and measured 60mm in length, 46mm in width and a decent 11mm in depth. Presentation-wise, the Fox's branding on the top was very clean and smart, there were no blemishes in the chocolate finish and the shortcake had the look of a very even bake.
Taking a bite, the hazelnut centre with its more savoury notes did come through and was a welcome contrast to the powerful wave of sweet milky chocolate that hit the palette. The shortcake biscuit had a very nice buttery taste to it but that was lost in the strong flavours of the toppings. That said, it did provide a strong textural point of interest amidst the softness of the other components.
SUMMING UP
I felt the packaging had good shelf standout with a maturity about it that differentiated it from surrounding brands. Indeed, the principal panel design felt well thought out. Basic colour principles were effectively employed to place emphasis where need be and the stylisation of the text and graphics all worked in concert to reinforce the range's more sophisticated positioning. The biscuits themselves were relatively substantial offerings and with their clean look and Fox's branding they looked impressive. Taste-wise, sweet milky chocolate dominated the palette but the savoury notes of the nut filling did get a good look in and the shortcake provided strong textural contrast. Personally, I would have toned down the sweetness in the chocolate, but, with the bitter notes of a strong coffee to balance things out a bit, I can see many people really enjoying these 'biscwits' - as Fox's Vinnie the panda come Mafioso would say.
Anyway, I'll give the last word on the Caffè range to Vinnie himself...
Okay, for the uninitiated, these little round delights are officially cakes. In the famous 1991 Jaffa Cake court case, brought about by McVitie's not wanting costly VAT charges for luxury biscuits to be levied against its iconic offering, the law had to decide just what defines a cake of the chocolate-coated variety. Debating over several points, the decision eventually found in favour of McVitie's based on one crucial fact: cakes get harder when going stale, whilst biscuits get softer.
Admittedly, the debate probably wrangles on in homes and offices and, until I see people dunking their Victoria Sponges and taking slices of Jaffa Cake, I'm certainly not convinced. That said, it doesn't really matter too much to me as I simply enjoy the fact that this snack, which so effectively weaned me on to the classic yet reliably tasty combination of chocolate and orange, is still as good as ever.
THOUGHTS
Packaging-wise, the pack's exterior employs the complementary colours of blue and orange for the background and brand name respectively to create strong visual contrast. Moreover, with highly saturated colour used, out of this contrast comes a vibrancy that implies notions of fun, energy and freshness. As for the soft radial bursts of lightness that accent the background, these work well to inject a bit of interest in to the design without convoluting it and compromising the strength of the colour principle at work. Whilst, the brand name occupies a conventional central positioning to give the design a sense of symmetry and, in turn, a feeling of reliability and trust - qualities befitting such a classic product. That said, the brand name does carve out an irregular line and employ playful text, styled after orange peel, to inject further energy and fun in to the presentation.
Secondary panels carry on over the colour scheme with basic product information provided neatly and succinctly. Moreover, by using the same colour principle as the primary panels, the light orange text box contrasts well with both its blue background and blue content giving clarity to each component.
The wrapping inside is still a lovely touch. With the Jaffa Cakes coming in a transparent orange wrapping - picking up on the exterior's colour scheme - you get the distinct sense that all the product's elements very much sit as a cohesive whole.
As for the Jaffa Cakes themselves, well they still sport their classic look. A significant sponge base, baked nice and evenly, is adorned with a dark chocolate coating, which rises up in the centre to give accommodation to the orange filling. Taking a bite, the chocolate reveals itself to be paper thin yet of just enough substance to provide a pleasing undercurrent of bitter cocoa. As the chocolate crumbles in to the jelly-like filling the relatively significant plain sponge base lends a rather pleasing textural contrast to the whole affair. Though, of course, the filling remains the star of the show as it bursts onto the palette with a very well balanced sweet citrus tang that keeps these cakes as devilishly moreish as ever.
SUMMING UP
As with all old favourites this iconic offering has stood the test of time because, above all else, it does the simple things very well. The packaging feels uncluttered and direct employing basic colour theory together with fun stylisation to generate an eye-catching presentation that carves out a distinct visual identity for the brand in the consumer's mind. Added touches such as the orange wrapping allow for successive moments in one's interaction with the product to sit as a cohesive whole. Moreover, the Jaffa Cakes themselves still look as distinctive as ever with a very strong silhouette from the side. Finally, in terms of taste, that wave of sweet, tangy orange is still the star of the show with the dark chocolate coating providing a nice undercurrent of more mature flavour and the sponge bringing a great textural contrast to the party. All in all, a great little snack that, whether cake or biscuit, will continue to be a favourite of the Great British Diet.
MORE INFORMATION
See the McVitie's Jaffa Cakes resource on my GBD website:
