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Biscuits

Episode 3 of 6

Documentary series. Gregg Wallace follows the production of chocolate digestives and discovers that we are all eating them the wrong way up.

Gregg Wallace is in London at Europe's largest biscuit factory, where they produce 80 million biscuits every day. He follows the production of chocolate digestives, from the arrival of 28 tonnes of flour right through to dispatch. Along the way, he discovers that the biscuits are shaped by a bronze roller costing up to ten thousand pounds, and that the chocolate is added to the bottom not the top of the biscuits, meaning we are all eating them the wrong way up.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is on the trail of that chocolate. At the refinery in Manchester, she learns that it is transported in heated lorries kept at 50C to stop it solidifying on its way to the factory. She also discovers that this is the most expensive ingredient, at around £2,000 per tonne. And she is in Nottingham University's sensory lab, where she finds scientific proof that dunking your biscuit improves its flavour and that tea is the best liquid to dunk in. Cherry takes to the streets to see if that stacks up in the real world.

Historian Ruth Goodman investigates the link between biscuits and digestion. She finds references in Samuel Pepys's diary to biscuits being a cure for flatulence and digestive discomfort and discovers that in Victorian times it was thought that biscuits could cure everything from typhoid to scarlet fever. She also takes a look at an antique biscuit baked at the beginning of the 20th century - one of Huntley and Palmer's notorious army biscuits. These dry hard biscuits were supplied as rations to five million British soldiers on the front line in the First World War.

59 minutes

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Music Played

  • Eliza and the Bear

    The Southern Wild

  • Eliza and the Bear

    The Southern Wild

  • Foxes

    Let Go For Tonight

  • Raury

    Crystal Express

  • Raury

    Crystal Express

  • Neiked & Dyo

    Sexual

  • Neiked

    Sensual (feat. Dyo)

  • Little Mix

    Competition

  • Chase & Status

    This Moment - Instrumental

  • Chase & Status & Blossoms

    This Moment

  • Imagine Dragons

    Amsterdam

  • Laura Doggett

    Into The Glass

  • Goldfrapp

    Slide In

  • Yello

    Oh Yeah

  • The xx

    A Violent Noise

  • Allman Brown

    Ancient Light

  • The 1975

    Intro / Set3

  • Imagine Dragons

    On Top Of The World

  • Jack Garratt

    Worry

  • Agnes Obel

    Aventine

  • The 1975

    Chocolate

  • Tomoyasu Hotei

    Battle Without Honor Or Humanity

  • Yuna

    Rescue

  • The Dave Brubeck Quartet

    Unsquare Dance

  • The Ravens

    Ol' Man River

  • Shura

    Touch

  • Tiny Tim

    Tip Toe Thru The Tulips With Me

  • Professor Green

    One Eye On The Door

  • Saint Raymond

    Young Blood

  • Bloc Party

    Better Than Heaven

  • Coldplay

    A Head Full Of Dreams

  • Pretenders

    Holy Commotion

  • Eliza and the Bear

    Talk

  • Little Mix

    Secret Love Song (feat. Jason Derulo)

  • Hot Chocolate

    Every 1's a Winner

  • Kygo

    Fiction (feat. Tom Odell)

  • Kygo

    Fiction

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Gregg Wallace
Presenter Cherry Healey
Presenter Ruth Goodman
Executive Producer Alice Harper
Executive Producer Sanjay Singhal
Series Producer Amanda Lyon
Director Michael Rees
Producer Emma Pound
Production Manager Sally Finigan
Production Company Voltage TV Productions Ltd

Broadcasts

Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.

The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.