You cannae be a whinger with these Gingers... (Border Dark Chocolate Gingers)

Member Name: misterwriter

Product:	Border Dark Chocolate Gingers
Date:	31/05/06 (1031 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delicious, good quality ingredients, traditionally made, nicely packaged

Disadvantages: High fat content, expensive to buy on a regular basis

____What are they exactly?___

10 Dark Chocolate Ginger hand tray-baked Scottish biscuits in a cardboard carton box.

I must say I'm particularly partial to all things ginger. I haven't got much of a sweet tooth and like the sensation spicy ginger plays my tongue. To boot I prefer my chocolate to be dark. So natural selection was only taking its course when I found myself drawn to these biscuits.

They are available to two sizes: 200g Dark Chocolate Gingers gift pack and a smaller standard 150g carton pack (pictured)which retails for £1.55 which I tried.

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The pack
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The packaging has the obligatory tartan with a photo of an elderly (experienced?) baker and illustrations of the biscuits. There is also a cellophane window giving us a tantalising glimpse, I suppose, of what lies inside.

In my mind's eye Scottish biscuits speak high quality, traditional - something akin to the standards we expect of infamous Scottish Shortbread.

Reading the pack I'm certainly made aware of how traditionally made these biscuits are. "Hand prepared" and "Slow, slow tray baked for maximum flavour" it says. Just how that affects the flavour I do not know but it sounds a different production method to the majority of biscuits we buy. "A little bit of an obsession but one we are proud of" admits Border. That's what I like: dedication.

Somewhat hidden away on the side of the pack is a paragraph that starts with a bit of a warning… "Not for the faint hearted. Most ginger biscuits are tame by comparison." Blimey…Sounds like they are going to blow my face off! Apparently they use the very best ground ginger to create a full flavour which doesn't have the "peppery burn" they call it, found in "cheaper spices". Also these biscuits have a high syrup content giving them a "unique texture". "A biscuit for the connoisseur" they say.

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The taste, the smell, the experience…
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Inside the pack is a tray of 10 biscuits. Here goes…

There is a tab to tuck in to keep them fresh if, as the makers say, "they haven't disappeared in the first half hour of opening". As if…

The moment I lifted the lid a powerful aroma of chocolate wafted in my direction. Oh my word, I gonna gulp the lot… Steady now…The biscuits are 6cm in diameter (yes, I measured them for you) with a rippled chocolate covering and a smooth underbelly. Biting into them I found that the chocolate was thinly spread but as it was strong and rich in flavour this doesn't matter for me.

The biscuit is fairly thin and golden brown in colour (like a Hob Nob) but in terms of texture not dry at all but moist and slightly chewy. The moistness aided by the golden syrup came through which added some sweetness and slight greasiness but nothing unpleasant.

The taste of ginger was not overpowering like I expected but just right. It seemed to lack the powdery dryness and overwhelming intensity of most ginger biscuits. A biscuit that avoids the burn.

Overall very nice. I particularly like the sweet and spicy combo that's going on. The sweetness silky smoothness of the dark bitter chocolate competing with the spicy kick of ginger and its lingering aftertaste. This isn't just food, this is gourmet hand baked monarch-of-the-glen-assured biscuits generously wrapped in genuine Blackwatch tartan Scottishness. Sorry, I'm getting carried away there.


_____Ingredients____

Starting with plain chocolate which makes up 40% of its ingredients followed by Wheatflour, Vegetable Oil (Palm & Rape Seed), Sugar, Golden Syrup, Ginger and so on.

There are no E numbers in there, nothing artificial by the look of things.

The chocolate has a minimum of 49% Cocoa Solids, so is on the bitter side, and contains Cocoa Liquor so presumably is richer than most chocolate.


____Nutritional info____

How much nutritional value you can gain from eating biscuits is debatable but here's the lowdown…

- Fat per 100g
20.1g (5.2g - saturates)

- Fat per biscuit
3g (0.8g - saturates)

- Energy Kcal per 100g
445

- Energy Kcal per biscuit
67

- Fibre per 100g
2.9g

- Fibre per biscuit
0.4g

As you can see in terms of fat they are pretty bad - so if you are particularly conscious of fat levels in your diet best not gorge too much on these. The fibre content looks a bit pitiful.


___Allergy info___

Contains Wheat, Gluten, Cow's Milk and Soya
Baked in a factory that processes nut products


___Other facts we are told about__

- Baked in Lanark, Scotland
- Recipes created by the Cunningham family over the last 20 years

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To sum up then…
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The price is fairly expensive at £1.55 when you consider that there are only 10 in a pack but then again considering their ingredients and traditional method of production are more of the gourmet variety so would only be a purchase as an occasional treat.

They compare favourably in price with another gourmet brand - Prince Charles's 'Duchy Original Chocolate Ginger' biscuits - £1.99 for 125 grammes' worth.

A biscuit that is different to any that I have tasted before and one that I will definitely buy again.

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(a few crumbs, sorry)


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Other tasty trivia
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At the website (www.borderbiscuits.co.uk) you can find out all manner of biscuit related trivia and read such proud boasts that Border won the Biscuit World Cup 2003. If only Scots could be as good at football they might well win another famous World Cup. Only joking!

Other biscuit products made by Border include:

Milk Chocolate Gingers
Chocolate Almond Crunch
Chocolate Coconut Crumble
Chocolate Crofters Crunch
Chocolate Shortbread Rings
Chocolate Viennese Whirls
All Butter Viennese
Belgian Chocolate Chip
Butterscotch Crisp
Butter Sultana
Chocolate Chip
Dairy Butter Crunch
Ginger Crunch
Glace Cherry
Shortbread Rings
Dark Chocolate Shortbread Rings
Petticoat Tail Shortbread
And more…



Previously published by myself, aka simoncjones, at Ciao.

Summary: A chocolate ginger biscuit that promises to be spicy. But is it nicey? Misterwriter investigates...