The Ultimate Chocolate Biscuit (Bourbon Biscuits)

Member Name: ian22

Product:	Bourbon Biscuits
Date:	19/05/07 (199 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very tasty, moreish, cheap to buy

Disadvantages: None, in my opinion

In my opinion, Bourbon biscuits are a much underrated biscuit. They are not the most sophisticated of biscuits, it is true, but they are always delicious and very moreish.

THE BISCUIT
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The Bourbon is a sandwich biscuit consisting of two rectangular shaped chocolate biscuits (see picture above) which are separated by a delicious chocolate fondant filling. In many respects, they are very similar to custard creams.

HISTORY OF THE BOURBON
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The Bourbon was first introduced in 1910 and was originally called a Creola. It was made by the Bermondsey biscuit company, Peek Freans, who also made the famous Garibaldi biscuit. Eventually, the name was changed to 'Bourbon', which was apparently a reference to the House of Bourbon, an aristocratic French and Spanish family.

AVAILABILITY, PRICE & VALUE FOR MONEY
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Shops and supermarkets often sell their own brand makes of Bourbon biscuits, although the biscuits are probably no different wherever you buy them. 200g packets typically cost 41p from the main supermarkets, like Tesco and Sainsbury's, and these packets generally contain about 14 individual biscuits, which works out at just under 3p per biscuit. Compared to some well-known biscuit brands, this is excellent value for money. I bought my most recent packet of Bourbons from Tesco and I shall now describe these in a bit more detail.

THE EATING EXPERIENCE
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The biscuits have a rich chocolatey smell which immediately draws you to them. They smell almost freshly baked.

As you take a bite, the chocolate flavour is not immediately obvious, but it comes through after a few seconds. As you eat more of the biscuit, the dark chocolate fondant filling adds to the rich chocolatey flavour, but being a dark chocolate filling, there is always the risk that it will taste bitter. Fortunately this is not the case. The biscuit is neither bitter nor too sweet, so it should appeal to most palates.

As for texture, Bourbons are intrinsically hard and crunchy. This somehow makes them more moreish than ever. I like dunking biscuits in tea, but unfortunately Bourbons are not the ideal biscuit to dunk, because they melt very easily. So unless you are very quick, you end up with a nasty chocolatey deposit at the bottom of your cup!

NUTRITION INFORMATION
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Per 100g (equivalent of 7 biscuits)

Energy - 482 calories (67 per biscuit)
Protein - 5.4g
Carbohydrate - 66.4g
Fat - 21.6g
Fibre - 3.4g
Sodium - 0.1g

ALLERGY ADVICE
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* Contains wheat and gluten;

* May contain traces of sesame seeds, as the biscuits are made in a factory which uses sesame seeds;

* Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

VERDICT
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I cannot really fault Bourbon biscuits at all. They are tasty, very moreish and cheap to buy too. What more could you want from a biscuit...?!

Give them a try for yourself!

Ian :)

Summary: NA