Inconsistent on the dunk test (Sainsbury's Basics Digestive Biscuits)

Member Name: HonestBob

Product:	Sainsbury's Basics Digestive Biscuits
Date:	09/09/08 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Taste better than other 'basic' brands

Disadvantages: Despite being the best at this brand level, they're still boring!

These are slightly smaller in diameter than the leading brand digestive biscuit and apparently this makes them easier to dunk. As an avid dunker, I thought I'd put these to the test and compare them with my usual cheap and cheerful Asda Smart Price Digestives (see my review of these for a comparison)

The Sainsbury's Basics Digestives are a lovely deep golden tan colour, quite similar to the lead brand. On opening the packet by using the 'tear here' strip (always a plus as there's no need to find a sharp knife to cut through the packaging) it's clear that these biscuits are very crumbly. This is not a feature I appreciate in biscuits for dunking, too much residue in the bottom of the cup (or worse still, the dreaded dunk-drop), but it could be useful in a digestive that was to be used as a cheesecake base, so I'll let the decision over the benefits of crumbliness lie with the individual.

Biscuits don't fall into the 'healthy eating' criteria for most people, so it helps to know what potential nasties lie in wait inside each naughty portion, hence I've listed the salt, fat and calorific values in the Sainsbury's Basics Digestives here and you can look up the Asda Smart Price review to make a fully informed comparison (Tesco to be added later if my waist line can take the hit). I also put each brand to the '2 second dunk test' and roped in my daughter to make sure I was timing it fairly!

Remember from the off that the Sainsbury's biscuit is smaller in diameter than it's rivals, branded or otherwise, but both the cheapies come in 400g packets, so you get slightly more individual biscuits from Sainsbury's than from Asda (sorry, we ate them before we remembered to count them!!) and this should be considered when comparing fat values etc...

Sainsbury's Basics Digestives come in the usual orange and white style packaging of this range, but compliments should be given for the clarity of their ingredients labelling and the way that dietary information is provided. These biscuits contain 2.8g of fat per biscuit, 2.7g of sugar per biscuit, 0,2g of salt per biscuit and 60Kcal (253 Kj) each. The biscuits were inconsistent on the 2 second dunk test, with one dunk-drop on my daughter's foot and 2 in the cup during whole packet testing (this was a two day, two person effort!).

The taste of these biscuits is superb. They easily take up the taste of coffee during dunking and elicit a sweet, almost nutty taste. Nothing bland here. On dunk-free testing they were very crumbly, cleavage hoovering was essential and they're probably not best eaten in polite company.

Overall, a bargain at 38p per packet, but liable to become samey if eaten too often.

Summary: A good store cupboard stable. Will make good cheesecake base.