National Biscuit Day!

It is National Biscuit Day!

In honor of National Biscuit Day, we would like to highlight McVitie’s Biscuits, a favorite and traditional British Biscuit Brand. 

McVitie’s has been crafting the UK’s favorite biscuits and cakes since 1839. They are widely know for their Digestive Biscuits. It was back in 1892, four years after Alexander Grant began working for the firm, that he devised and produced the first and original ‘Digestive’ biscuit. According to an article titled, “Crumbs! A history of biscuits in 15 fantastic facts – from flatulence cure to phenomenal fuel,” from The Guardian Newspaper, “If 19th-century newspapers are to be believed, Victorian gentlemen were martyrs to an epidemic of flatulence. McVitie’s is credited with having invented the digestive biscuit as a remedy for their disordered stomachs. In 1892, McVitie’s added baking powder – thought to guard against indigestion – to sweetmeal biscuits.”  This secret recipe of which is still used today.

In 1893 McVitie & Price were given the royal seal of approval when asked to bake the future Queen Mary and King George V’s wedding cake.

In 1947 McVitie & Price made the wedding cake for Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. It stood over 2.5 meters tall. With post-war food rationing still in place ingredients were sent as wedding presents from overseas. Pieces of cake were later distributed to school children and institutions. The design of the future Queen's wedding cake was masterminded by a Mr Schur, chief confectioner at McVitie and Price Ltd. (pictured above tending to his creation) and intricately decorated, with one tier depicting armorial bearings, and two depicting scenes from their lives.

The McVities Brand has evolved over the years, introducing more wonderful biscuits such as the classic Rich Tea, the beloved Jaffa Cake and their range of delicious Hobnob biscuits.

With such history, you can imagine how thrilled we were when Trish found our wonderful circa 1890’s McVitie & Price antique biscuit display cabinet with fabulous, mirrored glass sign, at a local antique store here in Massachusetts! We knew we had to have it for the The Bee’s Knees shop. It is made of mahogany with four angled shelves with removable partitions. These would have originally had tins between each divider and hinged glass fronts where the loose biscuits would be displayed for sale. This is an original biscuit display cabinet, that would be used in a retail store to sell McVitie only products from. An intact one is shown below.

It is a highlight in our Tuck Shop and we are proud to display today’s McVitie’s biscuits in it.