M&S luxury biscuits are really custard creams in a choc disguise
CRUMBs! it appears that Marks & spencer’s luxury biscuits are hiding a dark secret.
one of the treats in the store chain’s ‘ extremely Chocolatey’ f amily assortment has been found to be not all it seems.
once the chocolate was removed from the little rectangular biscuit, the familiar name and design of a custard cream was exposed underneath.
For the surprised customer who discovered this, it seemed to be clear evidence that M&s was cutting corners.
Could the firm’s suppliers have been taking one of the two biscuits in a custard cream, dressing it up in a layer of chocolate and presenting it as something far more glamorous?
There is, of course, nothing wrong with a custard cream – for many they are our favourite biscuit – but customer Peter Marshall felt cheated.
He posted details of ‘ custard creamgate’ on social media under the comment: ‘ Marks & sparks are a bunch of cheapskates.’
‘They’re a bunch of cheapskates’
Mr Marshall, 25, said: ‘i was dunking biscuits into hot milk and as the chocolate came away i noticed the base of one of the biscuits was actually a custard cream.
‘i’ve always held M&s in quite high regard when it comes to food, and finding out that they were using a more common biscuit as a base was a bit of a shock.’
Mr Marshall, from the isle of Man, took a picture and uploaded the proof to Facebook and instagram, but rather than creating the expected social media storm, he met a tide of indifference.
‘i was on my own when it happened. i did tell people later but they didn’t really think it was that interesting – i was surprised at that to be honest,’ he said.
The response was mixed. some said that they felt cheated, others laughed and one suggested that far from being a scandal, finding a custard cream biscuit under a chocolate coating was something of a winwin situation.
in fact, M&s insists that there is no scandal at all, but rather a simple misunderstanding. A spokesman said that while the biscuits in the luxury chocolate biscuit box appear to be one half of a custard cream this is only because the same mould is used.
‘The biscuits used in the selection box are made with a luxury biscuit ingredient mix and are made using the custard cream mould before being covered in chocolate,’ she said.
‘They may be in a custard cream mould, but they are not custard cream biscuits.’
The custard cream is thought to have originated in 1908, with two crisp biscuits sandwiching a butter cream filling.
some suggest that the famous Victorian era biscuit manufacturer Huntley & Palmer created the first versions at its factory in Reading. However, credit may belong to Crawfords, of edinburgh, which was the best known custard cream brand for generations of families.
Today many supermarkets produce ownbrand versions, with the butter cream replaced by cheaper mass produced fats. Variations include lemon, orange, chocolate, strawberry, coffee and coconut flavours.
in a 2007 poll of 7,000 British people, nine out of ten voted custard creams their favourite biscuit.