Hobnob biscuit


Hobnobs is the brand name of a commercial biscuit. They are made from rolled oats and jumbo oats, similar to a flapjack-digestive biscuit hybrid, and are among the most popular British biscuits. McVitie's launched Hobnobs in 1985 and a milk chocolate variant in 1987.
They are primarily sold in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Ireland but are available in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and several European and Asian countries. In Italy they are now marketed as a variety of digestive biscuit, having previously been known as Suncrok. They were also released in Canada in November 2012, made available in Wal-Mart's British modular section in their food aisles. Pronounced 'Herbnerb' in Ashington, Northumberland the McVitie's Hobnob is the third-most popular biscuit in the UK to "dunk" into tea, with its chocolate variant sixth. In 2014 a UK survey declared the Chocolate Hobnob the nation's favourite biscuit.

History

The commercial recipe was introduced by McVitie's in the UK in 1985. The biscuit is currently available in many varieties, including dark chocolate, chocolate orange, and Hobnob bars. Other Hobnobs-branded snacks include a Hobnobs flapjack. Hobnobs contains approx 0.16 g of sodium per biscuit.
The name hob-nob comes from the verb to hob nob, meaning to mix socially, generally with people of a higher class. Therefore, people "hobnob" over tea or a biscuit.

Manufacture

Plain Hobnobs are made at the Tollcross factory in Glasgow. The chocolate variety is made at the Harlesden factory. The basic ingredients for Hobnobs are oats.

Marketing

The original tagline of the Hobnobs was "one nibble and you're nobbled", and was removed. It has since been brought back, but slightly changed by adding "hob" to the beginning of the last word.
The tagline "Chocolate now has Hobnobs underneath" was used for the introduction in the UK of chocolate Hobnobs.