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A digestive biscuit, sometimes referred to as a sweetmeal biscuit, is a semi-sweet biscuit or cookie, originating in the United Kingdom, and popular there and in other Commonwealth countries. The name "digestive" derived from the belief that they had antacid properties due to the use of bicarbonate of soda when they were first developed.

The digestive was invented by McVitie's in Edinburgh in 1892 by Alexander Grant. They were advertised as aiding digestion, yet subsequent scientific research has concluded this as untrue. While rumours exist that consequently it is illegal for them to be sold under that name in the USA, in fact they are widely available in imported food sections of grocery stores and by mail order. The Original Digestive biscuit is still the ninth biggest biscuit brand in the UK.

The typical digestive biscuit contains coarse brown wheat flour (which gives it its distinctive texture and flavour), partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, sugar, wholemeal, cultured skimmed milk, partially inverted sugar syrup, raising agents, and salt. A biscuit averages around 70 calories, although this sometimes varies according to the factors involved in its production.

Digestive biscuits are frequently eaten with tea or coffee. Often, the biscuit is dunked into the tea and eaten quickly due to the biscuit's tendency to disintegrate.

In the UK alone, the annual sales of chocolate digestives total about £35 million. This means that each year, 71 million packets of these are sold - and each second, 51 biscuits are consumed. Digestives are also popular in cookery for making into bases for cheesecakes and similar desserts. ^[1]

Chocolate digestive biscuits also are available, coated on one side in plain, milk, or white chocolate. Originally produced by McVitie's in 1925, other recent varieties include the basic biscuit with chocolate shavings throughout, or a topping of caramel, mint chocolate or plain chocolate. The US travel writer Bill Bryson described the chocolate digestive as a British masterpiece.^[2]

1. ^ [1] [2] [3]
2. ^ Bill Bryson ; Notes from a Small Island ; William Morrow, 1996 ; ISBN 0688147259

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