Has the world benefited over the two decades since this startling piece of research?
Given the turmoil that we have seen in all parts of the world in just in the last 12 months the signs are not good.
To recap, the revelation of the study by the University of Bristol in the west of England that a mathematical formula governs the whole process was seen back in 1998 to be the perfect remedy for those people who up to that time had endured lumpy tea when their favourite biscuit based treat disintegrated to form a grey sludge at the bottom of the mug.
Their work was set to revolutionise tea and coffee breaks the world over, so what happened?
The whole premise of the study was based on the undeniable fact that different brands and types of biscuits have different dunking times.
We dunk because we know that more of the flavour of the biscuit is released into our mouths if it has first been dunked in a hot drink.
The scientific team calculated that up to 10 times more flavour is released this way than if the biscuit is eaten dry.
It must have been quite a pleasureable bit of research as it took two-months of constant and detailed investigation to establish the best strategy for dunking, my particular favourite, a nice chocolate biscuit.
Here are the technical details for choccy biccy's .
It is advisable to adopt the "flat-on" approach whereby the selected nibble is immersed biscuit side down. This minimises "chocolate bleed" into the tea or coffee and keeps the coating rigid enough to prevent the biscuit from breaking in half.
It is important to understand what goes into making a biscuit.
For all of the money spent on focus groups, slick advertising and point of sales displays we should not overlook that a biscuit is only lumps of starch glued together by sugar.
It is because of this structure that when hot tea or coffee enters the pores in the biscuit the sugar melts, the starch swells and the structure becomes unstable. It then becomes a race to enjoy the dunking experience before everything deteriorates.
The Scientists felt that the world would be reassured by the devising of an equation to explain what is going on in the beverage biscuit stakes.
Here goes- the average pore diameter in a biscuit is equal to four times the viscosity of the tea, multiplied by the height the liquid rises squared, divided by the surface tension of the tea, multiplied by the length of time the biscuit is dunked.
That is all very well but could it be explained any easier?
Back in 1998 there was much talk about publishing critical times for different types of biscuit so that persistent dunkers could do so with absolute confidence.
This for some reason did not materialise until 2015.
Here are the important facts. I apologise that this relates to only UK brands. I would be pleased to receive data from readers on their home produced brands.
I would like to hear how good or not to dunk are Polvoron (Spain), Aachener Printen (Germany), Florentines (Italy), Choc Chip Cookies (US), Coyotas (Mexico), Paprenjak (Croatia), Ghorabiye (Iran), Tirggel (Switzerland), Jodenkoek (Holland), Koulourakia (Greece) and the iconic Krumkake from Norway.
UK Placings (in reverse order)
11th place: Ginger Nut .Breaking point: 22 seconds Recommended dunking time (RDT) 3 seconds
10th place: Digestive Breaking point: 23 seconds RDT 3.5 seconds
9th place: Hobnob Breaking point: 36 seconds RDT 6 seconds
8th place: Chocolate Hobnob Breaking point: 44 seconds RDT 9 seconds
7th place: Rich Tea Breaking point: 47 seconds RDT 4 seconds
6th place: Chocolate Digestive Breaking point: 60 seconds RDT 5.5 seconds
5th place: Malted Milk Breaking point: 76 seconds RDT 6 seconds
4th place: Shortbread Breaking point: 102 seconds RDT 10 seconds
3rd place: Jammie Dodger Breaking point: 47 seconds RDT 7 seconds
2nd place: Bourbon Breaking point: 125 seconds RDT 7.5 seconds
 |
| Main Contenders in the dunking stakes |
The winner is: Custard Cream Breaking point: 125 seconds RDT 8.5 seconds
(Disqualified for its ambiguous and disputed status: Jaffa Cake- not a biscuit)
So, the whole process has taken nearly two decades to reach this stage.
I could as easily have conducted my own experiments in my own regular tea breaks.
No comments:
Post a Comment