hobnob

Hobnob biscuits

Hobnob is a brand name of biscuit made from rolled oats and jumbo oats, similar to a flapjack/digestive biscuit hybrid. They are mainly sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Italy they are now marketed as a variety of Digestive, having previously been known as Suncrok.

History

The recipe was introduced by McVitie's in Scotland in 1985. The biscuit is currently available in many varieties, including dark chocolate, chocolate orange, and Hobnob bars. Other Hobnob-branded snacks include a Hobnob flapjack. Hobnobs contains approx 0.16g of sodium per biscuit.^[1]

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 Hobnob was "one nibble and you're nobbled",^[2] although it has been removed from the Chocolate Orange varieties.

Etymology

The name comes from an earlier phrase, to hob or nob, meaning "to drink together, taking turns toasting one another", probably from Middle English habbe "to have" and nabbe, a contraction of ne + habbe, "to have not", hence, "to have and have not", "to give and take".^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ United Biscuits
2. ^ Justin Holloway (1999-06-24). "Keeping up with the Jonesness". Salon. http://www.salon.com/media/feature/1999/06/24/brand/print.html. Retrieved 2007-01-28. 

3. The Office UK series, Season 2, Episode 1. Character David Brent, played by Ricky Gervais, makes a reference to Hobnobs as he is describing a hypothetical situation where his boss smokes marijuana and orders snacks from an employee. Approx. 22:00 min.
4. "Sheldon" webcomic, February 13th, 2006

External links

Look up hobnob in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Milk Chocolate and Orange Hobnob on Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down