Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer is a bar of pure deliciousness, consisting of 5 layers of wafer as a way of separating 4 good layers of caramel – and completely covered in chocolate. It is then wrapped in a classy foil-paper wrapper, instead of the terrible plastic coatings that are nowadays often used.

Both milk and plain chocolate version are available. The milk chocolate version is wrapped in red and gold coloured foil-paper, whilst the plain chocolate wrapping is coloured blue and gold.

The wrappers (of the milk chocolate version) bear the proud words: “more than 4,000,000 of these biscuits made and sold every week”. I dare say a comparable number are also eaten! Quite a few kept me going on the long days of walking the Southern Upland Way.

There is a closely related product: Tunnock’s Caramel Log, which is similar to the Caramel Wafer but with the addition of desecrated coconut* to the outside of the bar and with a plastic wrapper. Why anyone would want to do this to a perfectly delicious bar remains a mystery to me – it is almost sacrilege.

* often referred to as roasted or dessicated coconut; in my book any alterations made to delicious fresh coconut is effectively desecration.

In walking the Pennine Way I spent quite a while within Yorkshire – with the opportunity to try some of the wonderful delights on offer that go well with a nice cup of tea.

I had occasionally seen Yorkshire Tea Biscuits advertised on TV, but never found a good supply of them. In Hawes I was delighted to find numerous shelves fully stocked with a wondrous range of these biscuits, though disappointingly I probably only had room for two packets of biscuits in my rucksack, so I chose the Original and Chocolate Chip varieties – leaving the Oat & Honey and Ginger ones for another time.

Yorkshire Tea Biscuits are basically a rich buttery shortbread biscuit, but there is nothing basic about them. Much thought has obviously gone into the crafting and baking of these biscuits, and the result is a chunky T shape – which makes it ideal for dunking (as does the solid texture of the shortbread).

While the T shape is good for dunking it is bad for packing, and thus the amount of packaging to biscuit ratio is high – which results in each biscuit probably having a greater than average carbon footprint (which is particularly disappointing for such an excellent biscuit).

A hint of Yorkshire Tea has also been baked into each original Yorkshire Tea Biscuit, to great effect – adding a delicate flavour note. The hint of tea might well be included in the other varieties – though of the Chocolate Chip variety my tastebuds were rapidly seduced by the large chocolaty chips, at the expense of some of the other delicate flavours.

Having tried to approach the tasting of Yorkshire Tea Biscuits in the most scientific way possible (for a hungry walker) I have to admit to running out of biscuits before completing the rigorous dunk test timings – though I am happy to report that they held up well (to the dunking, but not to a hungry walker!).

Cornish Fairings truly are ‘A taste that’s out of Cornwall‘, and it is a great shame that they are not more widely available – considering that they have been a Cornish favourite for over 100 years. It was only a few years ago that they almost became an endangered species when the factory was forced to close due to lack of demand – which would have been a great tragedy for Fairings fans. Thankfully someone saw sense and they were rescued.

It all began in Truro in the 1880s, when John Cooper Furniss began producing Fairings, gingerbreads and other goods from a teashop in Truro. His original recipe is for a lightly spiced biscuit, perfect on its own or with tea. Others in the current range include orange & lemon, stem ginger & honey, and apple & cinnamon, and are all excellent additions to the range.

The original Fairings are similar to Gingernuts, but have a more delicate cinnamon and mixed spice flavour. They are quite hard and brittle, but are excellent dunkers – becoming deliciously soft and slightly chewy with the application of tea (probably due to the expert use of Golden Syrup in the recipe).

The name ‘Fairing’ comes form a present brought at the fairs which were held every year at Whitsuntide and Corpus Christie – a little gift consisting of gingerbread, sugared almonds, cinnamon sticks or macaroons.

I for one will be doing my best to ensure that demand remains high for the superb biscuit of Cornwall – the Cornish Fairing.

Toffee waffles are impressive biscuits: two waffles sandwich a layer of lightly-spiced toffee. There are said to be chocolate species, which are entirely coated in either milk or plain chocolate, though I have yet to track these down.

The toffee centre to the biscuit adds an intriguing dimension, as the properties of the toffee change with temperature. At room temperature it is soft and gooey, though at the top of a welsh mountain in early spring the toffee is much firmer and deliciously chewy. These properties can be manipulated when coupled with a nice cup of tea – a little heating over a mug of tea will cause the toffee to become runnier.

Toffee waffles are native to Wales, where they are probably more abundant. Outside of Wales they are fairly rare but can be order directly from the Tregroes Waffle web site.

*that’s if you exclude your living room, or anywhere else where you have internet access, as you can (thankfully) purchase it online at www.grasmeregingerbread.co.uk. Be cautious of fakes, none is genuine without trademark.

The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop

The unwrapping (with a cup of tea)

A piece of Grasmere Gingerbread has a distinct texture, and a warm ginger taste. Buried within each biscuit are little nuggets of crystallised ginger – though much as I would wish it, probably not enough to count as part of a five-a-day diet. For the greatest experience of this gingerbread it is best to warm it slightly in the oven to release even more of the warming taste and to slightly soften the texture. Warming it also recreates the freshness of taste experinced when consuming it fresh from the shop in Grasmere.

It should be strongly noted that it is equally delicious served without warming, and one should not be put off consuming a piece if warming equipment is not at hand – often the case when walking the fells in the Lake District.

This blog category is inspired by the website ANiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com, and called it “A nice cup of tea and…” on the basis it will contain things that go well with a cup of tea. I was in utter shock when finding that while “Sarah Nelson’s Gingerbread” was Biscuit of the Week on Tuesday 18 Mar 2003, it was poorly described and compared unfavorably – I cannot describe how strongly I disagree with the review.

Following below are details from the bag in which the gingerbread is supplied, describing the story of Sarah Nelson and her famous Grasmere Gingerbread…

In 1660 a small cottage was built in the corner of Grasmere Churchyard known as Gate Cottage, it was built by public subscription to be the village school. Once education became compulsory the cottage was then far too small to accomodate all the village children and a new school was built further down the road. Gate Cottage was then available for rent and became the home of the Nelson family.

Sarah Kemp, born in Bowness in 1815, married Wilfred Nelson of Morland near Penrith in 1844 and settled in Grasmere. Wilfred took on farm labouring, while Sarah worked in the kitchens at Dale Lodge for Lady Farquhar, and it was there, with the encouragement of the French Chef, to make the gingerbread for sale.

As the Victorian tourists passed by, they would stop outside the cottage to see Sarah resting her tray of gingerbread on a tree stump. Becoming ever popular, she displayed the sign outside the cottage, and registered the her gingerbread as ‘None Genuine Without Trademark’ and wrapped it in pure vegetable parchment, just as it is today.

In 1869 and 1870 tragedy struck the Nelson family when both her daughters died. Wilfred died a few years later leaving Sarah alone. She continued to work, even making gingerbread alphabets for the village children. She died aged 88 years old in 1904, and is buried close by her cottage, in the same churchyard as the Wordsworth family, where today little has changed. Everyday visitors from all over the world, are greeted with a wonderful aroma of Sarah’s home-baked gingerbread and an atmosphere of tradition.

The recipe is a closely guarded secret, locked away in a bank vault. This in turn has been handed down through three generations of the Wilson family. Beware of imitations; The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is the ONLY place in the world where this unique Lakeland delicacy can be purchased.