Paleolithic Biscuits

Take a trip to your nearest supermarket biscuit aisle and you'll see todays familiar biscuits. But what if we could turn the clock back to see what biscuits looked like 10,20 even 30 years ago. What would we find?

At NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown we get masses of your emails on these biscuits, most missing presumed discontinued. We hope to fill in as many of the blanks as possible with your help.

Perhaps using old recipes and some frog DNA we could even revive some of these lost giants and create a sort of theme park, where biscuits could once again be seen in tins and on plates. That's an original idea if ever I heard it.

If you have any more information on any of these biscuits then drop us an email.

Trio Last updated: Monday 5 Jun 2006
Manufacturer Jacobs Status Discontinued Last sighted 2003 Description Chocolate covered biscuit bar. Recently spotted in Simpsons supermarket on the Malone road in Belfast by James Burns who says a toffee one was available as well. Rosemary Gault writes "I remember those - they were wrapped in gold foil and put in a red paper cover. Each biscuit had 3 lumps of fudge-like stuff on the top and they were then coated in chocolate, hence the name trio I suppose. I think they came in different flavours too - the red wrapper would have been for the milk chocolate edition. You could eat them by nibbling the choclate off then eating the fudge and the base, or snap them into 3." Damon Kemp adds "The first and the apparently biggest favourite was the toffee centred one.  However, there was also a triple chocolate version, in silver foil with a blue wrapper." Robert Mugleston confirmed the inevitable "Trio bars: delicious, aren't they? I found them on your site stating they're available but rare. Sadly, I emailed Jacobs to find out where I may pick up a few for my lunchbox and they sent me this reply We are sorry but we do not make these anymore. It appears Trios are no longer!"
Playbox Last updated: Wednesday 22 Mar 2006
Manufacturer Peek Freans Status Discontinued Description Square shaped biscuits iced with a thin crispy topping in yellow, brown or red complete with a picture in a garishly contrasting colour. Several pictures including a clock, a train and a cat. (Thanks to Kit for this entry) Pack White card 'sleeve' pack with the see through wrapper
Spooks Last updated: Thursday 23 Feb 2006
Status Discontinued Last sighted 1970s Description Julie Hardcastle wrote "These biscuits were round, sweet, plain biscuits, and the novelty was that each one was a different colour! Each colour had a monster-themed name, such as Red Devil, Green Gremlin, Orange Ogre etc. I seem to remember yellow and purple ones too." Russ Litton who remembered their name said "They came in various garish colours and each biscuit had it's own individual name - Ghastly Green, Blood Red etc etc"
Dundee biscuits Last updated: Wednesday 15 Feb 2006
Status Missing presumed discontinued Description Sold in stacks of five or six, wrapped as per Eccles cakes (i.e. in clear cellophane); Approx. 3-4 inches across (as a kid this would have been 12-18 inches); Shortbread-type base; Circular, with a slightly crimped edge; Rich chocolatey topping; Chunky grains of sugar stuck to the underside; The word DUNDEE visible on the underside (standing proud rather than embossed), written in a rugby-ball shape, so the initial D and trailing E were smaller than the rest, the central ND the biggest of all letters. Thanks to Peter Lee for this detailed description. Mark Conby writes The Dundee biscuit was manufactured by a company called Broadhurst biscuits up to the early 80's, when i believe that the companys manufacturing site in Gadbrook Northwich was sold (I think) to Burtons. The factory was  closed soon after and production of the Dundee was moved to Utoxeter (near Alton Towers). I'm positive it was then discontinued in the early 90's despite attempts to bolster sales with the introduction of a delightful minty variant. Terry got in touch to say Just to let you know a company in Darwin Lancs are producing a Chocolate Dundee biscuit They are called Cottage Cookies, 17 Brunswick Street, Darwin, Lancashire
Dad's cookies Last updated: Thursday 20 Jan 2005
Status Discontinued Last sighted Early 1970s Description A sort of oaty biscuit Pack They were in a yellow square packet and the biscuits lay in stacks of about 4 or 5 in white corrugated card. The writing on the front was red and I remember they were made by a famous company either Peek Freens or Crawford (Thanks Geraldine Hughes)
Banjo Wafers Last updated: Wednesday 5 Jan 2005
Status Discontinued Last sighted Early 1980s Description A chocolate covered wafer finger biscuit with chocolate cream and caramel layers. Fairly broad and long. Dominic Lloyd mailed to say "I'm not sure, but I think that a Banjo used to have crushed nuts on them, either under the chocolate on the top or in the wafers." Nick Fletcher adds "I was lucky enough as a young lad, in the very late 70's, to work on a tv commercial for the snack and still find myself singing their jingle to this day. And if that wasn't interesting enough,the lyrics hold a clue to the delightful ingredients To the tune of 'Banjo on my knee' (of course) 'banjo,banjo,the one for me and you light and crispy wafer and roast nut flavour too' hope this is of some use" Liam Carney from Scotland had this to say "First of all, I am almost certain that the wafers were just fondant based, no caramel. Confusion may be arising on this point as there was a twin-bar, chocolate-covered caramel wafer-style sweet at one time, but I can't remember what it was called off the top of my head (actually, now I think about it, this too was a fondant-based wafer, but enclosed in a thin jacket of chewy caramel and then covered in chocolate. But I digress). Back to Banjo. They did indeed come in roasted peanut and toasted coconut varieties the former in a royal blue wrapper with yellow writing. However, the coconut (by far the superior version - but I don't like peanuts, so I would say that wouldn't I) Banjo wrapper was not pink, it was a deep scarletty/maroon type colour. Also I am pretty sure it was available into the early 80s, since this when I was at high school and could afford to buy them with my dinner money." I have very clear memories of this particular confection as it was a personal favourite. In fact,  I only managed to purge myself of the trauma of its demise upon the appearance of the Time Out bar. Toby Venables wrote "The Banjo I knew did indeed come in a blue wrapper with yellow writing, and consisted of two chocolate covered bars (in the familiar Twix manner, though slimmer and squarer in section) within which was Kit Kat style wafer, topped - and this was the critical factor - with crushed, roasted hazelnuts. There was at least one other variation on the original, I believe, but I had no truck with it. The other thing that sticks in my mind is the advert, with its jaunty bluegrass tune and its appalling low production values. Like many chocolate covered bar ads at the time it featured a shot of one of the bars having chocolate poured all over it - but when you looked closely it was also obvious that the bar had a piece of white card positioned in front of it to create the optical illusion of a neat bottom edge, masking the fact that the chocolate was in fact flowing straight off again. Ah, those were simpler happier times..." Pack Blue with yellow writing individually wrapped (thanks for jogging our memory to Ian kay) Rob Parkinson recalls "Incidently, Banjos did have nuts on them, but there was a pink version also which was coconutty as opposed to the blue-and-yellow version."
Milk and Honey Last updated: Friday 26 Nov 2004
Manufacturer Huntley and Palmer Status Discontinued Last sighted Early 1970s Description A sandwich biscuit, much in the style of a Jam Sandwich cream. Oval in shape with a central oval cut out under which was a pale brown honey caramel like flavoured filling. Beneath this was a layer of cream filling. Pack Pale yellow tin
Royal Scot Last updated: Monday 9 Feb 2004
Manufacturer McVities Status Discontinued Last sighted Late 1970s Description A buttery shortcake style biscuit. Round and fairly thin. Pack White with some Scottish imagery and tartan.
Montego Last updated: Thursday 27 Nov 2003
Manufacturer Jacobs Status Discontinued Last sighted early 1980’s Description A “Club” style countline, with moulded milk chocolate covering a ginger-nut type biscuit centre. It was sold as a 5-pack, with the design featuring ‘sunset’ graphics. The whole thing was very gingery, and possibly had some extra ginger flavour in the chocolate.  It was introduced in 1978, and lasted for about five years I think. Possibly replaced by Trio. Thanks to Biscuit Man for this entry. Pack Traditional Club-style wrapper with silver paper around the biscuit and a sleeve holding it together.
Barmouth Last updated: Tuesday 29 Jul 2003
Manufacturer Peek Frean Status Discontinued Description A sweet crisp biscuit with, domed with a sharp edge. Biscuit edge is slightly caramelised. Alan Morley an ex Peek Frean and Co empolyee mailed us to say that the Barmouth was originally made by them. He also noted that Twiglets were also a PF product. Peek Frean along with Huntley & Palmer and Jacobs were all merged and taken over by Nabisco, who subsequently sold the group to Danone. Today only Jacobs survives. Foxs Sunbreaks have been suggested as alternatives.