Tasty topping for biscuit that dates back a century

LIKE all great cities, Manchester has its fair share of landmarks.

- BY GRETA SIMPSON

Old Trafford, the Town Hall, the cathedral, and even whether we like it or not the concrete block of the Arndale.

But we're quite lucky in Greater Manchester to have a number of old factory landmarks too places where, if blindfolded, you could probably still tell where you are by the distinctive smell.

There's the Kelloggs factory in Trafford Park, emanating its breakfast-y goodness over Barton Road and beyond. There's the Heineken Brewery on Princess Parkway, its delicious malty scent wafting for miles around on what is breezy days.

But perhaps best of all is the McVities factory in Stockport.

The red-brick home of the Edinburgh-born biscuit makers has loomed large on the A6 ever since 1917, built to help the company keep up with demand for their Iron Ration biscuits included in soldiers' emergency rations in WW1.

The brand, now owned by Yildiz, a Turkish food manufacturer, makes some of the country's most beloved biscuits.

Their north London site is where the actual Digestive biscuits are made, but the Stockport site makes Penguins, Jaffa Cakes and, crucially, the delicious chocolate mix that sits atop the chocolate digestive.

The current recipe for the biscuit dates all the way back to 1892, but it wasn't until 1925 that some genius would have the idea of covering the crunchy, malty, moreish biscuit with a layer of melted chocolate.

As McVities marks the 100th anniversary of what is consistently ranked as Britain's favourite biscuit, the Stockport Express was invited down to take a peek behind the scenes at just how that famous chocolate is made.

As a confirmed sweet tooth, which shows little sign of abating as my 20s march onward, I, like many I'm sure, have history with these biscuits.