Tim Tam

Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit made by the Australian food company Arnott's and available in several countries. A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate.

History

A plate of Tim Tams

The biscuit was created by Ian Norris, who was the director of food technology at Arnott's. During 1958, he took a world trip looking for inspiration for new products. While in Britain, he found the Penguin biscuit and decided to "make a better one".^[1]

Tim Tams went on to the market in 1964.^[2][3] They were named by Ross Arnott, who attended the 1958 Kentucky Derby and decided that the name of the winning horse, Tim Tam was perfect for a planned new line of biscuits.^[4]

Apart from Penguins, products similar to Tim Tams include "Temptins" from Dick Smith Foods, New Zealand's "Chit Chats",^[1] Australian Woolworths' home brand product "Triple Choc", the Coles brand "Chocolate Supreme" biscuits, and various similar "home-brand" products marketed by British supermarkets.

In 2003, Arnott's sued Dick Smith Foods over their Temptin' brand of chocolate biscuits, which Arnott's alleged had diluted their trademark as a similar biscuit, in similarly-designed packaging.^[5] The case was settled out of court.

Production

The original Arnott's bakery, opened in 1865, was located in Newcastle, New South Wales.^[6] To date, manufacture of Tim Tams and other Arnott's products has remained largely within Australia, including bakeries in Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane. In 2009, Arnott's invested 37 million Australian dollars in a state-of-the-art production line at its Brisbane facility, expecting to boost productivity and increase jobs.^[7]

At the Huntingwood bakery in Western Sydney, the production line turns out about 3,000 Tim Tams per minute^[8] and uses 20 tons of the biscuit's cream filling and 27 tons of chocolate coating each work day.^[8]

Varieties

A dark chocolate Tim Tam

In the 2000s Arnott's sold different varieties of the product. Varieties include dark chocolate, white chocolate, caramel and dark mint.^[9]

In 2004, Arnott's caused a controversy when they released a range of alcohol-flavoured varieties of their products, including Tia Maria Tim Tams. It was suggested selling these biscuits in supermarkets where they were available to minors was irresponsible. An Arnott's spokesperson observed that a customer "would need to consume your body weight of biscuits every hour to reach a blood-alcohol content of .05".^[10]

Pepperidge Farm, a sister company of Arnott's, began importing the Tim Tam to the United States of America in 2008.^[11] The Tim Tams are still "Made in Australia" and bear the slogan "Australia's Favorite Cookie."

Tim Tam Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits are manufactured in Indonesia by Halo Arnotts. A cheese flavour of Tim Tams has also been developed for the Indonesian market.^[12]

Tim Tam Slam

A man performing a Tim Tam Slam

The Tim Tam Slam (also known as the Tim Tam Shotgun, Tim Tam Bomb and Tim Tam Explosion) is the practice of drinking a hot beverage through a Tim Tam.^[13] Opposite corners of the Tim Tam are bitten off, one end is submerged in the beverage, and the beverage sucked through the biscuit - as though the Tim Tam itself is a straw.^[14] The crisp interior biscuit is eventually softened and the outer chocolate coating begins to melt, you then swallow the entire Tim Tam before it completely collapses in your hand.

The Arnott's company used the name Tim Tam Suck in a 2002 advertising campaign.^[15][16]

Other biscuits can be used for this, such as the UK Penguin, Breakaway and Twix (Twix are also available in the United States and Australia). Other chocolate-coated biscuits can be used, with the Mint Slice biscuit also being a firm favourite in Australia.

References

External links

• Official website