TO DUNK or not to dunk: that’s is the question?

Finally science has the answer - and it’s good news for those of us who love to dunk a biccie in our brew.

I can now reveal that dipping a biscuit into a cup of tea really does make the biscuit taste better.

Us Brits eat more than 19 million biscuits a day, more than any other country in Europe, so it’s important to know how to make them taste their best they can be.

It transpires that dunking a biscuit produces twice the number of aromas than a dry one and I’m pretty sure us Yorkshire tea drinkers will dunk ours...

So which biscuit is the best to dunk in our hourly cuppa?

And is anything worse than a biscuit that crumbles and falls into your mug of tea, leaving a sad and soggy excuse for mid-afternoon treat?

Let’s look first at our Yorkshire-invented classic the digestive biscuit, which will always crumble at the first sign of warmth and I feel is best served with a sliver of Wensleydale cheese.

Custard creams and Bourbons do last longer, but sadly after eight dunks your tea will be a wash of scattered debris.

The cheerful ginger nut and everyone’s firm favourite biccie is surprisingly successful and loves a long voyage into a sea of steaming tea – it will give you 18 dunks before its a goner!

The classic Hobnob biscuit will always be the winner with an impressive 38 dunks before it turns to mush.

In the biscuit world as Peter Kay says, this biscuit is the king of dippers, being like the SAS – dip me, dip me again... I’m going nowhere!

But be warned, it will drink half of your brew.

I just love a ginger nut biscuit – it’s the sturdy workhorse of a biscuit world, an everyday dunker, the kind of no-frills biscuit which you will find at the bottom of every biscuit barrel around the country.

A homemade ginger biscuit should always have fire in its nuts, and ginger should be the predominant flavour, adding to the craving of people who love them - baked slower for a crisper result, being satisfying between the false teeth.

A few pointers if you are a first-time-dunker: mug size is very important, so do a dry run first to embrace the entrance of your mug with a ginger biscuit first before moving on to others.

Then finally enjoy the dunking phenomena.

But remember the right company can break your first experience, and small irritating children should not be present when you have your first plunge!

Finally, back to the question that has divided our nation for so long: ‘’to dunk or not to dunk’’?

Is it snobbery the takes the biscuit?

One thing is for sure, in Yorkshire it’s a time-honoured tradition when you’re flagging to dunk your biccies in your brew.

It’s a sign of friendship and familiarity – in other words we don’t need an excuse, do we?

Happy dunking!!