Jacob's Mini Cheddars Original Baked Snacks, 6 x 23g

Mini Cheddars are the small, round, cheese flavoured biscuits from Jacob's, and Original is the classic flavour. This is the multipack of six 23g bags, 138g in all, sized for lunchboxes, and the pack gives its figures for each bag. The full product name on the pack is Cheese Snack Biscuits.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the biscuits are made from flour (wheat flour with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin), vegetable oil (palm), dried cheese (10%, from milk, with a natural flavouring), sugar, glucose syrup, salt, dried whey (milk), barley malt extract, raising agents (ammonium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate), lactic acid and natural flavourings.

A biscuit, not a crisp

Mini Cheddars are biscuits: a wheat flour dough with cheese mixed in, rolled, cut into small rounds and baked. That gives them a crisp, short, crumbly bite rather than the crunch of a fried potato crisp, and it is why the pack calls them cheese snack biscuits.

Real cheese in the dough

Dried cheese makes up 10% of the recipe, the third ingredient after the flour and the oil. The listing says the biscuits are baked with real cheese, and the cheese is in the dough itself rather than dusted on top, so the flavour runs all the way through each biscuit.

Baked, never fried

The pack says the biscuits are never fried: they are baked in an oven until golden. The palm oil is part of the dough, as butter or fat is in any biscuit, rather than a frying oil.

Whey and lactic acid

Dried whey, the liquid part of milk left when cheese is made, adds a milky richness, and lactic acid, the acid that forms as milk sours into cheese, sharpens the cheese flavour.

Barley malt extract

Barley malt extract is a sticky, sweet syrup made from sprouted barley. It helps the biscuits brown in the oven and gives a malty depth under the cheese. It is also why barley appears among the allergens.

Sugar and glucose syrup

Sugar and glucose syrup sit just after the cheese. They help the dough colour and crisp in the oven. The label gives 4.6g of sugars per 100g and 1g in a bag.

The raising agents

Ammonium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate are the traditional raising agents of crisp biscuits. They release gas as the dough bakes, which gives the biscuits their light, flaky layers; ammonium bicarbonate bakes off completely in the oven.

Fortified flour

UK wheat flour is fortified with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin, which is why those four appear in brackets after the flour.

Palm oil from certified sources

The listing says the oil palm products in the biscuits are certified to come from RSPO segregated sources, kept separate from uncertified palm oil all the way along the supply chain.

Numbers for one bag

The pack gives 117 kcal (491 kJ), 6.6g of fat, 3.3g of saturates, 11.8g of carbohydrate, 1g of sugars, 0.6g of fibre, 2.4g of protein and 0.5g of salt for each 23g bag. That is about 6% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 9% of the fat and 8% of the salt.

Numbers per 100g

Per 100g the label gives 511 kcal (2134 kJ), 28.6g of fat, 14.4g of saturates, 51.5g of carbohydrate, 4.6g of sugars, 2.6g of fibre, 10.3g of protein and 2.4g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 28.6g, saturates at 14.4g and salt at 2.4g are all red, and sugars at 4.6g are green. The red saturates come from the cheese and the palm oil; a 23g bag is a small portion of a rich biscuit.

Salt

At 2.4g of salt per 100g, Mini Cheddars are among the saltier snacks we stock, but each small bag holds 0.5g. The Red Leicester Mini Cheddars have a little more, at 2.5g per 100g.

Allergens and diet

The published ingredients highlight wheat, barley and milk: wheat in the flour, barley in the malt extract, and milk in the cheese and whey. The allergy advice says the biscuits may also contain egg and soya. The listing makes no vegetarian or vegan statement, and the biscuits are not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten or milk. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

No artificial colours or flavours

The listing says there are no artificial colours or flavours; the golden colour comes from baking, the cheese and the malt extract.

Six small bags

Six 23g bags make a school week of lunchboxes with one to spare. Each bag holds a handful of the small round biscuits, and the pack counts each bag as one serving.

In a lunchbox

A bag of Mini Cheddars goes beside a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a yoghurt, and the biscuits travel well without breaking up.

With soup

A handful of Mini Cheddars floated on a bowl of tomato soup soften at the edges and taste like a cheese scone. They also go beside a bowl of leek and potato soup.

On a snack board

Mix Mini Cheddars with grapes, apple slices, cherry tomatoes and chunks of cheese for a simple snack board for children or a party.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the biscuits make a cheesy crumb for the top of a macaroni cheese, a fish pie or a cauliflower cheese, browned under the grill.

Storage and packaging

The listing advises a cool, dry place. The recycling guidance says the bags and the whole pack can be recycled with carrier bags at larger supermarkets and should not go in home recycling.

Other sizes

We stock the same Original Mini Cheddars in a multipack of twelve 23g bags, a 45g grab bag and a 260g tube, and Mini Cheddars Red Leicester in six and twelve bag multipacks.

Sizes of Jacob's Mini Cheddars Original Baked Snacks we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin. The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.