Usually, the names are a clever twist on the nature and manufacture of the food ― but not so with the beloved Jammie Dodger, it seems.
The biscuit, which was voted Britain’s sixth most-beloved biccie in a Breville survey, was of course partly named after its raspberry jam filling.
But it seems another source of inspo for Burton’s when naming the beloved biscuit was none other than British comic The Beano.
What, sorry?
Yep! An archived post from Jammie Dodgers’ company Burton’s reads, “The name for the original cheeky biscuit came from the BEANO’s ‘Roger the Dodger’ character comic strip.”
The character is described on the comic’s site as “Beano’s original prankster,” having been introduced to the comics in 1953.
Jammie Dodgers, meanwhile, were first created in 1960.
Circulation of the Beano could have reached into the hundreds of thousands ― even potentially tipping a million ― per week at the time, according to comic enthusiast Down The Tubes.
That’s not its only reference
According to historian Lizzie Collingham in her book The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence, the biscuits referenced another icon of childhood.
“With a heart-shaped hole in the centre through which a red jam filling could be glimpsed, it was intended to recall the nursery rhyme when the Knave of Hearts stole the tarts the Queen had baked, ‘all on a summer’s day,’” the expert writes.
Additionally, originally “the jam glowed red but was made with cheaper plums rather than raspberries,” the book says ― though the classic recipe now features raspberries and apples.
Anyone else feeling peckish right now?