When the Food Network team spotted a triple decker Monte Carlo recently (more on that in a moment!), it prompted a lively discussion about how to eat this classic Aussie biscuit.
Do you pull it apart and do the scrape? Or eat it all in one? Our office survey – a small sample, but a vocal one – suggested that while the "leave it alone" crew outnumber the "split and scrape" mob, everyone has an opinion about it! But it doesn't stop there – there's the frozen Monte Carlo, and the icecream sandwich...
Here's the full monty on the Monte Carlo.
1. NSW is Monte Carlo central
More than 8 million packs of Monte Carlos are sold in Australia every year – that's more than 72 million biscuits! Arnotts, who've been making them since 1926, tells us that the cream-biscuit loving folk of NSW eat more than any other state – almost a third of the national total. Queenslanders aren't far behind, accounting for just over a quarter of the national Monte Carlo munch-down.
2. Eating a Monte Carlo is not an open and shut case
The SBS Food team aren't the only ones with firm opinions!
3. And then there's the "pack in the freezer" treatment
SBS Food has its own chilled-out take on the Monte Carlo - vanilla sorbet and quick raspberry jam sandwiched between coconut-honey biscuits:
Get the recipe for these "Monte Carlo" milk sorbet sandwiches here.
Source: Brett Stevens
4. There are those Montes, and then there's this Monte
The Monte Carlo is a biscuit, except when it is Monte Carlo The Biscuit, a golden retriever from Melbourne with its own Instagram account.
5. Sometimes you get a bonus!
True fans of the classic biscuits get excited when they score a triple stack. We quizzed Arnott's about how often someone might find a bonus like this in their pack of biscuits - apparently it's very rare - so anyone who scores one of these can consider themselves pretty lucky!
