People are only just realising why there are swirls on Custard Cream biscuits

Custard Creams are quintessentially British and arguably the nation's favourite biscuit. But have you ever wondered how their unusual patterned design came about? The Other British Museum - a TikTok account dedicated to "unsung icons of Britain and the stories behind them" revealed all in a video.

Describing the biscuit as "the world's most ornate", they declared: "You will not believe what the swirls on the Custard Cream are supposed to be." The decorative design is a somewhat confusing one without prior knowledge of what depicts. "These are one of the UK's favourite biscuits - and one of the cheapest - it's a very bog standard food with an over-the-top ornate decoration," The Other British Museum conceded.

"They were invented in 1908 [after] the Victorians were mad for ferns," they added. "They were so obsessed, they held fern hunting parties."

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The Other British Museum went on to reveal that such was the Victorians' fascination by ferns, some would collect them to the point that some species became extinct.

"The reason ferns got so massive was [British gardener and artist] George Loddiges," they continued.

"He built the largest greenhouse in Hackney, East London and it was really expensive so he needed people to visit."

To do this, The Other British Museum explained that Loddiges, who died in 1846, "spread a rumour" that an interest in ferns was a sign of intelligence.

"Somehow, this actually worked," they said. "And there was such a craze for them that they put a fern-like decoration on this biscuit - that's what those swirls are supposed to be."

The Other British Museum conceded: "Not sure they did the greatest job, but at least now I can think maybe this makes me look more intelligent.

"And even though they are a little bit boring, all this makes them worthy of a place in The Other British Museum."

Historian, Lizzie Collingham, previously elaborated on the fern theory to the BBC Bitesize, meanwhile. "Ferns were very fashionable in Victorian England," she said.

"People would have little glass cases and grow ferns in them, sometimes in the shape of churches. It was a terribly fashionable pastime for ladies."

However, Lizzie notes that the pattern may also have been a nod to the dawn of Britain's industrialisation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"Custard powder was made by a chemist, Alfred Bird, whose wife was allergic to eggs," she revealed. "It was seen as a modern, exciting thing to make a food.

"Biscuits were the first industrial food, the first food stuff to be produced by a machine; form mixing, kneading, rolling out, cutting out, baking, it could all be done with minimal intervention from people. To put custard powder in a biscuit… it brought together two things which represented industrial progress."

Writing in response to the clip, one TikTok user declared: "I love a custard cream. Interesting fact though."

A second person reacted in shock: "Really? I thought it was supposed to be a wrought iron gate, or some sort of elaborate gate design."

Whilst a third quipped: "So I can finally tell my husband he eats boring biscuits with bad drawings on."