This is why crumpets have holes (2024)

If there is one image that's guaranteed to get our saliva glands going, it's a hot, buttered crumpet. Let's face it, crumpets are the best part of being English and they make up such a large part of our diet they really should be considered their own food group.

But don't even try to tell us that whilst slathering your freshly toasted carb baby you haven't wondered what the hell those holes are for.

And no, they're not there to create butter reservoirs.

Luckily for us, Channel 4 have finally solved the holey mystery in their Food Unwrapped programme, where they took a tour of Warburton's North London factory.

It turns out that crumpets get their signature holes from bubbles that develop during the fermentation process when the batter is made. After the batter has proved, the crumpets are cooked on individual hot plates, which causes these bubbles to increase in size.

We'll leave it to Warburton's Manufacturing Manager, Vas Nicolouzos to explain the rest;

"The heat of the hot plate [causes] the bubbles to expand, and the steam generated behind it pushes the bubbles up through the batter. What you get is a chimney effect. Steam pushing the bubbles up causes the flutes which makes the holes in your crumpet."

And there you have it, our crumpets just wouldn't be their same, light, fluffy selves without those holes.

Plus, they do make a great job of catching all that extra butter.

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H/T The Independent.