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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
 Posted - 07/11/2007 : 19:44:23
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From today's NY Times
The World’s Best Candy Bars? English, of Course
A television news producer from Atlanta recently made a deal with her boss, who was traveling in London. The producer promised she would submit her script for an investigative story ahead of deadline in exchange for two British Kit Kats and a Curly Wurly bar.
The woman, who did not want her name revealed for fear of being teased endlessly by her colleagues, so loves her British chocolate that she takes an extra suitcase when she travels to London just to bring back a haul.
“Should I admit I am carrying two U.K. Kit Kats with me in my briefcase right now, just in case I get into a bind on my trip?” she e-mailed this reporter from the road.
At this point, it would be easy to take a long, clichéd side trip into a discussion of the relative inferiority of British food. But for the rarefied palate that can appreciate the soft, immediate pleasure of an inexpensive candy bar, it’s not difficult to give the edge to sweets from the realm of the queen.
That’s why Malcolm Smart takes his son, Rowan, for a stroll to Blue Apron in Park Slope, Brooklyn, twice a week for a proper British candy bar. Rowan is 6 years old, and tends toward the mint Aero bar.
Mr. Smart, who grew up in Birmingham, England, home of the chocolate manufacturer Cadbury-Schweppes, is a Flake man himself. The Cadbury Flake, a crumbly bar of compressed ribbons of chocolate, was invented in 1920. It is thrust into swirls of soft ice cream at parks all over London, creating a dessert called a 99.
Alan Palmer, who is an owner of Blue Apron, said the British candy bars have been strong sellers since he opened the shop five years ago.“Anybody who went to school there or had any kind of business or family connection over there is totally addicted to them,” he said.
Mr. Smart, who has lived in the United States for 25 years, learned early on in his life here that British and American chocolate bars are different, even if they share a name and a look.
“One day I was eating a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk and I thought, this has absolutely no flavor,” he said. “I looked at the label and saw it was made by Hershey. I was outraged.”
Cadbury Dairy Milk is the iconic British candy bar, the one most likely to be tucked into the suitcase of a Yankee tourist looking for an inexpensive souvenir. Versions are filled with caramel, whipped fondant, whole nuts or pellets of shortbread cookie.
It’s a different bar from the Cadbury bar available in the United States. According to the label, a British Cadbury Dairy Milk bar contains milk, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat and emulsifiers. The version made by the Hershey Company, which holds the license from Cadbury-Schweppes to produce the candy in the United States under the British company’s direction, starts its ingredient list with sugar. It lists lactose and the emulsifier soy lecithin, which keeps the cocoa butter from separating from the cocoa. The American product also lists “natural and artificial flavorings.”
Tony Bilsborough, a spokesman for Cadbury-Schweppes in Britain, said his company ships its specially formulated chocolate crumb — a mash of dried milk and chocolate to which cocoa butter will be added later — to Hershey, Pa. What happens next accounts for the differences.
“I imagine it’s down to the final processing and the blending,” he said. After consulting with chocolate manufacturers in each country, Cadbury tries to replicate the taste people grew up with, he said. In the United States, that means a bar that is more akin to a Hershey bar, which to many British palates tastes sour.
Kirk Seville, a spokesman for the Hershey Company, declined to explain the manufacturing process, saying the company preferred not to take part in a discussion about the manufacturing differences between a British and an American Cadbury bar.
For people here with a taste for British candy, no explanation is necessary. Their opinions are already formed.
“Hershey’s tastes like ear wax,” said Kevin Ellis, a Canadian-born designer with Adobe Systems in San Francisco. Mr. Ellis, who says Canadian and British chocolate bars are comparable, anticipates with delight the boxes of imported chocolate bars his family sends.
The appeal of British chocolate is powerful. When the Ellis family moved not long ago to another Bay Area house, a burly man from Birmingham who was helping to haul the sofa spied a box.
“Do you mind if I have a Curly Wurly?” he asked with the tenderness of a hopeful child.
The Curly Wurly, a thick strip of braided caramel covered in chocolate, is a sibling to the discontinued Marathon bar, which any American who was in high school when Jimmy Carter was president will remember fondly.
The Curly Wurly is not as popular in Britain as the Crunchie. With its crisp honeycomb interior, it’s what a Butterfinger might be if it went to finishing school and married up.
But neither rivals the Mars bar, the prom queen of British candy bars. About three million of them are made daily in Slough, just west of London. It’s like a less sweet version of the American Milky Way, rather than the almond-stuffed American Mars bar. The smart set in London melts it over ice cream for a fast dinner party dessert. Mars bars are also fried in the same sort of batter used to coat cod.
And then there is the television producer’s beloved Kit Kat, invented in York, England, in the early 1930s and available in versions that match the tastes of, variously, Japanese, Germans, Australians, Canadians and Americans.
Nicky Perry has sold chocolate bars from her home country for more than a decade at her store, Tea and Sympathy, in Greenwich Village.
Her theory is that the bars from the United Kingdom are made from a better recipe, containing fewer stabilizers. They melt more quickly than a Hershey bar, which is why she cuts back on the amount she stocks in summer.
“I can’t afford to keep the A.C. on all night or a chocolate bar would cost $10, wouldn’t it?” she said.
At the London Food Company in Montclair, N.J., about 17 percent of the store’s sales are British chocolate bars, said Samantha Codling, the owner.
Ms. Codling, who is from Essex, offers a range of Cadbury Milk bars, including the mint crisp, whole nut and Turkish delight with rose jelly. The British Smartie, which resembles an M & M but has a thicker shell, and the Malteser malt ball, also sell well.
“All the ex-pats definitely know the difference already and the Americans soon figure it out,” she said.
Bryn Dyment, a Web developer in the Bay Area who grew up in Canada, said he was shocked when his parents took him to a candy counter in the United States. He found out that not every child in the world was eating the same chocolate bars he was.
It wasn’t until he moved to the United States as an adult that he realized just how vast that divide is.
“You get in these religious arguments with people,” he said. “I haven’t met a Canadian who likes a Hershey bar, but Americans think you’re crazy when you say that, because they think everyone loves a Hershey bar.”
I got some heaven in my head
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2007 : 20:43:39
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Anybody here had German chocolate? Now THAT is the world's greatest. My wife's German colleagues always bring it back when they go home. It seriously can't be beat. And I was born in a (Canadian) town where there's a Hershey factory.
 Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2007 : 22:04:39
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| swiss truffles |
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tisasawath
= Cult of Ray =
Wallis and Futuna Islands
783 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 00:20:41
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i'd go with belgian
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AAAAWWWWWRRRIIGGHHTTTTT !! ! |
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OLDMANOTY
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
469 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 01:08:10
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A few years ago there was an EU directive stipulating that British chocolate should be labelled 'household chocolate' due to it's supposedly inferior quality. This may be true but it was thrown out anyway.
I vote for the Boost bar and the often overlooked Toffee Crisp. |
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trobrianders
> Teenager of the Year <
Papua New Guinea
3302 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 02:03:02
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My sister-in-law's Swiss so I've never been low on all the best chocolate from there. But I'd go for Hershey bars everytime.
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Ed is the hoo hoo |
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kelladwella
= Cult of Ray =
Germany
729 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 02:16:02
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The variety of chocolate bars in the UK is impressive. Almost too many to choose from. During the holidays you can buy a bar every time you go shopping or stop for gas and never have the same one twice. I thought some were quite good, but nothing to write home about.
As for chocolate I like the swedish Marabou a lot. Get one from your local IKEA.
What german ones did you try coastline?
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pixiestu
> Teenager of the Year <
United Kingdom
2564 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 02:59:30
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Kit Kats and Curly Wurlys happen to be two that I'm not too bothered about and hardly ever eat. I like Crunchies though.
"The arc of triumph" |
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Llamadance
> Teenager of the Year <
United Kingdom
2543 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 04:11:14
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My daughter picked up a Curly Wurly in a cafe the other day and just bit it without taking the wrapper off or asking if she could have it. Of course, then I HAD to buy it. I was slightly embarrassed.
Crunchies and maltesers are pretty great.
No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God George Bush snr |
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trobrianders
> Teenager of the Year <
Papua New Guinea
3302 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 04:25:41
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Cadbury's/Rowntree's Cabana (There's some confusion, both companies are claiming it as theirs). Wish they'd bring it back.
The latest odds from Ladbrokes:
Standard 'thank you for your interest...' email - 2 to 1
No reply at all - 3 to 1
Relaunch - 1,000,000 to 1
http://www.chocolatereview.co.uk/chocforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1074&PN=1
But best of all
Green & Black's
Makers of organic chocolate products.
www.greenandblacks.com
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Ed is the hoo hoo |
Edited by - trobrianders on 07/12/2007 04:30:16 |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 04:32:09
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double deckers, boosts, crunchies, toffee crisps, twix, chomps, cadbury's bars with their various fillings, mmm!
"Idiot" is just her sig. |
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Llamadance
> Teenager of the Year <
United Kingdom
2543 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 05:44:53
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eh? Double Deckers are rank.
No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God George Bush snr |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 05:52:00
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quote:
Originally posted by kelladwella
What german ones did you try coastline?
To be honest, kelladwella, I don't know. I have never really paid attention the labels. It's always just such high quality, that's what I have noticed. Next time we get a load, I'll tell you which ones I have, and which I think are the best.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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Thomas
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1615 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 05:55:15
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Laura Secord Chocolates
I hear if you eat these you become traitorous to your birth country and pledge allegiance to Canada, eh. Vile chocolates I'm sure.
"Our Love is Rice and Beans and Horses Lard" |
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 06:01:59
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quote:
Originally posted by coastline
Anybody here had German chocolate? Now THAT is the world's greatest. My wife's German colleagues always bring it back when they go home. It seriously can't be beat. And I was born in a (Canadian) town where there's a Hershey factory.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs.
Bullshit! They make chocolate chews for fuck's sake!
 I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 06:03:18
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quote:
Originally posted by floop
swiss truffles
Gay!
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 06:04:11
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quote:
Originally posted by kelladwella
As for chocolate I like the swedish Marabou a lot. Get one from your local IKEA.
Yeah that's good shit. And of course Daim bars are just amazing!
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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kfs
= Cult of Ray =
USA
889 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 06:22:00
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quote:
Originally posted by kelladwella
As for chocolate I like the swedish Marabou a lot. Get one from your local IKEA.
Wait a minute! Isn't IKEA a furniture store? (that's what s_wrenn told me)
______________________
I've seen blue you've never seen |
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kelladwella
= Cult of Ray =
Germany
729 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 06:36:13
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| True. But they have a swedish food corner, too. At least here in Berlin. |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 07:57:21
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oh yeah, and big up for slough aiii. you can smell chocolate as soon as you go anywhere near the trading estate.
"Idiot" is just her sig. |
Edited by - PixieSteve on 07/12/2007 07:58:09 |
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mr.biscuitdoughhead
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1729 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 09:05:21
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quote:
Originally posted by kelladwella
True. But they have a swedish food corner, too. At least here in Berlin.
yeah, they sell like swedish meatballs or something, right?
i had a friend who was belgian, and he had this chocolate that was like Riesen, but like 10 times better.
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 09:43:22
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quote:
Originally posted by mr.biscuitdoughhead
quote:
Originally posted by kelladwella
True. But they have a swedish food corner, too. At least here in Berlin.
and he had this chocolate that was like Riesen,
;
That's the evil I was talking about. Chocolate chews - wrong, wrong, WRONG!
Ikea do lovely food.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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mr.biscuitdoughhead
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1729 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 10:46:37
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what's wrong with chocolate chews?
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 12:36:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Homers_pet_monkey
quote:
Originally posted by floop
swiss truffles
Gay!
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
i dated a girl from Zurich for a while who brought me chocolates from Switzerland. they are, to this day, the best chocolates i've ever tasted. yes, truffles. i guess the word truffles is kind of gay. our time spent together that summer was not gay though, i assure you.
ah memories |
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 14:04:00
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Depends who you were thinking of when you were potting the brown.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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kelladwella
= Cult of Ray =
Germany
729 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2007 : 14:38:20
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| Ach homer! It was a lovely thread with good taste so far. |
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Homers_pet_monkey
= Official forum monkey =
United Kingdom
17125 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 05:34:02
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Well it's chocolate (starfish) related.
I'd walk her everyday, into a shady place
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The World's Best Candy Bars Cannot Be English!
