British Sweeties
Posted by Tara Jade on Sugar Savvy.
Although I am Canadian and proud to be so, I often find it odd that I wasn’t born in Britain. Ah, Britain, home of nearly everything I love. My bookshelf, CD shelf, DVD shelf and wardrobe are all full of mother Britains’ talent. I am often seen sporting my Union Jack shoes, purse and umbrella. And I have decorated one room in my home with all the cool and tacky souvenirs I could stuff in my suitcase from the two blissful occasions that I’ve visited London, England. And once in a while, when I get the chance, I trek down to the British goods shop and stock up on sweeties.
Michelle and I bought a list of things there and I’ll get to that, but first I need to tell you about the best chocolate bar I’ve ever had, ever. In May of 2004, I purchased in London a Kit Kat Lemon & Yogurt bar. It was truly heavenly. The white chocolate flavoured with a dash of lemon and the yogurt-like bit between the wafers have haunted my candy dreams ever since. Why they didn’t market this in Canada, I’ll never know.
But, for now, I’ll muse about these British sweeties…
Dairy Milk Turkish, like a Caramilk, but with Turkish delight inside. I like Turkish delight and am a fan of a Big Turk bar. The real difference here being that a Big Turk is one huge chunk of Turkish delight covered in chocolate whereas Dairy Milk Turkish is all segmented. We found it difficult to taste the jelly at all, which was much softer than in a Big Turk. Despite all that however, the bar was tasty enough and we ate the whole thing. But next time I want that taste, I’ll have a Big Turk.
Next up, Flake Dark. I remember being so excited when I ate my first milk chocolate Flake bar, the way the chocolate would shatter when I bit it but would pleasingly melt away when I just let it sit in my mouth. Similarly, the texture of the Flake Dark was just right and the chocolate shattered nicely when I bit it. But once I let it melt in my mouth I found I didn’t really like the flavor at all. It was just too intensely dark.
The Nestle Milkybar Raspberry Egg is something I wouldn’t usually purchase but I was feeling adventurous. The small white chocolate egg was easily separated, so I ate the first half dissected. In the center was a splat of raspberry flavored marshmallow-like whip. I didn’t find it particularly raspberry tasting, but I really liked the texture of the whip, regardless of what it tasted like. The egg shell tasted fine for white chocolate, but wasn’t terribly interesting. I ate the other half whole, and although it tasted fine altogether, it was still pretty boring. This being my first Milkybar experience, whip or not, I just don’t see what the draw is. For the money, it just wasn’t exciting enough.
The last chocolate treat I bought was really a stretch for me but I’ve been seeing Revels advertising for some time now and just had to satisfy my curiosity. Six different chocolate covered items are advertised on the label. The first, were simply flat milk chocolate discs that tasted like flat milk chocolate discs. Secondly and most enjoyably were the malt balls. Malt is one of my favorites. Third go round was some kind of orange fondant. Surprisingly, since I dread chocolate and orange together, these weren’t terribly gross. But they weren’t great either. Fourth treat from the bag was coffee cream. Once upon a time, not too long ago, I loved coffee cream chocolates. Oddly I was never much of a coffee drinker, but recently I haven’t been able to enjoy anything coffee without having some weird physical reaction. Needless to say I don’t bother with coffee flavored treats anymore, this was the exception. The taste reminded me of the chocolates I once loved, but luckily didn’t make me sick. The last two candies were terrible but, to be honest, I waited a little too long past the expiry date to even open this package of Revels. I can only assume that time had gotten the better of what should have been chewy caramel and raisins. It was difficult to tell if they were either.
I saved my favorite treat for last. Club Lemon Soda will be a permanent addition to my British store visits. The ‘real lemon bits’ mentioned on the label were undetectable but otherwise, this pop is excellent. It was sweet and sour at the same time without being too much of either, possibly due to its having sugar and saccharin in it. I could drink this pop every day, I enjoyed it so much and I am once again left wondering, why I wasn’t born in the U.K.
