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AIBU?

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Original poster

What has happened to chocolate?

172 replies

rosemole · 02/01/2026 16:25

I haven’t eaten popular brands of chocolate for years because they all started adding palm oil to their ingredients, but I still missed the unique taste of Cadbury’s and Milky Bar.

Anyway this Christmas someone gave us a box of Quality Street and I decided to eat one - the green triangle - but it tasted absolutely rank!
And today I noticed a bar of Milky Bar doesn’t have palm oil (maybe changed) so I thought I’d treat myself to memory lane. It’s disgusting. Not that yummy moreish flavour of years ago. Or have my taste buds changed?

YABU - it still tastes the same
YANBU - chocolate is not what it used to be and is full of cheap ingredients

OP posts:
Original poster
rosemole · 02/01/2026 17:32

Who the heck is buying and eating the crap stuff then and WHY?!

OP posts:
Dawnintheageofaquariams · 02/01/2026 17:30

Tesco own brand is still really nice, but up from £1 in 2020 to £2.30 now
G&B still good although expensive.
Shop around, if you love chocolate then have it as occasional treat, cheap chocolate is a thing of the past unless you have really low standards.
My niece got me a Tony's Chocolonely gift set for Christmas. Really good present. Still got half of it...but it is early...

IggyAce · 02/01/2026 17:29

There is a higher % of cocoa in the Asda essential chocolate bar than there is in Cadbury’s. I refuse to buy Cadbury’s because of the oily aftertaste.

MousePolice · 02/01/2026 17:29

napody · 02/01/2026 17:27

Amen to that.

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I can’t stand Tony’s either. It’s waxy and doesn’t taste of chocolate.

MissyB1 · 02/01/2026 17:28

rumred · 02/01/2026 17:26

I had a curly wurly yesterday,one bite only, it was rank .

And that is really sad because they were one of childhood favourites 🙁

grindergirl · 02/01/2026 17:28

Another vote for Neuhaus. They're expensive, but I only indulge in chocolates at this time of year, so I don't mind paying for quality rather than palm oil crap

Nincompoo · 02/01/2026 17:28

Q. What has happened to chocolate
A1. Americans
A2. Palm Oil.

It’s repulsive now. We’ve got loads of Christmas chocolate left over here, even my son isn’t eating it.

napody · 02/01/2026 17:27

Nucleus · 02/01/2026 17:07

Nah, Tony's is revolting too!

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Amen to that.

rumred · 02/01/2026 17:26

I had a curly wurly yesterday,one bite only, it was rank .

user233675892 · 02/01/2026 17:25

The Waitrose own brand fair trade bars are good

Smittenkitchen · 02/01/2026 17:24

It's not you. I noticed the other day that there were next to no bars of white chocolate at a huge supermarket with an enormous chocolate selection. I deduced that this was because the cocoa butter is instead being used in other "chocolate" products, much more than it was before. The price of cocoa has gone through the roof and companies are trying to make adjustments I guess, sometimes without success.

LiveToTell · 02/01/2026 17:23

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 02/01/2026 16:31

Ingredients are becoming more expensive so the big companies are filling the products with crap to keep the prices low. Toffee Crisp bars are not even allowed to be called chocolate anymore because there isn’t enough ingredients in them. I started a thread about it

We had M&S Big Mix for Christmas and Quality Street - there was no comparison Big Mix were lovely.

But the kind of proper chocolate we used to know is hard to come by and increasingly expensive

M&S chocolate is really nice. Their chocolate coins were heavenly this year.

MissyB1 · 02/01/2026 17:23

I don’t like Tonys or Lindt either. Ritter is still nice, but I’ve given up wasting money on chocolates that usually turn out to be disappointing.

Elizabethandfour · 02/01/2026 17:22

They replaced the dairy element with palm oil so they could make more profit. I don’t buy it anymore.

Jux · 02/01/2026 17:22

DH likes to make sure that DD always has a small bar of Galaxy somewhere and I a small bar of Dairy Milk. He put one in my stocking and I realised that I’ve actually gone right off even the idea of eating a piece of chocolate. Like my mum before me, when feeling a little u dear oar, piece or two of chocolate in aed with a cuppa as a treat was a real pick-me-up - no longer. I even asked him not to buy Quality Str this year but he did - well he can eat them, they’re disgusting. I did buy a small box of Wonky chocks instead and they’re quite nice, but the old time stand by a do not find favour in my eyes, mouth or tongue any morel

Oneearringlost · 02/01/2026 17:21

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 02/01/2026 16:42

@OneearringlostI’ll feel responsible now if you don’t rate them! Blush

Oh don't! I'll give you a safe pass if I don't, and celebrate you, if I do!

grinchmcgrinchface · 02/01/2026 17:21

They put less chocolate in and Cadbury’s changed their ingredients a few years ago. Its all rank now.

boulevardofbrokendreamss · 02/01/2026 17:19

Palm oil.

Original poster
rosemole · 02/01/2026 17:18

I don’t rate Tony’s either.
When I think of Lindt I can imagine the flavour, it’s very distinctive. But not those disgusting oily balls of theirs!

OP posts:
Nucleus · 02/01/2026 17:18

If you want palm oil free and that delicious smoothness, you need something like Laderach frischoggi. But it is very expensive.

More info on other palm oil free options here. Laderach is too niche though!

www.ethicalconsumer.org/palm-oil/palm-oil-free-chocolate

Fancycardi1990 · 02/01/2026 17:17

Aldi has a really nice palm oil free one… moser roth or something… about £2.80 for 100g

Boiledbeetle · 02/01/2026 17:16

EsmaCannonball · 02/01/2026 16:59

I had a Kit-Kat for the first time in years recently and it was just not a Kit-Kat. Not only did it taste horrible but it didn't have the snappy fingers that made it a Kit-Kat.

After buying some disappointing, but very expensive, chocolates from an independent chocolate shop last year, I vowed to start making my own ones. Provided you don't go to the trouble of tempering the chocolate, but cover them in cocoa powder or toasted coconut or chopped nuts instead, it is really easy and so much nicer. I've been making boozy truffles that would blow your socks off and which taste really fresh and flavoursome. Very little effort and so worth it.

Edited

I've been making boozy truffles that would blow your socks off and which taste really fresh and flavoursome

We will all now be expecting a full detailed recipe...

Pleeeeease.

Idontjetwashthefucker · 02/01/2026 17:13

Nucleus · 02/01/2026 17:07

Nah, Tony's is revolting too!

Show quote history

Agreed

MaturingCheeseball · 02/01/2026 17:12

i’d forgotten they still do the tins - but the chocolate and wrappers are still awful.

Tony’s chocolate is vile. It tastes like Kinnerton - that false cheap chocolate (not sure if it still exists).

Cadburys used to be the envy of the world (my US flatmate always said, “Make sure you bring back plenty of Canterburys (sic)”) but now it tastes like that grim Hersheys stuff.

Pigriver · 02/01/2026 17:07

MaturingCheeseball · 02/01/2026 16:52

I’d honestly rather pay £15 for a TIN of Quality Street, with SHINY wrappers and CHOCOLATELY chocolate, than pay less for a weird tub with peculiar dull wrappers round gritty-tasting faux chocolate. And, as per another thread, Questions need to be asked in Parliament about the aberration which is the new Purple One.

Ooh are the ones in the tin different? I saw the big tins at Costco but didn't but them as I thought it was just full of the nasty ones. We have 2 plastic tubs given to the kids that have remained unopened.
The 'chocolate flavour candy bar' my mum bought them has been hidden 🤢

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