To just want old chocolate back

[SideEyeSally]

I really rarely eat chocolate these days but thought I'd treat myself over xmas. All the ones I used to love and remember fondly Roses, Dairy Milk, Heroes, Quality Street just tasted greasy and dissapointing. My sister has suggested splashing out on high end Hotel Chocolate next year but I don't want posh chocolate I want cheap chocolate from 20 years ago. I would pay good money to a company that could sell me a perfect dupe of the Dairy Milk I grew up with.

Does anybody have any inside knowledge of why Cadbury's lost the royal warrant? Was it 'just' because they no longer make Cadbury's chocolate, and instead sell a bedraggled imposter in its place; or were there any other reasons?

I used to love the old Nestle bars that they sold on railway platforms. They were in white machines on the wall, with drawers to pull open to get the bar that you'd just bought - they had 4 or 5 different varieties.

The drawers were always so stiff that you needed a couple of other people to hold on to you, conga-style, to use your combined strength to open the things!

Well said! Palm oil is terrible

It all just tastes like pure sugar now. Green and blacks is my favorite

I like lindts chocolates.They are more expensive but tasty. If you have a local chocolate tier place they will be good to most likely. Cadbury chocolate is awful now.

I must just have no pallet then because honestly whilst I do think some Cadbury stuff isn't as good, there's still loads of chocolate mentioned here as "inedible" I'd happily eat. I agree some stuff isn't great or not worth the money but honestly reading this thread it's like there is no edible chocolate available at all.

I've never been a fan of the Mars/Nestle chocolate as I find it a bit grainy, but I still love Malteasers and Galaxy. Cadbury I can still happily eat. I hate the Aldi Dairy fine stuff and the cheap Lidl bars but some of the other ones from there are really nice. Hotel Chocolat is nice but I can't really justify the price. Lindt white chocolate is my favourite as a treat, especially the truffles.

I've had a chocolate orange and after eights for Christmas and both seem fine to me. I'm 36, so have been having them since the 90s. I can't honestly remember what they tasted like when I was 10 though, so maybe my bad memory helps me still enjoy them 🤣

I would recommend whittaker’s chocolate from New Zealand. The founder worked for Cadbury before opening his own factory in New Zealand and the recipe has never changed. Can be bought in the UK here but expensive. https://www.sanza.co.uk/new_zealand_brands.asp?brand=Whittakers

Yanbu. Chocolate isn't what it used to be. Hotel chocolate is also awful and I binned Tony's...how anyone can call that chocolate..yuk. I'm looking forward to returning to brugges again as chocolate in the UK isn't good now sadly.

This! I went to literally six shops this Christmas trying to find some bitter lemon or cloudy lemonade that wasn't "lo-sugar"/diet version and there was none to be found. It tastes different and made my proposed mocktails taste different (and nowhere near as nice).
I feel like it is pretty clear that lemonade isn't a health drink and resent no longer having the option to buy it with full sugar if I choose too.

The sugar tax has led to children consuming about a teaspoon less of sugar a day. That is a good thing!

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2024/expert-comment-sugar-tax-soft-drinks-shown-reduce-sugar-intake

From Google AI

Cadbury lost its royal warrant for the first time in 170 years under King Charles III due to a number of factors, including:
Sustainability
King Charles is known for his support of healthy eating and sustainability, and some say this may have influenced the decision.
Supply patterns
Some say Cadbury's reduced supply to the royal household in recent years may have been a factor.
Geopolitical pressure
The B4Ukraine campaign urged the king to distance the monarchy from companies that continue to operate in Russia. While Cadbury's removal doesn't seem to be directly linked to this campaign, the controversy may have drawn attention.
Redefining the royal household's relationship with businesses
King Charles is redefining the relationship between the royal household and businesses to align with contemporary values.
Cadbury's loss of the royal warrant is symbolic and strategic, and will require the company to adapt to changing consumer expectations.

Waitrose number one chocolate is gorgeous-the wafer one and the hazelnut truffle. It’s proper chocolate-expensive but you don’t need a lot to feel satisfied. Other than that, m and s hazelnut.

Milka chocolate is lovely and has no palm oil I'm sure.

You have to comply with certain obligations to obtain the Royal warrant. There are various things you need to do to meet the standards and Cadburys no longer meet those requirements because they have changed the way they do things .

Chocolate oranges are oilier, I still eat them though 🤣
You've just reminded me of Galaxy.. complete change. My god the smell of opening the foil on that.. so creamy 😥

The different flavoured lindt are lovely but so expensive.

Another vote for waitrose no 1 - it isn’t exactly like old Cadbury’s but the milk chocolate is really nice.

I also hate everything having artificial sweeteners but there are some brands that do no-sweetener mixers and drinks - Fever Tree, Belvoir are two and you can still get original coke. They’re all more expensive and I don’t have them a lot but I actively avoid sweeteners, I suspect they’re not good for you at all and there’s some evidence they tend to increase weight. It’s good to eat a bit (or a lot) less sugar, but not to replace it with sweeteners.

I have a very local waitrose where you can get these - unfortunately because they are more expensive, they’re harder to find in most supermarkets

I bought some half price last night in coop. It was my little treat for doing dry January.

Waitrose No 1 chocolate is fabulous.

That’s very sweet of you, thank you, but I dashed to order a few Irish bars online after your message last night 😁.

I’m assuming they’ve remained a separate company. Good for them!!

I’m still in denial about almost every drink now having sweeteners. I used to LOVE an Oasis Summer Fruits after a night drinking as a student (staved off hangovers brilliantly!) - bought one recently and ewwwwww. Even Robinson’s squash has fallen. It’s pretty dystopian. Not as if sweeteners are healthy for anyone anyway.

So it was nothing to do with changing the whole damn recipe 🥲

Never buy the old brands we grew up with in UK nowadays. Aldi range of chocolate, either economy or special are both good, taste like chocolate used to taste. G&B’s still very nice, as are the Lindt bars. Sadly, even Thorntons are no longer the same, mass produced pap in the main. Every Christmas Dad used to take me and Sis into our local Thorntons shop, and he would buy Mum a big box of the lovely Continentals, we would sneak them home, take out a single choc, and he would put a small piece of nice jewellery, (ring, earrings, charm, etc…) into the space, carefully wrapped up. Happy days🙂

I think sweeteners are terrible for us (gut health etc). I would actively avoid. I don’t mind a bit of sugar. We’ve got the thinking wrong removing fat and sugar from things then adding a load of artificial crap.

You can get Fazer Blue milk chocolate on amazon, expensive but it's made with real milk and is delicious, proper chocolate.