What has happened to chocolate?

[rosemole]

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

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.

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

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

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!

Palm oil.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

The Waitrose own brand fair trade bars are good

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

Amen to that.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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...

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

I remember hearing that in the US, Hershey’s has a vomitty taste, which begs the question, how are they still in business and who is eating it?

Aldi sells good, palm-oil-free chocolate in its Moser Roth range. I just found out it's made by a German company originally founded in 1902! I still like Tony's, but so much chocolate in the UK is awful now.

I like Tony’s personally but see that isn’t popular here! Cocoa is too expensive so is being replaced by palm oil. Some biscuits are no longer allowed to be called chocolate because the cocoa content is too low.