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

Laderrach had a shop or two in London. Otherwise everywhere in Switzerland and S Germany. It’s easily the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted, but you have to order by the amount you want to spend, otherwise you spend a lot more than anticipated!

e.g. “can you help me put together a selection bag worth £18 or so” and then the counter staff snaps off chunks of the slabs that you indicate and makes sure it’s roughly in that ballpark when it meets the scales…

For supermarket chocolate I like Ritter Sport (made in Stuttgart afaik) and Aldi’s Moser Roth range. Lindt bars are still good but Lindor is rank these days. Way too greasy.

It's not you. Most cheap/mid range price chocolates are awful and not worth the calories.

Find a small bean to bar business who are passionate about chocolate and ethics and the welfare of the growers they support. Buy from them, be willing to pay what it costs and enjoy it as a treat.
I think the issue is probably more with milk than dark chocolate as it is all the bits that aren’t chocolate which are being swapped out for rubbish ingredients and there are more of them in milk chocolate.

I bulk buy every six months as chocolate is the only sweet I like, that doesn't make me feel awful.

Usually its Montezumas but we've gone with Wonky Coffees wonky chocolate this time around - bit sweet for my tastes (even teh dark stuff) but still nice, and doesn't make me feel grotty and awful like Cadburys etc now does, and doesn't have a rank taste or gritty texture.

Läderach is amazing, we’ve got a shop up the road from us (Austria); everyone gets some at Christmas in my house!

The Aldi and Lidl seashells are still really nice.

Look around for a course near you @EineReiseDurchDieZeit. Don't know where you are obviously but some shops run courses - they can be really good and if you come away with a box of really lovely chocolates or truffles you’ve made yourself, you’ll be pleased you did it! Look for bags of proper chocolate chips or callets for the chocolate you need to make them - Callebaut is the good stuff, although it’s expensive as prices have shot up recently, as everyone says. You can buy them on Amazon or places like the Chocolate Trading Company.

I recommend choc affair’s chocolate buttons for simple but good chocolate: https://www.choc-affair.com/product/ultimate-share-bag-of-milk-chocolate-buttons/

if you buy a kilogram they’re similar in price to Cadburys but have no palm oil and are fair trade. I’m not sure I could say they taste like cheap chocolate used to but they do taste really good.

Storck.

They also do Toffifee, Merci & Werthers.

I knew it would go downhill when Cadbury was bought over by Kraft. Kraft said they wouldn't change the recipe but of course they have.

I like Marabou.

Had some Lindor at Christmas & thought that they tasted oil.

Never noticed it before.

Presume it's the palm oil?

@saynotofondant @Dingdongavon
Happy to find other Laderach devotees. I used to work for a Swiss company and every trip to HO, I would bring back Lackerli and Laderach for the kids.

Last place I found Laderach was in Boston. But by the time it had been shipped there, it made Swiss prices look like a bargain and there was no way I was bringing Swiss chocolate from the US to UK! Particularly as I was not convinced it would be the same/as good.

Husband goes into London for work regularly. I may need to tell him that if he really loves me, he will bring me Laderach! It looks like one of their stores is within about a 5 minute walk of his office...

Thank goodness it’s not just me. I bought milky bar when I needed a white choc indulgent hit- ate it, didn’t hit the spot. I bought galaxy counters, didn’t do a thing. Cadbury whole nut and still couldn’t satisfy my choc craving because they all tasted meh! Celebrations - soo sweet, my kids got bought a tub of QS and Roses and no one has touched them. I was bought Ferrero rocher and they are oily but nutty. After eight mints have declined drastically. I think to get me over my craving I’ll have to make chocolate crispy cakes with cocoa, butter and syrup, I can make them super cocoa-ey then! I try not to have chocolate but really fancied it this Christmas so been really disappointed.

I am such a chocolate knob that I have to correct you here. You mean Côte d'Or, a Belgian brand which still exists - an elephant logo. Piat d'Or was shit white wine from the 1980s. Maybe I am a wine knob as well as a chocolate one.

Plain chocolate is the only thing that tastes like proper chocolate imho. ....and I used to love the stuff

Lindors this year we're exceptionally rank. So oily and sweet, stuck in the mouth for what felt like forever after eating.

I agree with previous poster, it's probably not just the palm oil but other things to blame too. Everything seems full of soya lecithin for starters.

Aldi does a bio Fairtrade 70% one that's quite good.

Think their Moser Roth brand does an 85% & a 90%

@diddl the problem is I can't stop eating it!!! Then get a headache Lol. But thank you for the recommendation ❤️💐

Totally this, I don't upstand why big companies are making their chocolate taste disgusting when you can buy cheap tesco chocolate which tastes more like how Cadburys used to. 🤔

I got offered a hero's before Christmas and it tasted awful 😖.

Caused by butyric acid.

The name sounds as if it would taste revolting iyswim!

I tried some Lindt 99% once I think it was.

It was unsurprisingly just like eating cocoa powder!

I had to box of toblerone bites for Christmas. They were delicious. No Palm oil

@diddl yeah too strong sometimes

Not all chocolate is bad....my faves are Guylian seashells and I also love a box of Malteasers.

I also like Tony's and M&S have done some dupes which i like.

Those Lindt/Lindor balls are overrated though. I also hate Ferero Rochet and get a box every year...

Thanks! I’ve never seen one advertised near me but I’m not far from two cities each way so I'll research!