Cadbury - Halloween Screme Eggs - Oct. 7, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez
Cadbury
Screme Eggs (Halloween)
Good - Good +
Weight: 2.4 oz. (67.9 g.) (estimate) for 2 eggs
Calories: 360 calories (estimate) in 2 eggs
Cost: $2.98 (estimate) for 2 eggs
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Cadbury Chocolate Theme Week.

The first Cadbury chocolate eggs debuted in 1875. They were Easter Eggs. Today's cream-filled milk chocolate eggs looked like Easter eggs. However, these "Screme" eggs were designed for another big chocolate holiday: Halloween.

The hollow chocolate eggs were swaddled in black, purple and green foil, and contained sweet, scary green-colored creme filling. Eeeek. Good fun and tasty sweetness.

*According to the Cadbury website: "The first Cadbury Easter egg was made in 1875. The earliest eggs were made with dark chocolate, and had a smooth, plain surface. They were filled with sugar-coated chocolate drops known as 'dragees'. Later Easter eggs were decorated and had their plain shells enhanced with chocolate piping and marzipan flowers."

Cadbury - Royal Dark Creamy Mint - Oct. 6, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez
Cadbury Royal Dark Creamy Mint
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.52 oz. (43 g.) / 5.5 oz. (155 g.) in total package
Calories: 220 calories in 1 serving (3 pieces)
Cost: $3.50 for 1 package (2 for $7.00)
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Cadbury Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's individually-wrapped Cadbury Royal Dark Creamy Mint chocolates were the best ones I've tasted so far this week.

Fudgey dark chocolate with a creamy texture and melt surrounded a layer of mint in the middle. The combination worked well.

Cadbury - Royal Dark Salted Caramel - Oct. 5, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez
Cadbury Royal Dark Salted Caramel
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.52 oz. (43 g.) / 5.5 oz. (155 g.) in total package
Calories: 200 calories in 1 serving (3 pieces)
Cost: $3.50 for 1 package (2 for $7.00)
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Cadbury Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Cadbury Royal Dark Salted Caramel, individually-wrapped 2-bite sized, chocolates from Mondelez were distributed in the U.S. by The Hershey Company (Hershey, PA).

These Royal Dark small 2-square, rectangular chocolates smelled like sweet, dark chocolate. They also contained milk.* A silken, smooth melt and texture was due, in part, to the inclusion of both cocoa butter and milk fat.

A tasty salted caramel filling oozed out with every bite.

*The chocolates were made with semi-sweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, natural and artificial flavors, lecithin (soy), milk).

Cadbury - Dairy Milk English Toffee - Oct. 4, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez
Cadbury Dairy Milk English Toffee
Good
Weight: 1.27 oz. (36 g.) / 5.4 oz. (153 g.) in total package
Calories: 190 calories in 1 serving (3 pieces)
Cost: $3.50 for 1 package (2 for $7.00)
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Cadbury Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Cadbury chocolates were individually-wrapped Dairy Milk English Toffee miniature "bars" (from Mondelez International/U.K.), distributed by The Hershey Company (Hershey, PA).

These two-square rectangles of milk chocolate, packaged for portability and convenience, contained a relatively low percent of cocoa solids. However, the bits of English toffee (with almonds and salt) embedded in the chocolate were rich enough to lift the tasting experience.

Cadbury - Fruit and Nut small bars - Oct. 3, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez U.K.
Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut bar
Good
Weight: 1.27 oz. (36 g.) / 5.5 oz. (153 g.) in total package of 12
Calories: 180 calories in 1 serving (3 packets)
Cost: $3.50 for 1 package (2 for $7.00)
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Cadbury Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's package contained individually-wrapped small Cadbury Fruit and Nut milk chocolates (from Mondelez International/U.K.*).

The small 2-square, segmented rectangular pieces, stamped with the Cadbury logo, contained bits of raisins and almonds. (Early recipes apparently also contained Brasil nuts.)

These chocolates were a variation on the classic Fruit and Nut milk chocolate bar that was first introduced in the 1926 as Cadbury's Fruit and Nut bar. (In 2003 the company added the "Dairy Milk" designation.)

It's hard to write about long-lived, large companies like Cadbury without delving into history. Like many purveyors of cocoa in the early 1800s, John Cadbury and his brother started with tea, coffee and drinking chocolate.

Chocolate bars came later. And today's milk chocolate bar as we know it was not perfected yet; although the Swiss, French, British and others (including, later, Milton S. Hershey in the U.S.) were all vying for the a milk chocolate formula that would result in a viable milk chocolate bar.

Cadbury announced their first milk chocolate bar in 1897 (one of the first in the U.K.) and the Dairy Milk chocolate brand followed in 1905.)

Interestingly, today's product was distributed in the U.S. by The Hershey Company (Hershey, PA), under license from Cadbury UK Ltd. Hershey founder, Milton S. Hershey, traveled to Europe and the U.K. and would have seen what the Cadburys were doing. Hershey's development of a "model town", and boys school in Hershey, PA was likely modeled, at least in part, after Cadbury worker housing and other community projects for less well-to-do citizens.

*Mondelez International (formerly known as Kraft/Kraft Foods) has owned the British confectionery company since 2010. 

Cadbury - Picnic bar - Oct. 2, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

Mondelez U.K.
Cadbury Picnic bar
Good
Weight: 1.71 oz. (48.4 g.) in total bar
Calories: 232 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Rocket Fizz, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Cadbury Chocolate Theme Week.

This Cadbury Picnic candy bar/chocolate bar (from Mondelez International) was stuffed with peanuts, a sort of chewy, crunchy, caramely nougat with raisins somewhere in the mix; and it was covered with milk chocolate.

It was a handy bar to bring along on a hike near San Francisco bay and a climb up a mountain to see a great view after, you guessed it, a short picnic lunch.

The Cadbury Picnic bar was launched in the U.K. in 1958, and decades later (around 2000) was marketed as being "Deliciously ugly." Today's tagline read: "Shake it up with Picnic." How about "Enjoy a great view with Picnic?"

Cadbury - Dairy Milk Whole Nut bar - Oct. 1, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez UK
Cadbury Dairy Milk Whole Nut bar
Good
Weight: 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 246 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Rocket Fizz, Palo Alto, CA

Happy October to you all, and welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Cadbury Theme Week.

The Cadbury chocolate brand is owned by a large corporation (Mondelez International, fomerly Kraft). However, it was founded in the 1800s by members of the Cadbury family, who made some substantial contributions to chocolate. I've chosen to feature Cadbury items this week because of their history* as well as their market reach.

The Cadbury Dairy Milk product line has been a chocolate bar staple for many years in many countries. Today I sampled the Cadbury Milk Whole Nut bar, a sweet, segmented milk chocolate bar studded with whole hazelnuts.

It also had a long list of ingredients (including emulsifiers, chemicals and flavors) that made me a little uncomfortable, even if they weren't identifiable when tasting this chocolate. I doubt most of these were around in the 1800s or even when some of the original candy/chocolate bar formulas were created. Things do evolve over 100+ years.

Companies in the 19th century were using cereal fillers and other substances in their chocolate (some less palatable than those listed in today's bar); but the early Cadbury founders often felt that their recipes for their chocolate were purer than others.

*For anyone wanting to know more about Cadbury history, check out the book Chocolate Wars by author Deborah Cadbury. (And yes, Deborah happens to be related to the famous family, but she's also an author of many interesting non-chocolate, non-fiction books.)

In Chocolate Wars, the author chronicles the origins of the chocolate industry in the 1800s, particularly in England, at a time when the race was on to find formulas for dark and milk chocolate, and Cadbury company practices were swayed by both by Quaker traditions and corporate imperatives. The discussions about wanting to create better labor conditions for workers and farmers echo conversations still going on today.