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Messages - cleverdick

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1
Reviews / Mr Simms Old Jamaica
« on: August 29, 2015, 04:10:07 pm »
If ever there was an opportunity missed, this is it. ::)

I've coined a name for [so-called] chocolate that's presented in clear cellophane and sold at an over-inflated price.  Tourist Trap S***e.  And in my view, that's exactly what this is.

Quite unsatisfying and full of soya lecithin, it's nothing like the Old Jamaica that most of us will know.  Even the rum flavouring is fake.  (And yet, if they'd got it right they could clean up!)

In the fullness of time I shall be experimenting (using good quality chocolate from Lidl or Aldi) with actually making a decent rum and raisin bar.  I will report back.

2
Discontinued? / Bourneville Old Jamaica
« on: August 26, 2015, 11:15:57 pm »
Finally seems to have gone - not that it was a patch on the original.  Compare their range now with that from the '70s.  It's a sick joke.

3
New Products / Re: Cadbury Puddles
« on: May 03, 2015, 11:38:54 am »
Regarding the Smooth Hazelnut version, I'm not really sure what to make of it.  The filling has subtle tones of cigarette ashtray IMO.

I've not tried the others.

4
Reviews / Fin Carre Cooking Chocolate, 200g
« on: February 01, 2015, 10:20:10 am »
This works very well as high-quality eating chocolate!

Identifiable by an old-fashioned sepia illustration of a cook on the wrapper.

Made in Germany and exclusive to Lidl.

5
Foreign Products / Re: Dutch chocolate
« on: January 25, 2014, 11:23:19 pm »
Tesco Value plain chocolate used to be sourced from the Netherlands and it was very good.  (It was not overpowering but would break with a snap.)  They then switched to a UK manufacturer and an inferior product with far too much soya lecithin.

So you may have experienced Dutch chocolate without realising it!

6
New Products / Re: Cadbury Pebbles
« on: August 18, 2013, 10:18:09 pm »
No!

7
New Products / Cadbury Pebbles
« on: August 12, 2013, 09:48:48 pm »
Well well, never to miss a trick, it would seem that the brand we love to hate has now blatantly ripped off Smarties technology and reinvented the wheel with this "new" product.  (Yes, they're exactly like Smarties in all but shape and colour variation.)

I presume the Rowntree patent for the manufacturing process (if there ever was one) has expired....


8
Old Products / Re: Yorkie: What was that unique taste
« on: June 11, 2013, 11:57:32 pm »
That part of town has all been redeveloped, sadly (for various reasons), the trains are now boring diesel and any character (such as Yorkie lights and reversible seats) has gone the way of our chocolate.  (But I'd better not speculate as to whose fault it is! ;))

At the risk of going totally OT, there's a 1960s promotional film called "Sunshine on Sea" (or something like that) on-line at the East Anglian Film Archive.

9
Old Products / Re: Yorkie: What was that unique taste
« on: June 10, 2013, 10:54:53 pm »
I did actually write to Nestle a few years back to express my disgust.  Predictably, they denied having tampered with the original recipe.  Possibly a difference in the milk content and type of emulsifier.  (More research needed and preferably some insight from a Rowntree worker.)

As an aside, I remember that the old (green and white) Southend Pier trains had interior lights that were shaped just like a piece of Yorkie!  :P

10
Old Products / Statutory Rights Not Affected!
« on: June 09, 2013, 12:05:15 am »
Back in the day, did you ever buy a chocolate product to find that it was defective in some way, and send it back?  If so, what did you get in return?

I remember in the '70s (when I was probably about 7 years old), buying a Picnic from the cafe in Southend Library, only to find that it had cobwebs in the wrapper.  (The cafe woman tried to tell me that this was normal.)

I wrote to Cadbury's, and they replied with a (somewhat scientific) explanation, using words like "foodstuffs", to the effect that certain organisms could get through the paper and lay eggs.

They included a pile of chocolate bars of various types, and said that they "hoped this would not put me off their products in the future".

I bet nowadays you'd just get a template letter response, possibly not even related to your complaint.  (At least, that's all I got from Tesco when I wrote in after they downgraded their Value Plain Chocolate by sourcing it from the UK instead of the Netherlands.  It said "sorry you didn't like our plain chocolate biscuits" etc. etc. without answering or even acknowledging my point [about soya lecithin] at all!)

11
Old Products / Suchard Truffle Supreme
« on: June 08, 2013, 11:44:52 pm »
Now there's a thing!

Just seen it on p.42 of the doyouremember wrappers thread, and IIRC was first available around 1984-ish.  I think it was in the form of two fingers joined together.

I did a paper round at the time, and the Indian guy who owned the shop always had a wide range of confectionery products - many of which you never saw in the chain outlets.

This was one of them I'm pretty sure, and it was seriously good.

12
Old Products / Re: Double Decker Dilemma
« on: June 01, 2013, 12:04:53 pm »
Quote from: GimmeTheSoddingChoc on May 30, 2013, 03:10:09 pm
Quote from: oldspice on May 29, 2013, 08:12:12 pm
Quote from: cleverdick on May 28, 2013, 10:33:21 pm
I'm not picking on anyone in particular, just giving an example of one possible way in which our beloved chocolate industry has gone to the wall.

The Fabians (of which Blair is a member) recently suggested that pensioners have it too good and should pay more tax.  So if that's what you mean by equality then what can I say?  Like as not they may have also said that "UK-made chocolate is too good; let's dumb it down so that it's not unfair competition against the rest of the EU".  Or whatever.  That's the point I was trying to make.  The fact that Rowntree Mackintosh, Terry's et al have gone and Cadbury is a shadow of its former self is probably not an accident.  This sort of agenda does not originate in Parliament.

I'm not blaming the Fabians specifically, just suggesting that it was a policy decision by one of their type.

I never said A WORD about equality and I am not going to enter into a political debate on a website devoted to the love of chocolate.

Yes, you did mention equality.

Quote from: oldspice on May 10, 2013, 05:12:58 pm
For crying out loud, why are you picking on the Fabian Society? What on earth have they got to do the a chocolate bar? Fabians have integrity and genuine belief in equality.

Just saying, like...

Yes, I didn't really like to mention that! ;)

I don't believe it's just about economics.  If it was, then it would not still be possible to buy superior chocolate as a mainstraeam product in France, Italy, Germany and north-eastern Europe (where economies are also suffering).

As far as I'm concerened there has been a deliberate attempt to dumb down the UK chocolate industry (as with so many other things), and there will have been a conscious decision behind it.  It's certainly not random, or due to a "change in British taste".

So we have to ask why.

(Have British people's taste buds become that much more acute in two generations, such that the manufacturers have to tone down the flavour in case it's too strong?)  I don't think so.  Do you?

13
Old Products / Re: Double Decker Dilemma
« on: May 29, 2013, 10:56:15 pm »
Well, we can all go on this forum and say "do you remember this product or that product?"  And then bemoan the fact that it doesn't exist any more, and go on to say that UK chocolate has too much soya and not enough cocoa blah blah blah, and how terrible it all is.

But what does that achieve?

I believe that it would be useful to know what went wrong, how it went wrong, and what we can do to stop it getting any worse if we all wake up.  If that means taking a broader look at the industry and how it is controlled then so be it.  (It would be good to get some industry insiders on this forum.)

Perhaps some people just aren't interested and are content to lament the past.  Me, I'm just trying to zoom out a little, that's all.

14
Eating Methods / The Chocolate Monster
« on: May 29, 2013, 12:15:45 am »
I once trained with a guy who in an evening would eat: (1) a 1kg bar of Dairy Milk, (2) a family-sized chocolate trifle, and (3) a whole can of UHT chocolate-flavoured aerosol cream which he would squirt directly into his mouth.  Hence the nickname above.

15
Old Products / Re: Double Decker Dilemma
« on: May 28, 2013, 10:33:21 pm »
I'm not picking on anyone in particular, just giving an example of one possible way in which our beloved chocolate industry has gone to the wall.

The Fabians (of which Blair is a member) recently suggested that pensioners have it too good and should pay more tax.  So if that's what you mean by equality then what can I say?  Like as not they may have also said that "UK-made chocolate is too good; let's dumb it down so that it's not unfair competition against the rest of the EU".  Or whatever.  That's the point I was trying to make.  The fact that Rowntree Mackintosh, Terry's et al have gone and Cadbury is a shadow of its former self is probably not an accident.  This sort of agenda does not originate in Parliament.

I'm not blaming the Fabians specifically, just suggesting that it was a policy decision by one of their type.

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