Dairy Milk Golden Crisp, Dairy Milk Buttons, Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut and Crunchie
The British firm of Cadbury PLC was the second largest maker of chocolate candies in the industry until its acquisition by Kraft Foods in 2010, at which point the combined companies became the largest confectionary company in the world. Cadbury makes an extensive line of products which include Fair Trade certified chocolate from Ghana.
One of Cadbury’s most popular lines is Dairy Milk, which comes in a number of variations. I had the chance to sample several of these along with a Crunchie bar, two made in England and two in Ireland. (There’s not much difference in taste between the two.)
The Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Crisp is milk chocolate bar with a good measure of “crisp,” otherwise unidentified “honeycomb granules” made of sugar and glucose syrup. It’s a very sweet bar, as might be imagined, with a soft texture. The major taste element is, as might be imagined, sweet. The chocolate is largely subsumed into the milk and sugar used in its making.
The Dairy Milk Buttons are just that, small buttons that come in a bag, and that do have the redeeming quality of tasting of chocolate, although again very sweet. It’s basically a standard-issue milk chocolate, nothing exceptional, although it does avoid the waxy taste of so many other chocolates in its class.
The Dairy Milk Fruit and Nuts lays claim to raisins and almonds. The raisins are certainly there — you can feel them, chewy bits with a burst of sweetness. The almonds are more problematic: there is something in this bar that can lay claim to nuthood, but,, while there is certainly some crunch, there is little almond taste.
Cadbury Crunchie is a bar of milk chocolate-covered hard sponge which again lays claim to almonds somewhere in its history. There is a bare hint of almond flavor, while the chocolate coating, which is barely there at all, is again very sweet. In fact, “sweet” more or less defines this one.
I’ve perhaps gotten spoiled by the opportunity to sample a range of high-quality chocolates, including a range of milk and dark chocolates in which chocolate comes first. It should serve as a word to the wise that the first two ingredients listed for each of these candies are milk and sugar, with cocoa mass coming in a poor fourth, after cocoa butter. Another word to the wise: the candies also contain vegetable fat in addition to the cocoa butter.
I didn’t have the opportunity to sample any of Cadbury’s dark chocolates,, which might be a different order of being entirely. As it stands, if what you need is a sugar fix, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is probably just what you want. I, however, will opt for something with more chocolate and less sugar.
