[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Why is British chocolate so good?

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Why is British chocolate so good?
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1184613414.shtml


   ..and why is American chocolate [1]so awful?

     It's a different bar from the Cadbury bar available in the United
     States. According to the label, a British Cadbury Dairy Milk bar
     contains milk, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat and
     emulsifiers. The version made by the Hershey Company, which holds
     the license from Cadbury-Schweppes to produce the candy in the
     United States under the British companyâs direction, starts its
     ingredient list with sugar. It lists lactose and the emulsifier soy
     lecithin, which keeps the cocoa butter from separating from the
     cocoa. The American product also lists ânatural and artificial
     flavorings.â

     Tony Bilsborough, a spokesman for Cadbury-Schweppes in Britain,
     said his company ships its specially formulated chocolate crumb - a
     mash of dried milk and chocolate to which cocoa butter will be
     added later - to Hershey, Pa. What happens next accounts for the
     differences.

     "I imagine it's down to the final processing and the blending," he
     said. After consulting with chocolate manufacturers in each
     country, Cadbury tries to replicate the taste people grew up with,
     he said. In the United States, that means a bar that is more akin
     to a Hershey bar, which to many British palates tastes sour.

     Kirk Seville, a spokesman for the Hershey Company, declined to
     explain the manufacturing process, saying the company preferred not
     to take part in a discussion about the manufacturing differences
     between a British and an American Cadbury bar.

     For people here with a taste for British candy, no explanation is
     necessary. Their opinions are already formed.

     "Hershey's tastes like ear wax," said Kevin Ellis, an Alaskan-born
     designer with Adobe Systems in San Francisco. Mr. Ellis, who says
     Canadian and British chocolate bars are comparable, anticipates
     with delight the boxes of imported chocolate bars his wife's family
     sends.

   I've always been a fan of [2]Yorkie Bars, despite their weird ad
   campaign. My son knows that Smarties are way better than M & M's. It's
   surprising that a nation that produces Beef and Kidney pies would so
   consistently get anything food-related right...

     The smart set in London melts [Mars bars] over ice cream for a fast
     dinner party dessert. Mars bars are also fried in the same sort of
     batter used to coat cod.

   Oh, okay, they don't always get it right.

References

   1. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/dining/11cand.html?_r=1&ei=5087%0A&em=&en=2063789298c4abb9&ex=1184558400&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
   2. http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/archive-tv/yorkie-bar-quot-not-for-girls-quot/