Lifting the Lid

It must be my age and the general pressures, stresses and strains that go with it but I am no longer excited by a big tin of Quality Street Chocolates.

Although these goodies, in various packaged forms, are of course available on an all year round basis it only tends to be in the Christmas Season that the large receptacles appear. The brand first came out in 1936.

We were given one by a good friend of the family and yes, it is a big thrill and a treat amongst the overload of food and sweet things that wash around at this time of the year.

Even so, it is only just this morning that I tore off the plastic seal and ventured into the foil and cellophane wrapped contents.

That in itself must be a record, make a note, 29th December for first sighting.

The media has, as usual, bemoaned the fact that the famous flavours within the Quality Street brand have diminished in size as part of a wider trend amongst manufacturers of many products to shrink them down from what we perceive to have always been their traditional scale and presence. This is certainly true in my experience with my own childhood favourites of Sherbet Fountains and Dip Dabs, the Black Jack and Fruit Salad Chews and many others which have survived in the face of sugar reduction, E Number removal and other global regulations.

My reason for tackling the tin of Quality Street was not to gorge on its contents but to carry out a bit of my own consumer research.

This was sparked off by an article in The Telegraph newspaper in the UK on Boxing Day which purported to have the definitive rankings for the twelve classic Quality Street flavours listed from worst to best. The photo below shows this league table of favouritism in an arrangement of my own doing on the dining room table. I do have a bit of slack time, yes.

The three lines are all part of my impromptu survey with one each being given to family members for their own indication of preference.

There are some interesting contradictions to the rankings from The Telegraph poll which may suggest an influence on the grounds of geographical location, demographics and culture.

I recall a Rock and Pop Poll in a school magazine back in the late 1970's which threw up similar significant variations with, for example the winners of the Best and Worst Groups being one and the same. As they say, there is no accounting for taste and the seems to be the case with Quality Street more than most.

If you happen to be near a tin of that brand whilst reading this, one that has been opened and in circulation for a few of the Festive Days, then just peek a sneak and make a brief visual note of the dominant colour of wrapper.

According to The Telegraph survey you should be looking at a very orange and red colour range with their least popular flavours being Orange Creme and the Strawberry Delight.

I can sympathise with the reasoning behind the blacklisting of these two but in the family poll the least popular rankings include three others, surprisingly the Caramel Swirl and Chocolate Toffee Finger. Those ranked from just outside of the top three to number 10 inclusive in the Telegraph are very much of a toffee persuasion. These are core brand types for Quality Street including one of my own favourites, the Toffee Penny. This is a real destroyer of teeth enamel and fillings not doubt keeping many an Emergency Dentist busy between Christmas and the New Year.

My own family, in contrast have listed in the mid to lower range those of a more chocolately and exotic content such as the Coconut Eclair, the Green Triangle, Fudge and Orange Crunch. As for the top three the National Consensus is, in reverse order, Coconut Eclair, Green Triangle and the winner, simply referred to as The Purple One ( a luxury concoction of runny caramel, hazelnut or brazil nut). My family do buck this trend in their preferences with top position going to Milk Choc Block, Toffee Finger and one affirmation for that otherwise poor performer, the Strawberry Delight.

This is the family ranking. Identities have been witheld in the interests of security and personal safety in view of the very emotive subject matter of the survey.

The biggest variation between the National and My Family preference relates to The Purple One which consistently attains high popularity in polls and from anecdotal evidence but yet performs poorly in out house with an average ranking of about 6th.

Myself, well. The picture below gives you no doubt as to my favourite.

If you feel that your own personal favourite Quality Street is not properly represented then drop a line in the comments section giving your top three.