Vote for your favourite chocolate brand
Latest Opinion Polls
Cast your vote for your favourite chocolate brand from the selection we've come up with. We know it's never easy to have a dead favourite so there is an option if you just can't make up your mind.
We decided to create this poll because we have added so many chocolate freebies in the run-up to Easter 2021 and it occurred to us that, it's becoming more and more difficult to choose a single brand that we can say is our absolute favourite.
We're hoping that you don't have any such issues and have a clear favourite chocolate brand, which is never in danger of being betrayed.
How much chocolate do Brits eat each year?
We are certainly a chocolate-loving nation. If the numbers are to be believed, in Britain we eat around 660,900 tonnes of chocolate a year, that's an average of 11kg of the sweet and creamy stuff per person per year - GUILTY!
Although not an option to vote on in this poll, the humble Creme Egg is the best-selling confectionery item between New Year's Day and Easter in the UK.
The UK chocolate market generates £6b a year!
To put that into pounds and pence, the average Brit spends more than £325 on chocolate every year, ouch.
Chocolate deals not to be missed on Amazon.co.uk
The really big question is, which chocolate brands are taking the largest slice of that cake? This is a question that is becoming increasingly difficult to answer due to the vast number of new chocolate brands making their way onto the supermarket shelves.
Yes, there are the classics that will no doubt put up a good fight for space in our gobs but the emerging brands mean business and they are giving the legacy brands a good run for their money.
Have a look at the other free chocolate samples available to apply for.
Reese's peanut butter cups are one of the more popular American chocolate imports that have been well received by British chocolate buyers.
Biggest chocolate companies in Britain
In terms of market share, the biggest makers of chocolate in the UK are Mars Wrigley, Nestle UK, Barry Callebaut Manufacturing and Mondelez Europe. Those are the big boys on the block but all the David's out there are giving the Goliath's something to think about, not to mention all the mega American brands making their way across the pond to snatch a slice of the market.
What is the difference between American and British Chocolate?
Chocolate is chocolate but in the United States, the chocolate bars are made slightly different to ours because chocolate bars sold in America need to meet FDA standards, which say the only fats allowed to be used in the manufacturing process is cocoa butter. Here in the UK, companies are allowed to use vegetable oils such as palm oil and shea butter.
The only difference is the amount of cocoa used in each bar. The US Cadbury bars use only cocoa butter as the "fat," in order to meet FDA standards. In the UK, the company is allowed to also use vegetable oils such as palm and shea.
Apart from that, we're pretty much munching on the same stuff as our American cousins. However, it seems in the U.S. they do have a penchant for adding nuts or peanut butter to their chocolate bars way more than we do.
Luxury chocolate brands are becoming more common
It seems also that as a nation we're starting to get a bit posh with our chocolate nosh.
Luxury brands such as HotelChocolat have made massive strides into the marketplace and we are loving their products, but competition is so ferocious that they have only carved out a 2% share of the chocolate market, despite the meteoric rise in their growth.
Then there is the big daddy of the luxury chocolate brands, Charbonnel et Walker, the iconic British chocolatier founded in 1875 and known for their most luxurious truffles in a variety of flavours.
Health benefits of chocolate
Yes, chocolate is healthy for us in small quantities and preferably the dark varieties. Chocolate is not only a very nutritious foodstuff, but it is also loaded with antioxidants, is said to improve blood flow, could reduce heart disease and the list goes on.
There is a very short but concise article on the British Nutrition Foundation website about the health benefits of dark chocolate. It's worth a read if you're feeling confused about the mixed messaging about chocolate and it's health benefits.
That's not a green light to bing on as much chocolate as you can get, because chocolate is a food that has one of the highest concentrations of saturated fat, and of course there are other things in chocolate bars, such as sugar that can easily cancel out any benefits you get from the actual chocolate.
