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All I know is that in the years since Mondelez bought Cadbury the quality of their chocolate has gone down the tubes. Despite public pronouncements that they ha

All I know is that in the years since Mondelez bought Cadbury the quality of their chocolate has gone down the tubes. Despite public pronouncements that they haven't altered their recipes.

dijit 5y ago
Definitely true. I moved to Sweden before Cadbury’s was sold, I wasn’t aware that Cadburys had been sold when I came back to the UK for a visit. I genuinely thought that the chocolate had been “re-melted”. You know that waxy taste when chocolate has been out in the sun too much and hardened again and that’s happened a few times? So, I chalked it up to a bad batch or that the store had stored it incorrectly. To my horror the same was true of the chocolate in the airport when I was going home. So; it’s not a placebo; I didn’t know, I only know because I complained to my Mum and she explained what happened later.
- sorenjan 5y ago
  I've never had Cadbury's, but Marabou, the largest chocolate brand in Sweden, is also owned by Mondelez. How do they compare?
  - dijit 5y ago
    I was never a fan of Marabou, there was something artificial about the taste and I never bought it again: not sure how they compare directly.. Will check though, I'm visiting Scotland next weekend. :)
  - andi999 5y ago
    Marabou has a very distinct flavour (which i am addicted to) which is not a chocolate taste. Cadbury just tastes like bad chocolate.
  - lapsis_beeftech 5y ago
    Marabou chocolate is of mediocre quality at best. Chocolate from the other large Swedish confectionery manufacturer, Cloetta, is even worse and on par with Cadbury. I usually buy imported Dutch or Swiss chocolate.
  - michael1999 5y ago
    Marabou was tasty mass market, and they also declined after the purchase. My wife used to bring some Walter’s Mandler back, and gave up after the change.
  - originalvichy 5y ago
    In Finland we get Marabou in our stores, but our local competitor Fazer (still privately owned) is miles ahead. Marabou got a little edge when it came to market with combos with other chocolates like Daim. It didn’t take a long time until Fazer made flavour combos from their own lineup, and they took back the throne. If you have a chance to try Fazer chocolate then try it (sometimes stylized as Karl Fazer).
    - sorenjan 5y ago
      Fazer is widely available in Sweden as well, and I agree it's really good. Another Finnish favorite is Tupla.
- the-dude 5y ago
  Chocolate tempering : https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/guide-to-chocolate-tempering https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/guide-to-chocolate-temperin...
ksec 5y ago
Yes. Went to work in Cadbury Birmingham when I was a student something like 30 years ago. With perks like unlimited Cadbury Chocolate. I remember thinking I was in heaven. I am not sure which came first, moving their factory out to continental Europe or sold to Kraft. But the quality definitely dropped. May be "quality" isn't the right word from a QA perspective. But they definitely tasted different. And it wasn't a one off thing either. It changed a few times over the years. Probably before Kraft, after Kraft and then Mondelez. There were even some Cadbury from Poland that I think was owned by Lotte from South Korea. Or something like that. And it taste very different. It is similar story with Heinz Ketchup and bake beans. They keep saying they are the same.
- jleahy 5y ago
  The sale to Kraft came first, I distinctly remember because they promised the British government they wouldn’t move production out of the UK then did shortly after the acquisition closed.
- bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  I don't know, I've had some very ketchupy baked beans, they may indeed be the same.
GordonS 5y ago
I'm certain the cocoa solids quantity has been reduced - some of their products barely even taste like chocolate any more! Indeed, I saw one of their "Buttons" products recently, which didn't even say "chocolate" on the front - I presume because the cocoa content was so low they wouldn't be allowed to claim that.
fmajid 5y ago
Yes, but their quality was also pretty low to begin with. Cadbury is the reason why the EU, unlike the US, allows chocolate to be adulterated with up to 5% margarine. If the Germans, Italians or French had their way, only pure cocoa butter could be used, and by that standard Cadbury could not be legally be sold in the EU as "chocolate", so the British put their veto. Now that Brexit has happened, I keep hoping the EU will reverse that travesty but I guess industrial chocolate makers have gotten used to the profits from selling mockolate for the price of chocolate and are resisting going back to proper standards.
- evgen 5y ago
  Having moved to the UK from the US I have watched the Cadbury saga with amusement. As a well-travelled food snob I have known for decades that US chocolate (e.g. Hershey et al) is absolute shit. What I find hilarious is that people in the UK are quick to, rightly, point this out but then turn around and try to tell me that Cadbury is somehow 'good' chocolate. Now I get to see them moan that it has taken some dramatic turn for the worse after the takeover when at most it is a slight step down from an already low bar. Few Americans have access to good European chocolate so I can excuse their ignorance, but you can walk into a corner Tesco and get a bar of mid-grade German or Swiss for not much more than what is being paid for the mediocre Cadbury product...
  - captainbland 5y ago
    "dramatic turn for the worse" That's supposed to be the butryic acid content. I don't know if Americans are just so used to it that they don't really notice but Hershey's smells just a little bit like vomit which is, I'd say, "a dramatic turn for the worse" for sure.
    - petepete 5y ago
      Here's Charlie Brooker's review of Hershey's from the days before Black Mirror. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/cadbury-dairy-milk-kraft-takeover https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/cadbur...
yccs27 5y ago
Both can be true: They might just use ingredients of much lower quality now. You can definitely taste the quality of cocoa and fat - some high-quality brands have chocolates with single-origin cocoa, which can taste wildly different even though the recipe is the same.
slyall 5y ago
In New Zealand 20 years ago they were a generally loved brand with the majority of the market. Since the Mondelez sale they closed the local factory and started making everything in Australia. Besides the general drop in quality (palm oil etc) they got rid of popular products or changed their recipes. They still have a reduced but big share but other brands get all the respect.
- zizee 5y ago
  I find Whittakers (from NZ) to be a great alternative. Ever since Australian Cadbury's changed their recipe, it seems to give me a "burning" sensation. Whittakers tastes like a decent supermarket chocolate used to taste like.
  - Doctor_Fegg 5y ago
    Whittakers is great. Tony's Chocolonely seems to be taking on a similar market position in Western Europe.
Zenst 5y ago
I remember the whole egg-gate with talk they shrunk the creme eggs and only admitted after a picture of comparison to an older one surfaced -https://www.chocablog.com/news/cadbury-admits-creme-egg-shrinkage/ https://www.chocablog.com/news/cadbury-admits-creme-egg-shri... So there is a history of changing things and not saying. That all said, I find coca cola tastes different depending upon location of production. Personally I found the south African cola tastes better, then Canadian and was able to blind taste them. So hardly not all brands are that verbatim across production lines globally and if a production line is moved, so does it's sourced ingredients more so as well as quality of aforementioned ingredients. Equally, local regulation may also play into those small changes. But then wine from different years, from the same production run/winery will taste different and that is probably the best example of how ingredient changes, however small, play a big factor in the end product.
- VBprogrammer 5y ago
  My dad used to bring a pack of American Coca-Cola back any time he went. It's not even close to the British equivalent. I believe it's due to the good old high fructose corn syrup.
  - humanrebar 5y ago
    That's funny. American Coke snobs drink Mexican Coke from glass bottles, the usual explanation being corn syrup is worse than white sugar. Similarly, Texans bus "Dublin Dr. Pepper" bottled in Dublin, TX for the same reason.
  - Zenst 5y ago
    I will agree the glass bottle versions taste better, from my observations/experience, it seems to be down to how the co2 reacts in the container and I find the plastic bottle the co2 is somewhat smaller and light in the taste, the cans - somewhat better and medium and yet the glass bottle. Ah yes the glass bottles just seem to have large bubble into the mix and in the taste, that just is a factor that stands out. Though an easy one to test for yourself, get cola form same area - plastic bottle, can and glass bottle and blind taste for yourself and see if you can notice the difference. It is one I could do, though not done for a while and yet was so standout. I will add that the diet version of the drinks do somewhat not lend themselves to such taste differences and talking fall fat sugar variations of cola here. I will concur from my observations, the sugar as well as the water used for production, do seem to be the dicerning factors in varaition.

All I know is that in the years since Mondelez bought Cadbury the quality of their chocolate has gone down the tubes. Despite public pronouncements that they haven't altered their recipes.

dijit 5y ago

Definitely true. I moved to Sweden before Cadbury’s was sold, I wasn’t aware that Cadburys had been sold when I came back to the UK for a visit. I genuinely thought that the chocolate had been “re-melted”. You know that waxy taste when chocolate has been out in the sun too much and hardened again and that’s happened a few times? So, I chalked it up to a bad batch or that the store had stored it incorrectly. To my horror the same was true of the chocolate in the airport when I was going home. So; it’s not a placebo; I didn’t know, I only know because I complained to my Mum and she explained what happened later.

sorenjan 5y ago
I've never had Cadbury's, but Marabou, the largest chocolate brand in Sweden, is also owned by Mondelez. How do they compare?
- dijit 5y ago
  I was never a fan of Marabou, there was something artificial about the taste and I never bought it again: not sure how they compare directly.. Will check though, I'm visiting Scotland next weekend. :)
- andi999 5y ago
  Marabou has a very distinct flavour (which i am addicted to) which is not a chocolate taste. Cadbury just tastes like bad chocolate.
- lapsis_beeftech 5y ago
  Marabou chocolate is of mediocre quality at best. Chocolate from the other large Swedish confectionery manufacturer, Cloetta, is even worse and on par with Cadbury. I usually buy imported Dutch or Swiss chocolate.
- michael1999 5y ago
  Marabou was tasty mass market, and they also declined after the purchase. My wife used to bring some Walter’s Mandler back, and gave up after the change.
- originalvichy 5y ago
  In Finland we get Marabou in our stores, but our local competitor Fazer (still privately owned) is miles ahead. Marabou got a little edge when it came to market with combos with other chocolates like Daim. It didn’t take a long time until Fazer made flavour combos from their own lineup, and they took back the throne. If you have a chance to try Fazer chocolate then try it (sometimes stylized as Karl Fazer).
  - sorenjan 5y ago
    Fazer is widely available in Sweden as well, and I agree it's really good. Another Finnish favorite is Tupla.
the-dude 5y ago
Chocolate tempering : https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/guide-to-chocolate-tempering https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/guide-to-chocolate-temperin...

ksec 5y ago

Yes. Went to work in Cadbury Birmingham when I was a student something like 30 years ago. With perks like unlimited Cadbury Chocolate. I remember thinking I was in heaven. I am not sure which came first, moving their factory out to continental Europe or sold to Kraft. But the quality definitely dropped. May be "quality" isn't the right word from a QA perspective. But they definitely tasted different. And it wasn't a one off thing either. It changed a few times over the years. Probably before Kraft, after Kraft and then Mondelez. There were even some Cadbury from Poland that I think was owned by Lotte from South Korea. Or something like that. And it taste very different. It is similar story with Heinz Ketchup and bake beans. They keep saying they are the same.

jleahy 5y ago
The sale to Kraft came first, I distinctly remember because they promised the British government they wouldn’t move production out of the UK then did shortly after the acquisition closed.
bryanrasmussen 5y ago
I don't know, I've had some very ketchupy baked beans, they may indeed be the same.

GordonS 5y ago

I'm certain the cocoa solids quantity has been reduced - some of their products barely even taste like chocolate any more! Indeed, I saw one of their "Buttons" products recently, which didn't even say "chocolate" on the front - I presume because the cocoa content was so low they wouldn't be allowed to claim that.

fmajid 5y ago

Yes, but their quality was also pretty low to begin with. Cadbury is the reason why the EU, unlike the US, allows chocolate to be adulterated with up to 5% margarine. If the Germans, Italians or French had their way, only pure cocoa butter could be used, and by that standard Cadbury could not be legally be sold in the EU as "chocolate", so the British put their veto. Now that Brexit has happened, I keep hoping the EU will reverse that travesty but I guess industrial chocolate makers have gotten used to the profits from selling mockolate for the price of chocolate and are resisting going back to proper standards.

evgen 5y ago
Having moved to the UK from the US I have watched the Cadbury saga with amusement. As a well-travelled food snob I have known for decades that US chocolate (e.g. Hershey et al) is absolute shit. What I find hilarious is that people in the UK are quick to, rightly, point this out but then turn around and try to tell me that Cadbury is somehow 'good' chocolate. Now I get to see them moan that it has taken some dramatic turn for the worse after the takeover when at most it is a slight step down from an already low bar. Few Americans have access to good European chocolate so I can excuse their ignorance, but you can walk into a corner Tesco and get a bar of mid-grade German or Swiss for not much more than what is being paid for the mediocre Cadbury product...
- captainbland 5y ago
  "dramatic turn for the worse" That's supposed to be the butryic acid content. I don't know if Americans are just so used to it that they don't really notice but Hershey's smells just a little bit like vomit which is, I'd say, "a dramatic turn for the worse" for sure.
  - petepete 5y ago
    Here's Charlie Brooker's review of Hershey's from the days before Black Mirror. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/cadbury-dairy-milk-kraft-takeover https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/cadbur...

yccs27 5y ago

Both can be true: They might just use ingredients of much lower quality now. You can definitely taste the quality of cocoa and fat - some high-quality brands have chocolates with single-origin cocoa, which can taste wildly different even though the recipe is the same.

slyall 5y ago

In New Zealand 20 years ago they were a generally loved brand with the majority of the market. Since the Mondelez sale they closed the local factory and started making everything in Australia. Besides the general drop in quality (palm oil etc) they got rid of popular products or changed their recipes. They still have a reduced but big share but other brands get all the respect.

zizee 5y ago
I find Whittakers (from NZ) to be a great alternative. Ever since Australian Cadbury's changed their recipe, it seems to give me a "burning" sensation. Whittakers tastes like a decent supermarket chocolate used to taste like.
- Doctor_Fegg 5y ago
  Whittakers is great. Tony's Chocolonely seems to be taking on a similar market position in Western Europe.

Zenst 5y ago

I remember the whole egg-gate with talk they shrunk the creme eggs and only admitted after a picture of comparison to an older one surfaced -https://www.chocablog.com/news/cadbury-admits-creme-egg-shrinkage/ https://www.chocablog.com/news/cadbury-admits-creme-egg-shri... So there is a history of changing things and not saying. That all said, I find coca cola tastes different depending upon location of production. Personally I found the south African cola tastes better, then Canadian and was able to blind taste them. So hardly not all brands are that verbatim across production lines globally and if a production line is moved, so does it's sourced ingredients more so as well as quality of aforementioned ingredients. Equally, local regulation may also play into those small changes. But then wine from different years, from the same production run/winery will taste different and that is probably the best example of how ingredient changes, however small, play a big factor in the end product.

VBprogrammer 5y ago
My dad used to bring a pack of American Coca-Cola back any time he went. It's not even close to the British equivalent. I believe it's due to the good old high fructose corn syrup.
- humanrebar 5y ago
  That's funny. American Coke snobs drink Mexican Coke from glass bottles, the usual explanation being corn syrup is worse than white sugar. Similarly, Texans bus "Dublin Dr. Pepper" bottled in Dublin, TX for the same reason.
- Zenst 5y ago
  I will agree the glass bottle versions taste better, from my observations/experience, it seems to be down to how the co2 reacts in the container and I find the plastic bottle the co2 is somewhat smaller and light in the taste, the cans - somewhat better and medium and yet the glass bottle. Ah yes the glass bottles just seem to have large bubble into the mix and in the taste, that just is a factor that stands out. Though an easy one to test for yourself, get cola form same area - plastic bottle, can and glass bottle and blind taste for yourself and see if you can notice the difference. It is one I could do, though not done for a while and yet was so standout. I will add that the diet version of the drinks do somewhat not lend themselves to such taste differences and talking fall fat sugar variations of cola here. I will concur from my observations, the sugar as well as the water used for production, do seem to be the dicerning factors in varaition.