Quality Street – The End of an Era
Time for Celebration’s?
I’ve just finished my customary Christmas Tin, – Plastic Octagonal Tub, – of Quality Street. But somethings not right. I’m not sure if it’s the eco-friendly, ‘Now in PAPER wrappers,’ or that the recipes have changed because of this fad, but something is definitely not right.
Tins of Quality Street have been a Christmas Tradition since SEM, and I married 45 years ago. Back then it was a tin.
2 Kg of the best dazzling wrapped chocolates that Rowntree’s could offer.
It took me the Christmas week to devour the lot, from Christmas Eve until New Year. 300 gm a day or 30 of those wonderful treats. Two of each type every day.
SEM, had one or two obviously – she has always had an inkling for a Toffee Finger, – but she preferred a tipple, to chocolates. I guess that’s why opposite attract. I prefer Chocolate, – perhaps I should have been a woman, – but I digress.
I caught the bug at Raunds C of E Junior School, back in the mid-sixties – possibly not a coincidence that England also won the World Cup around that time. I remember at the Christmas Party having eaten our own sandwiches – different times – Santa had been and gone, we were singing carols and playing games. Suddenly the Deputy Head Teacher thrust this huge tin of wonderfully shiny foil wrapped chocolates in my face.
What was this? We had never had these at home, we couldn’t afford them.
‘Go on, pick one,’ she insisted, in her usual school mistress manner.
What should I do? I was mesmerised. The colours. The shapes. The variety, which was the best? I had no idea.
They all looked so inviting.
Miss Allen possibly didn’t realise, but she quoted Vivian from Pretty Woman, – well paraphrased. – ‘I got red , I got green, I got purple, but I do have one Gold Circle Coin left… the champion of c******s….. the one and only….nothing beats this sucker…..
…and there it was. The ultimate Quality Street Chocolate. The shiny gold covered, Toffee Penny, standing out like a golden coin. My fingers dived for the last one. ‘Thank You’
And that was it, I was hooked. Forever to be mesmerised by the tin of wonderful chocolates, – well until this year.
During our marriage the Quality Street Tin – now tub – has had a place on the floor, by my chair, for everyone to enjoy. The love I have for them, I kind of passed onto the kids. They had/have their favourites; SM and GM loved a Strawberry Delight – we had to hide some, otherwise they would go in one sitting – GM was also always partial to a Coffee Cream, and James, a Caramel (Swirl) Cup.
I guess I should have recognised that nothing lasts forever. Especially when the Coffee Cream, was just discarded like an old toy. I know it splits opinion, but so do some of the others. Why pick on the Coffee Cream?
The Coconut Éclair and the Fudge, still remain at the bottom of the tub even now, and why two orange varieties?
The tin size has also shrunk over the years. We are now at just 600 gm, or 64 sweets. No wonder they were finished in three days, rather than lasting a week.
SEM I think knew something was wrong, ‘I like Celebrations,’ she said, as I put two tubs in the trolley for Christmas. But I ignored her. ‘Look I eat the chocolates. You don’t even really like them.’
I knew best. But did I?
Whatever Nestle has done, it is not for the better. Perhaps they are seeking a new younger more enlightened audience.
Whatever it is, they have lost me.
The taste, the flavour, are just not the same, and no foil wrappers?
Times change I guess. Perhaps like life. Time to look to the future and new horizons….
Perhaps it’s just time for Celebrations.
..not just me then….
I also enjoy ‘a tub of sweets’ at this time of year. I dare not dwell on the number of shiny foil wrapped wonders I may have consumed in previous years not to mention the number of shiny foil wrappers I then spent time carefully flattening to reveal a perfect little square of shiny foil. Oh the joy in simple pleasures. Each piece of shiny foil and coloured cellophane was a joy to behold in my eyes. However times change.
The big tin of yesteryear has gone. Now the dull plastic tub is a shabby second place in my opinion, saved only by being handy enough to house homemade cookies,biscuits or fairy cakes. Gone are the days of finding a tin in my Nans sideboard only to open it to reveal cotton reels, buttons and sewing paraphernalia.
The wrappers are eco kind but dull. The chocolate doesn’t taste the same. Its probably due to cost and the huge amount of E numbers they used to contain. Hubby likes the purple ones, but now a diabetic even this urge has been stifled. My eagerness to indulge in anything red or orange in the tub, is then replaced by endless searching for more of the same only to leave me bereft and with handfuls of toffees which could lead me to an expensive visit to the dentist, hence my sideline for those ones.
After seeing a huge 2kg tub of delights in my local Co-op for a mere £24, whereas at my place of work the smaller versions were sold for a mere £3.50 I wonder what has happened.
Our memories are what makes us buy them. That’s the saddest part of this. We don’t need them, but that purple tin is there every year, calling to us. This year we didn’t buy the nuts, pringles, quiche, after eights, and all the other junk no one wants come January. Did I miss them. No. Will I buy tubs of sweets next year. Probably not.