‘I WOULDN’T BUY IT’: CHILDREN TASTE THIS YEAR’S CROP OF CUTE EASTER EGGS
Chocolate critters that look good enough (not) to eat, fried-egg confections, mini-egg fiestas and – but of course – a seasonal dinosaur: the 2024 line-up of edible treats might have strong shelf appeal, but do they actually taste any good?
We invited four experts to the judging table, calling upon the discerning palates of Huxley (aged 12), Inez (11), Fintan (10) and Emmeline (7) to share their candid opinions on everything from caramel golden retrievers to a milk-chocolate highland cow. ‘I’m feeling a little bit sick now,’ admitted Huxley, after nibbling through 14 creations with his fellow epicures – a quartet whose traditional Bank-Holiday binges might now be more of a considered graze.
‘I can barely smell any chocolate and the flavour is a bit too milky,’ says Fintan, while Huxley doesn’t like the way ‘it sticks to your mouth. I wouldn’t buy it,’ he says resolutely.
‘They’re so adorable,’ says Emmeline, ‘and I like the way one of them looks like it has sneaked a carrot it’s trying to hide from us.’ But the trio of solid white-chocolate shapes, while dinky, ‘is a bit sickly,’ she says.
A design that’s successful with everyone – ‘very freaky,’ says Inez; ‘very cool’, says Fintan; ‘there’s even a hole at the back where the tail might come out,’ imagines Emmeline. ‘It’s not too sweet or too bitter, and you can crack it easily,’ says Inez, but all agree the flavour is just ‘very normal.’
‘This smells like real chocolate, not cheap chocolate,’ declares Emmeline, ‘but it tastes too earthy.’ The taste is ‘slightly bitter and dark,’ says Fintan, while Inez reckons it ‘tastes of sweet potato!’ She loves the little felt piglet concealed inside but rightly asks, ‘what has a pig got to do with Easter?!’
This realistic, hand-painted palm-sized critter has everyone aching to cradle it (‘I like that you can actually stroke it but I feel angry to break it open,’ admits Emmeline). The chocolate is ‘thicker than I expected but ‘tastes a bit earthy’, says Fintan.
This geometric rabbit has serious shelf appeal among our junior tasters (Emmeline likes the ‘spacey splatters’ while Inez says it looks ‘so cool and tasty’). All agree it is ‘quite dark tasting,’ however, which splits opinion when it comes to scoring.
A bovine shell of blended white and milk chocolate that’s a hit with Inez, who adores Highland cows: ‘the horns are cute and the chocolate is sweet and soft; I could eat quite a lot of this.’ Fintan also likes the design, but finds the texture ‘a little bit floury and fluffy.’
Everyone’s familiar with Mini Eggs so the duo of bagged bites are considered a bonus by the tasting team: ‘it’s cool to get extra bags of things,’ says Fintan. The main egg itself ‘is good chocolate,’ says Inez, ‘good for a party. I can imagine it at a table and breaking off lots of bits.’
‘Ooh, it smells really good and tastes strong but not too dark,’ says Huxley. ‘It smells like Jaffa Cakes,’ exclaims Inez: ‘I like dark chocolate and I like orange chocolate so together it’s great.’ The strong orange scent ‘is a bit lively’, admits Fintan.
Another whose design draws the children in: ‘I’m not sure why,’ admits Huxley, ‘it just looks big, hard and sticky.’ It’s too sweet for Inez but Emmeline likes the ‘strong chocolate flavour and how soft it is.’
‘So cute,’ says Inez of this hollow white-chocolate fried egg. The design appeals to Fintan, too: ‘I like the writing on the back saying Happy Easter.’ The taste is ‘very sweet’, says Inez, ‘but if I were to choose one of the white-chocolate ones it would be this.’
This hunt-friendly glut of variously sized hollow eggs and chocolate lollies gets the thumbs up from Emmeline who loves the taste of the ‘very melty milk chocolate.’ For Inez, the prospect of a bunny headband to make out of the empty box seals the deal.
‘Oh wow, that’s really cool,’ says Inez, ‘the egg looks really tempting, it’s almost like it’s 3D.’ Fintan rates the design, too – ‘it makes you want to eat it’ – while Huxley, who says it’s ‘very soft and sweet,’ likes it better than the other white chocolate creations.
‘Look at his cute nose!’ shouts Emmeline, ‘I want to nibble it.’ Luckily, ‘it tastes so good,’ she says, licking the melted caramel-flavoured blonde chocolate off her fingers. Thumbs up from Fintan for the kennel-shaped box, while Inez loves the fur-textured details: ‘I could eat a lot of this in one go.’
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2024-03-16T10:01:16Z dg43tfdfdgfd