17 November 2023 , 16:02
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We all love tucking into a tub of chocolates at Christmas, but it can sometimes feel as though you're left with way too many rubbish flavours once you've picked out all your favourites.
But just how many sweets do you get in each of the most popular tubs? Are there really more Bounties than anything else in a tub of Celebrations, and are the plastic boxes even worth it compared to the number of choccies you get in a regular cardboard box or pouch? Manchester Evening News reporter Adam Maidment decided to settle the debate once and for all, as he set out to count exactly how many sweets you get in a tub of Heroes, Celebrations, Roses, and Quality Street.
For the test, Adam teamed up with his 14-year-old and six-year-old nephew and niece, and as well as counting the overall chocolates in each tub, the trio also counted which flavours were the most and least common. This is what he found...
Quality Street
There were plenty of Strawberry Delights and Fudges (Manchester Evening News)Quality Street tins are made up of 11 different chocolates including the Purple One, Strawberry Delight, Caramel Swirl, Orange Crunch, Orange Creme, Toffee Penny, Toffee Finger, Coconut Eclair, Fudge, Green Triangle and the Milk Choc Block.
Adam said: "In our tin, there were a total of 64 chocolates inside. Strawberry Delight and Fudge were the most common flavours by far, with eight of each available for the taking. On the other side of the spectrum, the Green Triangle and the Milk Choc Block were the less common of the selection with four of each. There were five Purple Ones inside - perhaps one of the most common flavours - so it'll be a battle to ensure there’s at least one each as the tin gets passed around the table on Christmas Day.
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"In this tub, there were seven Toffee Fingers and five Toffee Pennies - accounting for around 18% of the chocolates. These are perhaps the two most controversial flavours found in a tin of Quality Street because, let's be honest, they're usually the ones left 'til the end. They may even make it to New Year depending on how favoured they are."
- Total flavours: 11
- Total chocolates: 64
- Most common: Strawberry Delight and Fudge (8 each)
- Least common: The Green Triangle and Milk Choc Block (4 each)
Heroes
Creme Egg Twisted came out on top (Manchester Evening News)Boxes of Heroes come with nine flavour options, all of which are the big hitters from Cadbury's range of chocolate bars such as the Wispa, Dairy Milk, and Crunchie.
In his investigation, Adam wrote: "Controversially and perhaps skewing up comparisons, our box contained two regular-size single Twirl bars. The same thing happened last year, when Cadbury said they had replaced the Twirl Mini Bites with the regular bars due to supply issues.
"Quite frankly, it's frustrating and we felt fobbed off. While there could be the argument that by having two regular-sized bars, we are getting more than we would normally, it makes debates over who gets one of the regular bars really difficult - especially when people refuse to share. As a result, that means Twirl is the least common in our box with just two. Next up, Fudge, Crunchie and Eclair all come joint second lowest with six of each.
"The most commonly found flavour was the Creme Egg Twisted with eight, followed by Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk Caramel, Dinky Decker and Wispa at seven. Besides the Twirl shenanigans, the tub was quite well-balanced between the flavours."
- Total flavours: 9
- Total chocolates: 56
- Most common: Creme Egg Twisted (8)
- Least common: Twirl (2)
Roses
You won't find many Caramel treats in Roses this year (Manchester Evening News)Another Cadbury hit, Roses tins come with another nine flavours to choose from, including the Golden Barrel, the Hazel Whirl, the Strawberry Dream and another Dairy Milk Chunk thrown in for good measure.
Explaining his findings, Adam said: "The chunk itself and the Strawberry Dream take the prize for the most popular, with seven of each in our box. On the other side of the equation, it's the Signature Truffle and the Caramel that make themselves lesser known here with five each.
"Interestingly, despite there being nine flavours, there are only 54 in the box - and no excuses of supply issues to account for less. If you're considering things in terms of value for money, then it should be noted that Roses has the least amount of chocolates of the selection tins and boxes we compared."
- Total flavours: 9
- Total chocolates: 54
- Most common: Dairy Milk Chunk and Strawberry Dream (7 each)
- Least common: Caramel and Signature Truffle (5 each)
Celebrations
Contrary to popular belief, Bounty wasn't the most common Celebration's choc (Manchester Evening News)And finally, Celebrations. The tin is made up of your usual favourites from Mars, including Snickers, Malteasers, Twix and Milky Way, and of course, the iconic Mars bar. There's also the controversial Bounty in this box, which is always an opinion-splitter when it comes to family Christmases.
Adam wrote: "As varied as it is, there are actually only eight flavours in a Celebrations tin - the smallest variety out of the four. That being said, there are a whopping 65 chocolates in total, which is the highest number out of the lot.
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"The most common is, besides what you may think, actually a three-way tie between Mars, Snickers and Milky Way - with 11 each. It's the Twix, with five, that takes the trophy for the least commonly found in this box. There are seven Bountys and Malteasers each, whilst the Galaxy Caramel also has seven and the plain Galaxy gets six."
- Total flavours: 8
- Total chocolates: 64
- Most common: Mars, Snickers and Milky Way (11 each)
- Least common: Twix (5 each)