World Chocolate Day is on 7th July every year but with the amount of chocolate that gets consumed on Christmas Day, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was 25th December! Chocolate truffles, festive chocolate selection boxes, and those essential tins of assorted chocolate which are paramount for festive TV viewing - Roses and Quality Street!
In fact this year, the latter celebrated eighty five years since it was first launched and it has been a firm favourite ever since, especially in British households where not only do we like to fight over our favourite chocolate varieties while watching the Christmas movie, but we also like to indulge in a box of Quality Street on other special occasions and give them as gifts throughout the year.
Those of us who lived through the Nostalgia Pie years (1960s-1990s for those who don't know!) we know that one of the cool things about Quality Street during the Christmas period is that it was usually sold in a clear rather than cardboard box; a glass jar, or those gorgeously decorated metal tins which no one ever got rid of, and instead they were used for storing various bits and bobs.
So while most of us are busy with our last minute prep for Christmas Day, we take a look at the chocolate assortment which no festive season is complete without. However did they celebrate Christmas before they created tins of Quality Street???
HOW IT ALL BEGAN...
Although Quality Street is now produced by Nestlé, the chocolate assortment was the brainchild of Mackintosh back in the 1930s. Chocolate pioneers John and Violet Mackintosh established the Mackintosh confectionary empire in their hometown of Halifax in West Yorkshire towards the end of the nineteenth century, where the brand was particularly well-known for a type of caramel toffee. Then fast forward to the 1930s and the business was then inherited by their son, Harold. Noticing that beautifully-boxed confectionary was an indulgence of the wealthier classes who could easily afford them, he felt that this was very unfair to those members of society who were not quite so privileged. So Harold Mackintosh set about creating a range of pretty but affordable boxed-chocolates so that those who were not exactly rolling in it could enjoy them too - and rightly so, we say!
So in 1936, Quality Street was launched. What was special about this chocolate assortment was that it changed the way that boxed chocolates were produced and sold, and made them more readily available to the masses. And over the years, Quality Street went on to be exported to more than fifty countries around the world.
Mackintosh merged with Rowntree in 1969 to become Rowntree Mackintosh. The company was then bought by Nestlé who are still producing Quality Street today.
THE NAME - WHY QUALITY STREET?
Quality Street was the name of a popular play that opened in 1901 and was written by Scottish writer JM Barrie who went on to write that well-loved children's tale about the little boy who never grew up - Peter Pan. Due to the popularity of the play Quality Street, Mackintosh were inspired to name the new chocolate assortment after it.
Remember the Quality Street figures of Major Quality and Miss Sweetly who were featured on Quality Street tins and used in promotion and packaging until 1998? Well they were inspired by the two main characters in the play by Barrie. Major Quality and Miss Sweetly were created to evoke the sweet (excuse the pun!) sentiments of... nostalgia... which is obviously right up our street!
Mackintosh were a brand who had a reputation for knowing about and utilizing the power of marketing and publicity. At a time when Britain was still reeling from the effects of the economic crash that began in 1929, Harold Mackintosh understood that in times of economic depression, war, and social unrest, what most people craved was something bright, cheerful and a good dose of old-fashioned nostalgia! The end product fitted the bill perfectly. The chocolates were tasty yet affordable, wrapped up in bright and shiny coloured foil and cellophane; the tins were brightly coloured and featured two characters from the end of the Napoleonic era wearing old fashioned military attire and crinoline.
THOSE JEWEL-TONED WRAPPERS
We can still remember the first time we took the lid off a tin of Quality Street and marvelled at the assortment of brightly-coloured foil and cellophane wrapped chocolates that made them even more alluring. And remember as kids, we would hold each of those cellophane wrappers up to our eyes so that everything was crimson/amethyst/emerald coloured? Such happy days!
Back when Quality Street was first getting started, Harold Mackintosh aimed to keep costs down by wrapping each individual chocolate in brightly coloured wrappers - which also added to the appeal - rather than place them in expensive-to-produce chocolate boxes. Mackintosh was also responsible for creating the world's first chocolate twist-wrapping machine to wrap each piece of confectionary in a distinctive wrapper. You didn't think each of those chocolates were hand-wrapped, did you?
THE TINS!
Todays Quality Street selection is available in plastic tubs which some of us feel quite disappointed about but we live in an age where manufacturers aim to keep costs down as much as possible so needs must! But many of us remember when the chocolates were sold in metal tins with pretty designs. This was another one of Mackintosh's ideas as he wanted the chocolates to be sold in sturdy and practical packaging.
Come on - how many of you kept the tins after you'd scoffed all the chocolates for storing biscuits, homemade cakes and a whole variety of other items? Well you have Harold Mackintosh to thank for that! While generally throughout the year, especially during the latter part of the twentieth century, Quality Street would be available in cardboard boxes but at Christmas it would usually be those adorable tins or large glass jars. Occasionally though, on anniversaries for instance, special edition tins are still being produced but you have to grab them while you can.
The tin combined with the use of the chocolate wrappers created something of a sensory confectionary experience. As soon as the lid comes off, you're hit with the aroma of chocolatey goodness, and your eye is immediately drawn to the riot of vibrant colour and all the various shapes, sizes and textures of the chocolates - not to mention the rustle of all the sweet wrappers as you dig around the tin for your fave flavour before chomping down on it in all it's deliciousness!
THE FLAVOURS. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE?
Everyone who's ever bought a tin of Quality Street will have their fave chocolates and their not-so-faves. When Quality Street was first launched, there were eighteen chocolates and toffees in every tin - each of a different flavour. Some of those varieties are still available today such as the caramel swirl and the green triangle, although most of us would have known the latter as the noisette triangle. But over the years, there have been a variety of flavours that have come and gone including fruits of the forest cream, fig fancy and apricot delight. They all sound quite delicious so there'll be no complaints from us if they make a comeback!
Many of the stand-out chocolates in existence today are the fudge, toffee finger, and the memorable toffee penny which was an original Mackintosh recipe and got its name for being the size of the old English penny coin. Now going by the name The Purple One, a favourite of many Quality Street fans is the purple cellophane-wrapped hazelnut in runny caramel. Those who enjoy the Purple One might be interested to know that once upon a time it was actually a brazil nut in caramel. Due to a shortage of Brazil nuts during wartime, it was replaced with hazelnuts - and chocolate lovers have never looked back. Personally we think that it works way better with the hazelnut!
But if there's anyone out there who can't live without the discontinued strawberry or coffee cream chocolates, let us know!
THE QUALITY STREET ADS
There have been over one hundred TV ads for Quality Street with the first one being broadcast in 1958 with the tagline "No one ever says no to Mackintosh's Quality Street." Since that first ad, we've enjoyed seeing the latest TV commercial or print advert which enticed us to go out and buy a box of Quality Street. And just as we do with this wonderful chocolate assortment, we all have our favourites when it comes to the Quality Street ads. In 1979, the brand came up with the slogan 'Made for sharing' which of course it was. And nobody but nobody can hear the melody to Magic Moments - recorded by Perry Como in 1957 without thinking of Quality Street!
A FESTIVE FAVOURITE
It's a well-known fact that at Christmas, every British household needs a tin of Quality Street to dig into as they watch a classic movie or the unmissable Christmas EastEnders episode. It's unknown how Quality Street became such a festive favourite (as well as that other chocolate sweet selection, Roses!) but it could be that the bright, jewel-tone wrappers are reminiscent of the brightly-coloured lights and decorations of the season. And let's face it, those big chocolate tins are made for sharing so what could be more appropriate for an occasion that's all about, family, friends and giving? Made for sharing indeed!
A merry Christmas to all you nostalgia addicts out there and best wishes for a very happy 2022. We hope you have a truly magical festive season. And as you dig into your tin of Quality Street after the Queen's speech, remember to set aside the purple ones for us!
Photos: Youtube
Word Cloud: Angel Noire
