Latest features Top ten sweet shop treats

Date Published:

06/03/2008

Confectionary expert Dave Green tells us how to get our over-the-counter fix. Here's his guide to what's hot and what's not at the sweet shop

Blue Smarties

Introduced in 1989, withdrawn in 2006 to the outrage of about 50 separate Facebook groups, now resurrected by Nestlé again. Ideal for re-enacting The Matrix ("You take the blue Smartie - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe" etc) - but what'll it take to make them bring back the tubes?
(about 36p)

Kit Kat Senses

Mars has the Mars Delight, Ferrero the Kinder Bueno, and now Nestlé has its own chocolate wafer biscuit bar with hazelnut praline centre, aimed at women who find normal Kit Kats insufficiently dainty. Already launched in Australia and New Zealand, where they're also available in Caramel Fudge and Coconut Eclair.
(RRP 45p)

Magnum Mayan Mystica

Walls has calmed down since unleashing 2003's epic Magnum 7 Deadly Sins series - this follow up to last year's Magnum Ecuador Dark focuses on the Yucatan peninsula's legendary chocolate making skills and is spiced with the delicate flavours of cinnamon, nutmeg and honey. For grown-ups.
(RRP £1.10)

Apple and Apricot Trident Splash

Apple and Apricot Trident Splash

The latest salvo in Cadbury Trebor Bassett's attempt to take on Wrigley. Another pioneering flavour combo from the folks who gave the world strawberry and lime liquid centre chewing gum - one of the few sweets that doesn't taste weird if you eat it straight after brushing your teeth.
(RRP 50p)

Lucky Charms

Technically a breakfast cereal rather than confectionery, but don't knock it till you've tried it - UK addicts have organised at least at 10 Facebook campaigns to make frosted oats with multicoloured marshmallows as widely available as they were in the early 1990s, instead of having to get their fix from online importers, specialist sweetshops, and the food halls of upmarket department stores.
(Upwards of £5 a box)

Cadbury Roses Coffee Cremes

You're thinking "Who ever liked these anyway?" - well, more than 300 Facebook users did, and don't want them written out of history like liquorice Maynard's Sports Mixtures or coconut Revels. Arch-rivals Quality Street haven't had coffee ones for ages, though Nestlé did bring them back - together with the less-lamented Gooseberry Creme - in their Quality Street Old Favourites box for Christmas 2005.

Galaxy Creamy Hot Chocolate with Melting Marshmallows

Galaxy Creamy Hot Chocolate with Melting Marshmallows

Probably the most straightforward in a long line of Mars spinoff drinks that, in the last few months alone, has expanded to include Maltesers Malted Hot Chocolate With Melting Maltesers and M&Ms Super Thick Shakes. Claims to contain 'half a standard bar' of Galaxy chocolate. Take care though, it takes a while to cool to drinking temperature after microwaving for the recommended minute and a half.
(£1.69 in Tesco)

Penguin Triple Chocolate Wafer Bar

Aussie Penguin-alikes Tim Tams are seen on the shelves of Tesco, US favourites Oreos are advertised on British TV, but McVitie's are tackling these foreign invaders head-on with "a milk chocolate covered wafer bar filled with Penguin's much-loved chocolate cream." Maybe they could also look into updating the jokes on the wrappers, many of which are terrible puns on either 'ice' or 'snow'?
(RRP £1.35 for pack of nine)

Polish apricot 'Jaffa Cakes'

Polish apricot 'Jaffa Cakes'

Aka 'Delicje Szampanskie' in their native Poland, where the 'smashing orangey bit' is often enthusiastically replaced by fillings as varied as wisniowe (cherry), o smaku jagodowym (blueberry with white chocolate) or szarlotka (apple pie). But it's the morelowe (apricot) that really works with the dark chocolate coating - a lesson for the original Jaffa Cakes and their odd blackberry & apple or cranberry & orange experiments?
(Around 99p from Polish convenience stores)

Starburst Twisted

Details are sketchy on this imminent addition to the Starburst range, but Twisted is rumoured to combine two fruity flavours in a 'marbled outer shell', plus a differently flavoured liquid centre. None of which is likely to satisfy the Facebook campaigns to have them the sweets renamed 'Opal Fruits'
(RRP unknown)

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