Monday, March 19, 2007
Mini Eggs, the Shocking Final Showdown
Laura sent me some mini eggs from the UK, and since I had four precious Canadian mini eggs left we were able to do a UK-US-CA Egg Taste Off.
The image above shows the Canadian eggs next to the UK eggs. The UK eggs are larger, about the size of US eggs, but with blotchy speckles which I think is actually chocolate sprayed on. The UK eggs have darker colors (white, yellow, pink and purple) than either the UK or CA eggs, in fact the colors look more like the US dark chocolate eggs.
Above we have US on the left, Canada in the middle and the UK to the right.
The Canadian mini eggs were by far the winner, congratulations! The chocolate was simply a superior, tasty milk chocolate. The UK eggs were second with a mild chocolate flavor, and the US still taste like, well, creamy sweet something that isn't quite chocolate. The US eggs have a meltier, gooier feel in the mouth than the UK eggs. I'm going to go so far as to say that in direct comparison the US eggs suck, they taste almost like bad white chocolate.
I'm spoiled now. And Canada, you better appreciate what you got.
Now quick, somebody get all three kinds of eggs over to Candy Blog, I want to hear what someone with practiced tastbuds has to say about the differences.
The image above shows the Canadian eggs next to the UK eggs. The UK eggs are larger, about the size of US eggs, but with blotchy speckles which I think is actually chocolate sprayed on. The UK eggs have darker colors (white, yellow, pink and purple) than either the UK or CA eggs, in fact the colors look more like the US dark chocolate eggs.
Above we have US on the left, Canada in the middle and the UK to the right.
The Canadian mini eggs were by far the winner, congratulations! The chocolate was simply a superior, tasty milk chocolate. The UK eggs were second with a mild chocolate flavor, and the US still taste like, well, creamy sweet something that isn't quite chocolate. The US eggs have a meltier, gooier feel in the mouth than the UK eggs. I'm going to go so far as to say that in direct comparison the US eggs suck, they taste almost like bad white chocolate.
I'm spoiled now. And Canada, you better appreciate what you got.
Now quick, somebody get all three kinds of eggs over to Candy Blog, I want to hear what someone with practiced tastbuds has to say about the differences.
categories: food
argh, the photos in this post aren't loading (but all the other ones on your site are and I shift-refreshed about 3 times)... :(
Comment by melissa — March 19, 2007 @ 9:03 am
Oops, fixed now. Sorry about that.
Comment by megan — March 19, 2007 @ 9:07 am
Have you tasted the canadian ones with pop rocks?
Double the fun
Comment by JCB — March 19, 2007 @ 10:22 am
How strange! I do like mini eggs, but wish I could try the others too. It does seem like many US candy makers use inferior products to save a buck.
Comment by Ansley — March 19, 2007 @ 11:08 am
Go Canada! Glad you like the eggs. If you want, I can send you more :)
Comment by Andrea — March 19, 2007 @ 11:20 am
Your wish is my command Megan!
A kind reader is sending me the UK version of Cadbury Mini Eggs and a friend of a friend is visiting from Toronto this weekend and is promising to bring some Mini Eggs from Canada ... stay tuned!
The UK eggs are so cute!
Comment by cybele — March 19, 2007 @ 11:21 am
Hey there,
I just came across your site and noticed your writeup on the Cadbury Eggs. As I see you have someone picking you up some from Toronto this weekend, if you ever run short, please feel free to contact me. I live in Toronto and will happily send you a "care" package.
Comment by Sherri — March 19, 2007 @ 12:32 pm
I live on the border right now, and Canadian candy and often the food is much better. I never knew how well we had it on this side! Of course the American prices are much better, even with the exchange rate. :) So it sort of works out.
Comment by Rachel — March 19, 2007 @ 2:13 pm
You can't beat the Cadbury Mini Egg.
What is it about them, i just can't seem to get enough. I have even bought a big 2.0 ltr glass jar from my own store to put them in. It takes 10 large bags to fill it and i have it sat on the office desk. Besides the glass jar looks quite cool sat on the desk with hundreds of coloured eggs in it. But every time i walk away from the desk i can't help but take a handful.
Comment by Simon — March 19, 2007 @ 3:27 pm
We get to buy them in big 1-2 Kg bags too. That should last until, oh, June or so?
Comment by Carolyn J. — March 19, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
I've heard that they allow greater quantities and different types of food dyes in the UK, so maybe that's why they make them darkest there? This is what happens with Lush products, apparently (which I only know thanks to obsessive forum reading O_o)
Comment by Tasha — March 20, 2007 @ 7:09 am
woot! Yay for our mini eggs!
Comment by Joel — March 20, 2007 @ 8:10 am
Must. Find. Canadian. Mini Eggs.
I have to say, though, I do like the gooey feel of the US eggs. Something about the almost sticky milk chocolate combined with the crunchy shell appeals to me.
Comment by Keri — March 20, 2007 @ 9:03 am
I am a proud Canadian now. When I go to the USA, I do notice a difference in the food quality. I usually eat fine dark chocolate but I will go buy some Cadbury mini eggs this afternoon to try it. They are cute!
Comment by At Home with kim vallee — March 20, 2007 @ 9:10 am
The problem to me with this testing is that every single bag of U.S. mini eggs I've had this year has completely varied in taste, texture, thickness of candy shell, speckles, etc. Some have been phenomenal, others so-so.
Comment by Anna — March 20, 2007 @ 10:41 am
my husband sent me this link because i LOVE mini eggs and i gave up sugar for lent .. sigh. i'd give anything for some of these, even knowing that the us version are the worst! better go stock up ..
Comment by brooke — March 20, 2007 @ 12:12 pm
It would be interesting to do a taste test of the plain bars of Cadbury's chocolate across the UK, US and Canada. Is this what makes the difference in the Mini Eggs or is there a difference in the taste of the coating? I love the smooth milky texture of the coating. It takes me back to primary school when we used to put them on top of Easter nest cakes made out of chocolate and shredded wheat.
Comment by Vic — March 21, 2007 @ 7:55 am
I'm coming into this a little late but after reading your review, I'm so happy to be Canadian! lol Not that I wasn't before but I can't imagine inferior mini eggs. They are my weakness.
Comment by Michele — March 24, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
In Canada, Smarties also makes this type of mini egg? I have not tried them as I can only find big bags so far...I am not fond of smarties but hey, they might make a good egg...
Let me know if you want some.
Comment by Annette — March 26, 2007 @ 4:54 pm
I found this mini egg taste off by accident, and i wouldnt normaly comment on such things, But UK mini eggs are sooo mooorish. Ive tasted cheaper mini eggs from pic n mix shops and have had to spit them out. Reminds me of that stuff the sweet shops used to sell us as kids, called ''chocolate''. Usually came in the shape of a mouse, IcccKKK.
As for the smarties mini eggs, I remember when they was a trial product here (uk)I never did like smarties, but i loved orange flavoured chocolate, so i would ask for other peoples orange smarties. (Now grown up i pinch/steal me niece's)*Grins* So when these smarties mini eggs came out, I had to give em a try. Bit sweet if i remember.. Still give em a try Annette. Got me wondering how good these canadian eggs taste now.. (sorry for the essay) lol
Comment by Adam — March 28, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
Cdn. chocolate still uses cocoa, where a lot of American bars are called 'candy bars' because they have long since dumped cocoa from the ingredient list. As far as I am concerned, a lot of the states have 'chocolate flavoured' candy. BLEECH
Viva la Canadian
Comment by Katherine — April 9, 2007 @ 9:38 am
Interesting, both my girlfriend and I much prefer the Canadian Hershey "Eggies" to the Canadian Cadbury "Mini Eggs". I find the Cadbury eggs have a very nasty aftertaste. The Hershey eggies have a nice rich flavour and a better crunch too!
Comment by Robert — April 15, 2007 @ 1:56 am
I was at Shopper's Drug Mart today (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) and they had a tonne of mini-eggs on sale. I immediately thought of you ;) I picked up all three kinds. The "Popping" ones are kind of interesting, but I think I'd rather just have poprocks.
Comment by Melissa A. — April 15, 2007 @ 6:24 pm
We've recently done a taste-off of UK versus Irish versus New Zealand Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate - very interesting as they are all quite different - can't seem to get any US or Canadian Cadbury's does it exist ?
Comment by Tim — August 31, 2007 @ 5:28 am
Hello Tim - There is Canadian Dairy Milk, see this article at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_Milk
But there is no Dairy Milk in the US, the Wikipedia article says this: "Several reformulated versions are sold in the United States as the FDA does not allow products that replace cocoa butter with vegetable fat to be called chocolate."
It doesn't mention which bars are the reformulations. I'll report back if I see Dairy Milk in the stores here. However, I live very close to Canada and we see a lot of Canadian chocolate bars being sold here.
Comment by megan — August 31, 2007 @ 8:35 am
Robert, I could not agree more! I also believe Canadian Hershey "Eggies" are more delicious than Canadian Cadbury "Mini Eggs". They have a smoother chocolate and a thinner shell. I'm trying to find the Halloween edition now! (Also comes out at Easter (of course), Summer, Christmas, and perhaps Valentine's)
Comment by lpkay — October 15, 2008 @ 9:16 pm