Whatever the occasion, a box of chocolates is always a good idea. And with Christmas just around the corner, having a box, or two, on-hand can be a lifesaver, especially if you’re expecting some last-minute guests over the festive period!
And to help you choose the perfect box, consumer advocacy group Choice has looked at supermarket chocolate variety boxes from Quality Street, Roses, Favourites and Celebrations, and counted and categorised their contents to find out which box is best. Choice sorted the chocolates into seven categories: coffee and toffee, nuts, fruit creme, mint, white chocolate, dark chocolate and coconut.
If you’re on the hunt for caramel or toffee flavours, Choice says to opt for a tub of Quality Street. It has the highest quota of caramel chocolates (28 per cent) and four options to choose from: caramel swirl, chocolate caramel brownie, toffee finger and toffee penny. Roses came second with two options: classic caramel and caramel deluxe.
If you’re a fan of the combination of nuts and chocolate, Celebrations is your best option. According to Choice, it has the highest quota of nutty treats (29 per cent).
Love a gooey fruit centre? Then reach for a tub of Quality Street once again. One quarter of its tub is dedicated to strawberry delights and orange cremes. None of the other boxes contained a fruit-goo chocolate, Choice said.
As for a minty refreshment, Roses was the only variety box Choice looked at that had a mint option (peppermint creme crunch). However, there were only four in each box of 43 chocolates, so you may be better off opting for a box made up of solely mint chocolates.
If you’re after some white chocolate varieties, Favourites and Roses tied with a 7 per cent quota.
Meanwhile, Quality Street was crowned the winner for dark chocolate, as 25 per cent of its contents contains a dark chocolate element. Roses came second with 21 per cent dark chocolate options (peppermint creme crunch and dark mocha nougat). But if you’re simply after some plain old dark chocolate, then reach for a box of Favourites, which is 7 per cent Old Gold.
And for a coconut kick, grab a box of Celebrations, as it’s made up of 17 per cent coconut-based chocolates. Not a fan of coconut? Opt for Roses, as it has none at all.
If you want to save a bit of money too, the consumer advocacy group found Quality Street was the cheapest at $2.31 per 100 grams. The other three varieties are priced significantly higher, with Roses costing $3.44 per 100 grams, and Celebrations and Favourites costing $3.75 per 100 grams.
Proudly Australian owned and operated