A sweet stop for Chocolate lovers.

 

Cadbury is to the British what Hershey’s is to Americas.

Chocolate!

 It was in 1897 that the Cadbury Company launched its first chocolate for eating (just 3 years after Milton Hershey began to produce sweet chocolate as a coating for his caramel candy). The company history, however, goes back to 1824 when John Cadbury opened a grocer’s shop in Birmingham. Five years later he opened a factory to produce cocoa and drinking chocolate.

 Richard and George Cadbury, John’s son’s,  took over the company in 1861 and in 1879 the Cadbury Brothers moved to a brand new factory four miles outside the City of Birmingham and called it Bournville. Over time they acquired more land and built a village for their workers (Milton Hershey also built a town for his workers). In 1905, they launched ‘Cadbury Dairy Milk’, their ‘trade mark’ product that continues to exist today and, here is the U.S, is manufactured by the Hershey Company.

 Over the next 100 years the company grew, launching more products and merging with other companies until , in 2003, it became the Number One confectionary company in the world after buying the Adams Gum Company in the U.S. known for brands such as Trident, Stride and Bubblicious gum, Swedish Fish, Halls cough drops and Sour Patch kids.

 Cadbury sill produce chocolate at their Bournville factory and in  1990 opened “Cadbury World”. The £6 Million visitor center has grown over the last 18 years to become a major attraction. As well as learning about the history of Chocolate and the Cadbury company you can see how the different types of Cadbury chocolate is produced and packed. It’s not a factory tour, more of a Chocolate Based theme park and well worth a visit for any chocoholic if your in the Midlands area.

 More information about Cadbury World can be found at the Cadbury World Website.

 American – British lexicon

 In Britain, Candies are known as Sweets. Not to be confused with the Desert part of a meal which can also be known as a sweet or a pudding. As well as being sold in Supermarkets and Gas Stations they are also sold in small local stores called “Newsagents” unlike the U.S. where newspapers are most often local and sold from street vending machines. Britain has a selection of national daily newspapers that are sold in newsagent shops. Newsagents also carry a wide selection of magazines and often a small selection of greeting cards and other ancillary things. However, because of the large selection of candy (or sweets) carried by these shops, children refer to them as “Sweet Shops’. The word Candy is mostly used as part of a brand name or to describe particular types of Sweets.

 Have you any experience of Cadbury World? Have you tried any British candy? I’d love to hear what you think. Please feel free to add your comments below.