I was recently contacted by a reader who asked whether I could review this Turner's Chocolate Assortment, which is available in discount stores such as Poundland, 99p Stores and also Iceland. Funnily enough I had tried these chocolates earlier in the year but I hadn't taken any decent photos to be able to review them. If you've never seen these before, they're an interesting concept, promising an "assortment of high quality branded mis-shape chocolates".
From memory my first purchase of these had not actually been that successful. I remember lots of solid chocolates that were too hard to eat - almost as if the filling had been missed out and replaced by the outer chocolate, which is never the best quality. The bag I tried this week, however, was completely different.
There are lots of chocolates in the bag, which all have that bashed together look that is often the case with these types of bagged chocolates. There were only three different chocolates in my bag; a barrel shaped chocolate (pictured twice above ooops!), squares with an orange design, and larger curved segments.
From their appearance I suspect these are the types of chocolates that usually come in big tins and gift boxes. Since I don't buy tinned chocolates (such as Quality Street, Roses etc.) much anymore, I'll need my readers help to identify what these three are! The first large segment chocolate is filled with a soft caramel center and a large hazelnut. I would guess that it's the Purple One from Quality Street but I don't remember it having this type of pattern on top (see photo above). Perhaps that's why it's in this bag? The flavor however, is perfectly fine - thick sweet chocolate with an even sweeter caramel center and slightly soft nut.
The squared chocolate has an orange design etched into the top (hard to photograph due to the damage to the chocolates) and is unsurprisingly filled with an orange cream. I would guess this is from a Cadbury Roses type selection as it is covered with milk chocolate. I actually enjoyed this one too (although I did only eat half of one chocolate), and even though it's VERY sweet it has a pleasant enough orange flavor.
Then there are lots of caramel filled barrels - which I'm thinking are also from Cadbury Roses? They certainly taste like Cadbury caramels - very nice and my favorite of the bunch.
It's difficult to give these a rating because I can imagine each bag will have a different selection and could be a bit hit or miss. My bag had a good selection that were all to my tastes so I would say, on this occasion, it was reasonable value for £1. However, I think your enjoyment of these would depend on whether the knocked about appareance would bother you, and also the particualar selection in question. In terms of flavor there was nothing really to complain about with this bag, especially for those that are already fans of chocolate selection boxes.
I'd love to hear from anyone who's tried this Turners Chocolate Assortment, especially to find out which chocolates you had in the bag!
Grocery Gems Verdict: Turners Chocolate Assortment
RATING: 6 out of 10
Buy them again?: Probably not.
Purchased: Poundland