Easter and chocolate have been linked for years but where does the nostalgia for chocolate Easter eggs come from? Learn more about the history of the Easter egg as well as the trends set to be popular this year.
History
The Easter Egg was first brought into the UK in 1873 by Frys of Bristol. The original version of the Easter egg was made entirely out of solid milk chocolate .The Easter Egg trend soon started to spread around the country with Cadbury’s of Birmingham producing their first one just two years later.
However it stayed relatively small until 1905, with the invention of one of the first major innovations in British chocolate, Dairy Milk. This hugely impacted sales of chocolate and in 1923 they started to add fillings to Easter egg, such as the Crème Egg. Ever since then the Easter egg has become synonymous with Easter celebrations in the UK.
Trends
The popularity of Easter eggs is still continuing to rise year upon year. In 2022, the total number of eggs sold in Britain was 3.5 million.
Easter eggs have come a long way from their humble beginnings. Although the most popular type of chocolate Easter egg is still the traditional milk chocolate variety, there is a growing market for more modern and unusual designs and flavours.
One of the latest trend is for luxury Easter eggs made from the finest ingredients and packaged in beautifully designed packaging. Hand-decorated designs, champagne flavoured truffle fillings and extra thick chocolate eggs are among some of new popular Easter egg innovations.
A trend that has always been popular at Easter is nostalgia. Easter is synonymous with childhood and so customers are drawn to chocolate flavours that can conjure these fond memories. For this reason, milk and white chocolate eggs are the most popular along with flavours of caramel and malt.
At Classic Fine Foods we offer a great selection of Valrhona couvertures perfect for the creation of Easter eggs. Our chocolate specialist, Sam Smallman has selected a few of the best couvertures for your Easter creations:
Satilia 31%- This white chocolate is the perfect nostalgic chocolate, with a wonderfully clean, crips and sweet flavour.
Orelys 35%- For a slightly more sophisticated flavour, we recommend this caramelised chocolate. Made with muscovado sugar, it has a well-rounded flavour with notes of caramel, rum and liquorice.
Jivara 40%-This is one of Valrhona’s grand crus chocolate that has a real taste of childhood, with comforting flavours of cereal and malt.
Bahibe 46%- This milk chocolate has a deep, warm flavour with notes of rich caramel, rum and raisin, perfect for the classic Easter egg.
Valrhona Easter Eggs
At Classic Fine Foods, we also of a wide range of Valrhona Easter Eggs to delight your customers with this spring. Valrhona have created some delicious eggs in a wide variety of flavours and all wrapped in attractive and colourful foils, making the perfect Easter treat.
With Easter eggs fillings such as praline, gianduja, nougatine and ganache and exciting flavours such as caramelized apricot, salted caramel and almond hazelnut, there really is something for everyone! To help you out a little further, we are offering an amazing deal of Valrhona Easter eggs.
Take a look at our offers in our blog post here.
Check out our Easter page for other blog posts, recipes, videos and our full Easter product selection here.
Want to learn more? Check out our YouTube video with Classic Fine Foods chocolate specialist Sam Smallman, talking about the history of the Easter egg.
