Fry’s Turkish Delight
When I was a wee nipper, Fry’s Turkish Delight was about as exotic and sophisticated as you could get on the confectionary aisle. The television advertisements were full of exotic beauties (probably hailing from Ipswich, but hey, they had jewels in their belly buttons so to a kid that was as good as a Turkish princess – not quite sure why they always had to be buried in sand by the end though). So it was with some excitement that I brought home a Turkish Delight from Tescos earlier this week.
The packaging claims that it is “full of eastern promise” and that the bar is still “as good as ever”. The latter statement triggers my inner cynic for a short while, especially as it’s an old favourite relaunched by Cadbury, but I’m lured back by the luxurious look of the metallic purple/pink of the wrapping.
On opening the wrapper though, I’m disappointed. What is revealed is a bland rectangular slab, measuring 6cm x 4cm x 1cm and with 4 ridges on the top – just like you’d find on countless numbers of chocolate bars on the market. Its competition has moved on – it no longer looks the rich sophisticate. As you can see from the photo, the chocolate was cracked on mine – a problem endemic with the crisp layer of chocolate on a flexible filling (yes, I’ve now eaten several of these – the extremes I go to for proper chocolate research… I hope you’re impressed).
My nostalgia somewhat tempered, I bite into the bar. I’m immediately impressed with the crunch of a generous layer of proper Cadbury milk chocolate – and let’s face it, in the milk chocolate stakes there’s not much that beats Cadbury’s. The interior takes a little more getting used to. The filling in a Turkish Delight is far removed from “real” turkish delight. Imagine instead a firm jelly flavoured with the essence of rose and overdosed with sugar and you won’t be far off. It is pretty sickly.
Oddly though, once you’re used to it, the combination works. Maybe it’s my die-hard sweet tooth which always gets in a “shall I have chocolate, shall I have some sweets?” dilemma which is nicely eradicated in the one bar. Maybe it’s just nostalgia winning out over common sense. Either way, I’m looking forward to the next one.
There may well be many more exotic and sophisticated chocolate bars in the confectionary aisle these days, and to be perfectly fair, I have to state that Fry’s Turkish Delight can no longer compete in those lofty circles. But it’s still a pleasant little bar, above the norm of your every day chocolate snack, and highly recommended to sugar-holics.
Information
- Buy it online from:
- Contains milk chocolate.
- Filed under cadbury, frys, milk chocolate, turkish delight, uk.
I’m really glad you’re reviewing the chocolates I don’t like. I’ve never been a fan of Fry’s Turkish Delight. I find it just…. icky.
You can do the chocolate-covered-scorpions review too. 😉
I’ve always wondered what Turkish Delight was, since reading Lion Witch and Wardrobe, many years ago. Forgot about it, then saw the movie. This doesn’t look like that.
And I would think turkish delight would be figgy, datey, or nectariney. This looks like plum or cherry or some other berry? Or just rose sugar?
(*)>
Dom: one word – “no” 🙂
birdwoman: yes, this isn’t *real* turkish delight. Real turkish delight isn’t covered in chocolate but is dusted in icing sugar and has a completely different texture and subtle flavour. There’s quite a good Wikipedia entry on real turkish delight.
I reviewed FTD a while back:
http://candyaddict.com/blog/2005/12/12/review-frys-turkish-delight/
and found it hideous. To each his own I guess. 🙂
Brian
I kind of liked it, but I like a lot of Persian sweets with floral flavors.
Birdwoman – yeah, this is nothing like the real Turkish Delight – find yourself an ethnic market where they make it fresh. I’m rather partial to the rose flavor, but lemon is nice too.
Omg I love your blog! Except that its making me REALLY want chocolate… like, NOW. 🙂
Thanks. I should point out, Chocablog takes no responsibility for any weight gain that may occur as a result of reading this blog. Oh no. 😉
(And thanks for letting us be your tennant!)
that sounds revolting
and quite normal you could coat cardboard in chocolate and I’d be game to try it
Fry’s Turkish delight is one of the best ways to make me happy it took some getting used to but once you have you can’t get enough I like the cadbury’s version too even the ice cream version mmmmmm
hii we would like to knw when Fry’s was founded by and hu by for a research task in school….thankk n yuuu!
biizle x
oii please answer our Questons quickly …
only got half an hour left me need 2 no !!!!
LUVS YA ! X
HIII WE ARR BACK~!
WEE SEE NUFIINK!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…HII SAMMY ELLEN AND GEORGIA!
LUFF YA X
You know the funny thing about research tasks… is that you’re supposed to actually RESEARCH it yourself!
Chop chop… you’ve only got half an hour… I suggest you start with Google to find the company home page 😉
WE AVE TRIIED BUH THERE IS NUFIINK THERE!
WE LOOKED AND STILL NUTHIIN!
CULD YA GYV US A CLUU PLEASE!? LYK WAA THE ADDYY IS FOR IT PLEASE TY X…..WEBSITE FOR FRY’S TURKISH DELIGHT OR CHOCLATE CREAM THIINGS X
fynn thenn dnt bother!
its nt our fault tha ourr teacher diidnt explain it to us properly!
she is well strict!
5 miins left nd no work!
probs an hour detention just to catch upp…its all yaww fault
:@:@
I’m sure I’ll be riddled with guilt all day.
Or in the words of the great Catherine Tate…
AM I BOVVERED?!
OMGG !! we woz just ehm askin for sum help .. no need for you to be horrible
YHBT. HAND.
Fry’s Turkish Delight is my number 1 fave chocolate bar, it was my Mums too. I also like real Turkish delight too, which as you have all said is completely different. In Australia Cadbury’s does a block of chocolate with Turkish Delight which is good too, but the bar is way better.
hey im katie and i love turkish delight and i dont care what anyone else says. i love it when you take your first bite and its like jelly on the inside and after having that first bite, you just want more. i am addicted to it. i love it and its my number 1 favourite chocolate. 🙂 🙂 🙂 😀 😀 😀
Katie: Turkish Delight is definitely one of those ‘love or hate’ things, isn’t it? If you like Fry’s, you should definitely try the Thorntons Turkish Delight too.
what can i say, really great i adore chocolate , wow turkish chocolate,yamyyy
why dont you make a 200 or 220g net block i sure they would sell like hot cakes but must be like the 55 g block thick and solid filling not liquid
I’m not sure you could really say it was ‘relaunched’ by Cadbury since it never left our shelves did it as far as I know? Fry’s launched it in 1914 and Cadburys bought Fry’s out in 1919, so I guess it’s actually been made by Cadburys nearly since it’s inception, under the Fry’s brand. Also I think the chocolate is more Fry’s recipe than Cadburys (i.e certainly not Dairy Milk or Cadburys secondary recipe) lol
Great review-. We just tried Fry’s Turkish Delight for the first time for our international snack blog. Take a look!