Chocolates are made to be enjoyed at any time of the year, but occasionally there are ones which are brought out for special occasions. Christmas is one of those occasions and as well as having the traditional ‘Advent Calendar’; there are also specially designed chocolates which come out each year.
Christmas Chocolate and Its Many Additions
Christmas chocolates tend to match the Christmas spirit, and usually they are filled full of fruit, alcohol and nuts. We tend to opt for foods which are comforting and which have that little bit of a kick at Christmas time, and Christmas chocolates follow that tradition. However, the Advent Calendar is also a Christmas tradition and it is used to represent the twenty five days before Christmas.
Believe it or not, but Advent Calendars have been around since the 19th centaury. It didn’t always contain chocolate however, and in earlier days there were ‘Advent Clocks’ and ‘Advent Candles’ where a candle was burned every day for 24 days, until Christmas eve. It wasn’t until the 20th century that Advent Calendars were made with little doors on them to open, and even then they only had pictures inside or bible versus at first.
World War II generally wiped out Advent Calendars as cardboard was rationed, and so it wasn’t until after the war that they really came back into business. The first chocolate filled Advent calendar was thought to have been around 1958. Since then it really has grown in popularity and children everywhere have them hanging on their walls throughout December, counting down the days until Christmas with a delicious treat each day.
The Christmas Log is also quite popular and they tend to be made up of cocoa powder, double cream, icing sugar, and sweet biscuits. They do make a gorgeous chocolaty treat, but nothing can really beat ordinary chocolates and the ones which come out at Christmas really do make the mouth water!
The shapes of Christmas chocolate also vary. Whilst some companies prefer to stick with ordinary oval and round shapes, some bring out novelty Christmas shapes including reindeers, Santa and holly shapes. You could even give Christmas chocolates as a gift to friends and family or to the person you love, with a special personalised message on it.
Overall Christmas chocolates can be comforting, they make great gifts and they also add a bit of festive cheer to your home. So this Christmas spoil yourself with a luxury selection of Christmas chocolates, they are available in most supermarkets and from all good chocolate shops such as Thorntons.
© Chocs.org.uk 2010
