Maltesers – No Ordinary Chocolate

Damn right they aren’t!!! I love Maltesers. When I was growing up in Ghana every so often shipments of imported goods would come in and our families would flock to AFRIDOM, the only international supermarket in the country at the time to by groceries. Amongst the fresh variety of cheeses, cereals, and cold cuts there was the most awesome assortment of chocolates straight in from the UK. We had Lion Bars, Rookies, Picnics, Kit-Kats, and Smarties all back in the good old days when they were made by a company called Rowtrees and not the multi-national behemoth Nestle. Rowntree were the geniuses who also brought us Fruit Pastels and Currant Pastels. When my folks would permit me to buy some I would usually go straight for the Maltesers, and very rarely since then have I indulged in them until recently. I came across a box of these bad boys at the 7-11 for only 20 RMB.

I never knew that Maltesers were an Australian chocolate. I am sure the brand has been bought and sold many times over since I was in knickers. They are now manufactured by MasterFoods and I was hoping they did not take a turn for the worse like Kit-Kat did after it was manufactured by Nestle. It is also apparent that MasterFoods has Maltesers packaging designed solely for the Chinese market. I did not realize they were even marketing out here. I wonder about the ingredients listed when they say “may contain peanuts”. I mean, they should know something like that. Either it does contain peanuts or it doesn’t!

I remember Maltesers used to be packed in sachets back in the day but now MasterFoods has implemented this savvy gift box. The perforated cardboard insures a smooth tear when opening the box and there was no hassle of dealing with sticky sealed surfaces.

The design of the packaging is very user friendly and I imagine it would be quite presentable to serve right out of the box at a casual dinner party on luncheon. Also the tab can be reinserted into a slot to securely close the box of chocolates if you would like to keep some for later. I worry however that in a warmer climate the chocolate might melt onto the inside of the box before reaching the customer. It might have been wiser to pack the tastey delights in a clear plastic sachet before introducing them to the box. But I am sure the hardworking scientists and designers at MasterFoods know exactly what they are doing.

If I am not mistaken, Maltesers used to be spelled differently back in the day. It might have been Malteasers, or Malteesers? Either way, this batch was as fucking good as gold. A Malteser, for those who have never tried one, is a small ball of honey combed malt coated in a thin layer of milk chocolate. It is difficult to describe how much fun it is to eat a Malteser. They are so damn addictive.

When you suck on one, the chocolate layer slowly melts away leaving a velvety smooth flavor in your mouth. Then when you continue to suck on what appears to be the solid center of the Malteser, it just crumbles in your mouth, compleley disappearing, leaving behind only a sweet unique after taste. You can also pop one into your mouth and just bite into it for a crunchy and satisfying finish. It is hard to say which technique is better and I sometimes go through a whole damn box alternating between the 2 trying to come to a conclusion. None has been reached as yet but it’s just too damn hard to stop. For those of you into dark or bitter chocolate, Maltesers have you covered. The ‘crisp malt centers covered with smooth dark chocolate’ is on the shelf.

These puppies are imported and distributed by the same blokes in Singapore but for some reason this box says, ‘made in Ballarat, Australia’. Why would they do that? Is Ballarat some place known for making kick-ass dark chocolate?

The packing is the same for the dark chocolate Maltesers as it is for the light except for the darker color combination. I think they could have gotten a bit more creative rather than just applying the same print to a dark brown back ground. I happen to know, due to some work I have done in the past, that the inside of this box is coated with anti-bacterial preservatives. Basically the coating of the paper will insure the chocolate lasts longer while normal paper might actually instigate growth of fungus. The use of this try of paper is compulsory but for a small cost they could actually have this surface printed. I think that would make the product look much better.

The dark chocolate Maltesers are equally fantastic as their lighter counterparts. I would have liked to work in a combination of the 2 of them, which I now have in hand, but it’s too damn early in the morning.