Therapeutically aggressive chocolate eating (Terry's Chocolate Orange)

Member Name: moo2moo

Product:	Terry's Chocolate Orange
Date:	24/09/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to open

Disadvantages: Melts far too quickly

You know Christmas is approaching when the Terrys Chocolate Oranges start to feature prominantly in instore displays despite being available all year round. At £2 for 175g they're a rather clever marketing gimick considering that a similar sized competitors bar costs considerably less. For £1.43 you have an enormous choice of varieties from Cadburys 230g bar range. Thats a lot more chocolate for a lot less money.

So why do we like Terrys Chocolate Orange so much? Is it the quaint square gift box that makes it feel more of a treat, more decadent than a bar not quite as disappointing as a huge box of tiny individual chocolates with an equally huge price tag? Is it the totally bizarre and completely inedible imitation orange shape that requires lots of brute force to shatter the orange ball into its individual segments and the simple but peverse pleasure you get from repeatedly thumping it against some hard inanimate object in the hopes that when you unwrap it it will fall apart in your hands (although this usually takes at least two attempts). Is it the imitation orange segments which are a perfect size to wedge into your mouth as a whole enabling the more childish chocolate orange eaters to grip them between their teeth and smile inanely around them drooling chocolate much like an elderly person with false teeth.

Nestling with the confines of its little cardboard prison is a plastic liner holding my orange in a mid-air display. Clearly the minimalistic environmentally friendly packaging inspectors have yet to strike at the Terrys factory. Its impossible to open the outer box without ripping it thanks to the enormous amount of glue used to hold the lid shut. Folding the flaps back allows you to slide your fingers into two cunningly designed grips and slowly lift the plastic tray out raising the orange out of the box. The orange is reassuringly heavy and small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, much like a cricket ball. The sticky seal bears the instruction " whack and unwrap". Orange duly whacked on the corner of my desk adding yet another dent to the wood. Sticker unpeeled and orange foil rolled back to reveal an almost intact orange and a remarkably orangey aroma. Still three loose segments is a start and they taste good. Definately more orange than chocolate. They melt away rather rapidly on my tongue leaving behind a bit of a gritty aftertaste and some very happy tastebuds. Fortunately theres now enough space to get my fingers to the next piece and break the segments off one at a time. Despite having only eaten four pieces (rather rapidly) so far in a very chilly room the chocolate is beginning to melt on my fingers making this one of those chocolates that its best to eat directly from the fridge.

Terrys Chocolate Orange comes in a number of guises from the chocolate orange bar to individually wrapped segments in small gift boxes and huge tins (Segsations) and is avilable in a range of flavours including milk, plain, dark and white chocolate (affectionately named the Snowball). Its also available in mint and toffee flavour.

The calorie counters amongst you will be rather disappointed to learn that 3 segments contain 139 Kcal, thats the same as a Funsize Bounty.

Summary: Its not just for Christmas