Ashleys Turkish Delight Thins
As I was passing through my local Foodland the other day, these caught my eye. Partly because I saw my own name (admittedly, with the alternate spelling, but nevertheless) – and partly because of the magic words: “Turkish Delight”.
I haven’t heard of Ashley’s chocolates before. Checking the pack shows an ingredients list in 9 languages – and it turns out that the manufacturer is in Birmingham. It seems reasonable, then, to assume these are going to be available in about ¾ of the whole wide world. Which, as we’ll see in a moment, is a shame. I also did some searching to try and locate the manufacturer, and this turns out to be pretty much an impossible task – all we have to go on is Birmingham, and a UK postal code. No web site, and Mr Google turns out to be of no assistance at all. Nor does the UK White Pages. Curioser and curioser.
Anyhow – beyond the sleuthing, I was itching to try these and see if they are as good as some of the other TD’s I’ve sampled before. Or perhaps, just see how they compare to a Fry’s (Cadbury).
Cutting and removing the cellophane from the box had me off to a good start – a big strong whiff of rosewater. MMmmmmmm! This should be OK then. How wrong I was.
On the inside, we find a very pale chocolate. I suppose I should have read the back of the pack, had I done so I may well have left these on the shelf: sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, glucose syrup, whey powder, water, cocoa powder… somewhere in there is flavour. OH. DEAR. The chocolate, as you can see from the picture above, has a slightly spotty, gritty appearance – as though there are tiny white specs in it. Weird. And it is compounded using cocoa powder. Not chocolate at all then. The “flavour” is unspecified, so is the cocoa percentage.
These smelled sweet. And taste of nothing much apart from sweet. That big fat whiff of rosewater – I think that was the flavour escaping, and once gone there was none left. Oldest son does not like Turkish Delight – on the grounds there is no flavour I got him to try one of these. His verdict: Meh. The Lady of the House says: Way too sweet. No flavour.
The pack claims “serving per pack: 4” in the nutrition panel. How anyone could eat more than one of these is beyond me. Way too sweet. Low quality chocolate. No flavour. Yuk.
Now I see why the manufacturer can’t be located. These are not good. I don’t think we will be able to eat the rest. If you come across these and you like sweet and bland – buy a shopping trolley full. Otherwise, don’t bother.
Information
- Contains milk chocolate.
- Filed under ashleys, milk chocolate, turkish delight, uk.
I wonder if they’re the same as these:
http://www.chocablog.com/reviews/tesco-turkish-delight-thins/
– a rebadged version of a horrible own-brand supermarket product.
Could well be. I’d be really interested in the manufacturer location from your Tesco box – which I’d guess is now long gone.
Like you, I can’t face the thought of eating any more of these. I think they will be heading into the compost bin in the garden.
I live in Portugal. Bought an Ashley’s covered Brazils here in a UK product shop at Christmas. They are disgusting and we have thrown them away. They break every trading standard rule I should think – photo is of whole brazils covered in Chocolate. – reality is ‘bits’ covered in a disgusting cocoa mess. I’m looking for somewhere to complain but Trading Standards won’t entertain anyone living abroad.
Address given is ‘Made in the UK’ Coventry Road Birmingham B25 8HE Also, it says ‘imported from Australia’on the box. So which is right? The address in Australia comes back to a warehouse unit hire place!!!!
They are made in the UK. You probably had packaging for the Australian market where the Australian importer address needs to be shown.
As far as I can tell they are made here:
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/walkers-chocolates. This is the only chocolate maker with that UK postcode.
Just to let you know I have had a great result from Birmingham City Council who inspect the factory so at least we know the product is safe. They are also going to address whether or not the info given on the pack is misleading. I’m actually very impressed – I thought I would get fobbed off!
Oh dear and they sounded so promising. I liked the idea of a cross between after eight and turkish delight.
I had the same experience but with speckled eggs. They are disgusting.
I was actually looking to amil the company about them and stumbled upon this.
I suppose there is no point then?
Ashleigh’s is the worst chocolate I know of… for some reason shops here in South Africa are full of it. I have no idea who keeps buying enough of the stuff to keep them in business!
I came across Ashleys Turkish delight lately and found it very different from anything I’ve tasted before. It reminded me of the ‘Gulkhand’ made in India, it’s a sweet sugary syrup with rose petals. Someone should try putting ‘Gulkhand’ into chocolates. I couldn’t thank them either like everyone else, it’s surprising not to have a website in this day and age.
Absolute garbage of the first order. I would not feed this crap to my pet gecko.
Ashleys chocolate is the worst I have ever eaten in my life. I am going to demand a refund from the shop that sold me this crap.