Jameson’s Ruffle Raspberry
I found this little oddity while buying the Wispa bar I reviewed earlier this week. I call it an ‘oddity’, partly because the bright packaging caught my eye above anything else in the shop, and partly because I’d never head of Jameson’s Ruffle.
A little bit of research reveals that this has nothing to do with the Jameson Whiskey chocolate Simon reviewed a while back. No, this has a far more interesting story.
Jameson’s is actually a brand of a company called Monkhill Confectionary. A little bit more research reveals that Monkhill is actually a division of Trebor Basset Ltd., which in turn is a wholly owned subsdiary of Cadbury Schweppes plc. Yup, that’s right. This weird little bar of chocolate is made by Cadbury – not that it says so anywhere on the wrapper.
So what is it? Well, the easiest way to describe it is a “Fruity Bounty“. Dessicated cocunut (with a touch of raspberry flavour and coluring), covered thin “Plain chocolate (20%)” – at least that’s what it says on the ingredients. Personally I’d call it “Immitation Dark Chocolate”.
The wrapper describes the filling as “coconut and raspberry flavour fondant cream”, but there’s nothing particularly fondanty or creamy about it. It’s quite solid and very dry – almost crumbly. It doesn’t taste bad, it’s just not what it says it is on the label.
Indeed, that’s my biggest problem with the bar as a whole – it’s just not quite what it says it is. It looks great – but somehow doesn’t quite live up to the promise.
An interesting curiosity, but probably not something I’ll buy twice.
Posted by Dom on 09 Oct 2007 at 11:10 AM
| 6 Comments
Filed in Reviews
October 10, 2007 : 12:24am
Back in the 70s these were the sweets you bought at the end of the week when your pocket money ws running out. I can’t recall the exact price but it may have been a shiny penny. After all, a Mars was four pence – new pence.
October 10, 2007 : 12:24am
Back in the 70s these were the sweets you bought at the end of the week when your pocket money was running out. I can’t recall the exact price but it may have been a shiny penny. After all, a Mars was four pence – new pence.
October 16, 2007 : 6:57pm
I’m reading your weblog for a while now and I think you’re doing a great job. I’m also a chocolate addict and everytime I see the pictures on your blog I want to eat only more chocolate hahaha… btw this one looks delicious to me. xoxo Tatjana
February 5, 2008 : 1:25pm
sorry I have to disagree with your review-Ruffle Bars are yum! I used to get them as a treat as a kid. but the good thing now is that on tasting them now I am not disappointed. They still taste raspberry coconutty, and with a touch of dark chocolate to cut the sweetness. The other great thing is that there is no dairy so great for allergy sufferers. Try them and see.
August 11, 2008 : 6:35pm
OOhhh, you have ruffled my chocolatey feathers! I totally ADORE these funny little bars of Raspberry delight. When I was on a non-dairy, wheat or anything fun diet, the only thing that kept me going was dark chocolate, usually Fry’s creme, green and black and yes, you’ve guessed it, Raspberry Ruffle Bars. The diet’s long gone, but my pleasure in these eccentric little bars remains – bliss!
March 15, 2010 : 10:48pm
These were more popular than you might think. I remember the individual chocs in the dark red cellophane (useful for school projects after – honest, Dad!)in the 80’s and also the bars later (which I still enjoy now). There was even a lemon&lime variety of the bar (a sort of dayglo colour) from (I think) the mid 90’s to about the mid ’00’s.
About 5yrs ago, after Christmas, I found a huge ’selection box’ in Leicester Market with raspberry, Lemon&Lime and orange ruffle chocolates. I do remember orange being further off the suitability scale than lemon&lime, though not as terrible as some may say (or imagine)!
Anyway, I think the original ruffle is a great and unique taste combination, and I hope they continue.
Nice to see them here, good work, Dom, though I must disagree with the ‘imitation dark chocolate’ – I believe the individual Ruffle choc’s similarly sparse ingredient list does state over 40% cocoa solids, and it tastes well beyond ‘Bournville’ to me….