Terry's Chocolate Orange facts for kids
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| Type | Candy |
|---|---|
| Owner | Carambar & Co |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | 1932 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners |
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Terry's Chocolate Orange is a famous chocolate treat known for its orange flavor and unique shape. It was first made by a company called Terry's in 1932 at their factory in York, England.
Even though it started in the UK, the brand has been owned by several different companies over the years. Production moved to Poland in 2005. Since 2018, the Chocolate Orange has been made in Strasbourg, France, by a company called Carambar & Co.
Contents
The Story of the Chocolate Orange
From Candy Shop to Chocolate Factory
The story begins in 1823 when a chemist named Joseph Terry joined a candy company in York. He was great at creating new types of sweets, including chocolates and marmalade. By 1830, he owned the whole business. After he died, his sons took over, and the company became Joseph Terry and Sons Ltd. in 1895.
In 1926, the company opened a big, stylish new factory called the Terry's Chocolate Works. This is where they started making new and exciting products. They created a Chocolate Apple in 1926, and then, in 1932, the famous Chocolate Orange was born.
A Pause for War and a New Focus
When World War II began, the factory had to stop making candy. Instead, it was used to make and repair parts for airplanes. After the war, it was hard to get ingredients like cocoa because of rationing (when the government limits how much people can buy).
Because of these challenges, the company decided to stop making the Chocolate Apple in 1954. This allowed them to focus on making more Chocolate Oranges, which were becoming very popular. For a short time in 1979, they also tried making a Chocolate Lemon, but it was discontinued after three years.
A Global Treat
The Chocolate Orange eventually became popular outside of the UK. In North America, it was even sold for a while by the same company that makes Toblerone. In 2017, it started being sold in South Korea.
In 2005, the original factory in York closed down. The owner at the time, Kraft Foods, moved the production to other countries in Europe. Today, the Chocolate Orange is made in France. It's more popular than ever, with over 44 million sold each year in countries like the UK, the US, Canada, and Australia.
What Makes It Special?
The Terry's Chocolate Orange is a ball of milk chocolate flavored with real orange oil. It's designed to look like a real orange, with 20 "slices" or segments.
When you first open it, the segments are all stuck together. That's why there's a fun tradition: before you unwrap it, you're supposed to tap it firmly on a hard surface. This breaks the segments apart, making it easy to share. This is often called the "Tap and Unwrap" or "Whack and Unwrap" method.
Different Kinds of Chocolate Orange
Over the years, Terry's has created many other products based on the original. Some of the most popular ones include:
- Chocolate Orange Bar: A chocolate bar made of six segments that look like tiny orange slices.
- Chocolate Orange Minis: A bag of small, individual chocolate segments.
- Segsations: A box of individually wrapped segments in different flavors, like honeycomb, puffed rice, and cornflake.
- Chocolate Mint: A version of the Chocolate Orange with a refreshing mint flavor instead of orange.
Famous Ad Campaigns
The Chocolate Orange is especially popular around Christmas time. For many years, its TV ads featured the actress Dawn French. In the ads, she would often be hiding her Chocolate Orange from others and saying the famous line, "It's not Terry's, it's mine."
Other popular slogans have included:
- Tap it and unwrap it
- Don't tap it... Whack it!
- Smash it to pieces, love it to bits
More recent ads have used the slogan, "Deliciously Unsquare," to celebrate how unique the chocolate is.
Full Product List
Here are some of the different versions of Terry's products that have been sold over the years.
- Terry's Dessert Chocolate Apple (1926–1954)
- Terry's Chocolate Lemon (1979-1980s)
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Dark
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Milk
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Snowball (white chocolate)
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Mint
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Toffee
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Bars
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Mini segments/Segsations
- Terry's Chocolate Orange White Egg
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Tangy
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Cookies
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Exploding Candy
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Hazelnut
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Raspberry
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Birthday Cake
- Terry's Chocolate Orange Ice-Creams
- Terry's Chocolate Milk (a version without the orange flavor, released in 2024)
A Change in Size
In 2016, fans noticed that the Chocolate Orange had gotten a little smaller. The weight was reduced from 175 grams to 157 grams. This was done by changing the shape of the chocolate segments to create a small air gap between them. This is a practice known as Shrinkflation, where a product gets smaller but the price stays the same or even goes up.
