IT’S definitely NOT news that we Brits love our Easter Eggs, with a whopping 80 million of the sweet treats sold in the UK alone each year. The average British child consumes no fewer than EIGHT of them during the Easter season, with about 10% of our annual chocolate spend devoted to the product. The best selling Easter Egg is (no surprise here) the Cabdbury’s Crème Egg.
Our fascination of the Easter Egg spread throughout our empire, of course, and like so many of our national obsessions that we have exported (like cricket and rugby, for example), the Aussies outdo manager to outdo the Mother Country, scoffing more per person than any nation on earth.
Hot cross buns also remain popular of course, worth more than 20 million packs sold in the UK per year.
But where did the first chocolate egg come from and how did this tradition begin? Read on to find out.
The first chocolate Easter egg in the UK was introduced in 1873 by the family-owned company, Fry’s. The founder, Joseph Fry, started out selling drinking chocolate in the 1750s, and his grandsons created the first chocolate bars in the 1860s. Fry’s particular achievement at this time was their chocolate Cream Bar, a product that is still sold today.
They also designed colourful adverts for their products in posters and postcards, some of which are on display in the Victorian sweet shop at Preston Park Museum – which is well worth a visit next time you find yourself in the vicinity.
It was in Easter 1873, that Fry’s would create the first chocolate egg. Traditionally, at Easter, people would give each other chicken’s eggs which had been hard boiled and painted bright colours (that’s where the tradition of decorating eggs comes from). Fry’s took this tradition and put their own spin on it, and the company quickly had a sensation on their hands.
Not surprisingly, Fry’s competitors quickly caught on and copied with Cadbury’s making their own chocolate Easter eggs two years later.
Around the world, the likes of France and Germany had been making chocolate eggs for many years before the UK, but these eggs had been made from solid chocolate. Fry’s had been the first to figure out how to use moulds and make hollow eggs. This had been achieved through the Fry family’s innovations in making chocolate by mixing cocoa fat with cocoa powder and sugar. This made a smooth paste which could be poured into egg moulds.
Chocolate Easter Egg Moulds
The earliest chocolate eggs were also designed with the well-known ‘crocodile’ design in order to hide any cracks or other imperfections. As chocolate-making continued to progress, other chocolate shaped treats started to appear, including those shaped like animals.
Fry’s were successful as a confectionary company, until they were taken over by Cadbury’s in 1935.
Despite this, Fry’s products including their Cream Bar and Turkish Delight Bar are still sold today under the Cadbury name. Even Easter eggs bearing the Fry’s name are still being sold for the occasion, carrying on a tradition that has lasted 147 years.
Easter Sunday falls on April 17th this year – a little later than usual…which I guess means there’s just more time to enjoy this delicious seasonal treat. Brits yearning for a taste of home can get their Easter Eggs at Ye Olde Kings Head Shoppe in Santa Monica, The Hare and Hounds in Thousand Oaks, The Friar Tuck Shoppe in Sherman Oaks and the British Grocer in Fullerton.
