According to legend, a Kendal confectioner, intending to make glacier mints, took his eye off the cooking pan for a minute and then, resuming his task, noticed that the mixture had started to 'grain' and become cloudy, instead of clear. When poured out, the result was Mint Cake. Despite claims from various manufacturers, the discovery must be accredited to one Joseph Wiper, who started closely-guarded production at his tiny Ferney Green factory in Kendal in 1869. The Kendal Mint Cake was primarily sold to the locals and due to its success the product was sent via Kendal's Railway Station, once a week, to other parts in the North East of England.

The original ‘energy bar’, Kendal Mint Cake was taken on the first successful expedition to the summit of Everest, in 1953. Sir Edmund Hillary & Sherpa Tenzing Norgay ate Kendal Mint Cake on top of Everest as they gazed at the countryside down below. A member of the expedition wrote, “It was easily the most popular item on our high altitude ration – our only criticism was that we did not have enough of it”!

This naturally increased sales of mint cake to hikers, climbers and visitors to the Lake District in the UK where the town of Kenadal is located- Kendal Mint Cake can now rank as one of the world's most travelled sweets!

It has a strangely firm yet crumbly texture that melts in the mouth nicely leaving a warming sensation. Great stuff!

The same kendal mint cake prepared using unrefined brown sugar for a different style of bar.

The original Kendal Mint Cake covered in thick chocolate for a more luxurious finish.

Kinder Surprise, also known as a Kinder Egg (Kinder being German meaning "Children"), is a children's confection in the form of a chocolate egg containing a small toy, often to be assembled by the child or possibly a supervising adult.

Kinder Surprise originated in 1972 in Italy. The manufacturer is Ferrero. The toys are designed by both inside designers and external freelancers, for example the French artist André Roche based in Munich, and manufactured by many companies worldwide such as Produzioni Editoriali Aprile, a small company based in Turin, Italy, run and founded by two brothers, Ruggero and Valerio Aprile.

Kinder Eggs containing toys are not suitable for children under the age of three due to the small parts which may be ingested or inhaled.

They are sold all over the world; however, they are banned in the United States where the Food and Drug Administration has deemed the encapsulated toy to be a choking hazard. Kinder Egg-like confections are available, but only in a form filled with small candies and/or stickers. There are some stores in the United States that sell genuine Kinder Eggs, often in conjunction with other imported British or other European sweets, although their importation is technically illegal due to the FDA ban.

In Europe, their popularity has spread beyond their intended market, becoming a minor cult phenomenon among discerning adults. There is even a thriving collector's market for the toys. This is especially true in Germany, where the manufacturer includes higher-quality toys than those available elsewhere. The main subject of collection are ever-changing series of small hand-painted figures (which don't have to be assembled), which are said to be in every seventh egg (ad slogan: "Jetzt in jedem siebten Ei"). Seasonal eggs are introduced around the holidays, such as the limited-edition creche collections (featuring such characters as the three kings, baby Jesus, and assorted barnyard animals) found around Christmas, and the huge ones found at Easter (extremely popular in Italy).

A relatively new innovation, triggered by the advent of the Internet, is the introduction of 'Internet surprises'. Accompanying the toy is a small slip of paper containing a 'Magicode'. This code gives access to games at the Magic Kinder website, some for downloading, some for playing online.

This product was developed as a four-finger wafer crisp, initially launched in London and South East England in September 1935 as 'Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp' and re-named two years later as KitKat Chocolate Crisp. It became KitKat after the Second World War. No one is sure where the name KitKat came from but it’s thought the famous KitKat Club of the 1920s had some influence.

Within two years of launch, KitKat was established as Rowntree’s leading product, a position that it has maintained ever since. During the war, KitKat was portrayed as a valuable wartime food and advertising described the brand as “What active people need."

For most of its life, KitKat has appeared in a red and white wrapper. It did, however, change to a blue wrapper in 1945, when it was produced with a plain chocolate covering due to shortages of milk after the war. This blue livery was withdrawn in 1947 when the standard milk chocolate KitKat was reintroduced.

KitKat was first advertised on TV back in 1957 and had its first colour advert in 1967. Famous adverts include the ‘Dancing Panda’ in 1987 and the ‘Have a Break’ adverts in the 90’s. KitKat is produced at the Nestlé Rowntree Factory and in 2004 a massive 39,000 tonnes of KitKat were sold - that's 107 tonnes a day!

KITKAT FACTS

• KitKat continues to be the UK’s best selling confectionery brand and, in 2004, sales amounted to more than £170 million.
• The 1997 Guinness Book of Records states that 13.2 billion fingers were sold worldwide in 1995 and that every second, 418 KitKat fingers are consumed worldwide.
• Every five minutes enough KitKats are manufactured to outstack the Eiffel Tower, while a year’s production would stretch around the London Underground more than 350 times.
• Launched in 1935 as Chocolate Crisp, KitKat was supposedly named after the KitKat Club, an 18th century Whig literary club. As the building had very low ceilings, it could accommodate only paintings which were wide but not too high. In the art world, such paintings became known as “kitkats”. It is therefore conceivable that the KitKat derived its name from paintings, which had to be snapped off to fit into low ceilinged rooms.
• A three-finger KitKat is produced for the Middle East to match a denomination of the local currency, making the product a convenient, one-coin purchase. Meanwhile, an extra-long single-finger, called a KitKat Stick, is available in Japan.
• In Malaysia, KitKat is produced in a special formula for warm climates.
• The quantity of KitKat made at Nestlé Rowntree’s York factory has almost doubled in the last 20 years.
• Atleast 25 basic pack formats for KitKat are made at York.
• Other smaller KitKat factories are located in Toronto (Canada), Hamburg (Germany), Ponda (India), Chembng (Malaysia), Tianjin (China), Kasumigaura (Japan), Campbellfield (Australia), East London (South Africa) and Hershey (USA).

2 Finger KitKat is the UK's number one biscuit. The 2 Finger KitKat was launched in the 1930s alongside the 4 Finger variant, and has remained the best-selling biscuit brand ever since. In the beginning, the 2 Finger KitKat was only produced as a milk variant, but is now available in Milk, Mint, Orange and since 2004, premium variants of Dark and White chocolate.

In 2005 there were over 800 million 2 Finger KitKats sold in the UK. That's over 2 million EVERY day!

Over the years KitKat 4 Finger has appeared in Orange and Mint variants and in 2004 Nestle released a Lemon & Yogurt flavour, and a Halloween variant, Blood Orange, and Lime flavoured KitKat.

A Caramac variant was launched in 2005 and has proved to be their most successful variant to date.

Have you tried it?

Manufactured by Hershey

A chunky Kit Kat bar stuffed with generous amounts of raw cookie dough.

KitKat Chunky (The Big Finger) was first launched in 1999 and was that year's biggest success story. In 2005, Nestle sold 73 million KitKat Chunkys (on average 200,000 each day!).

KitKat Chunky also comes in Minis, Snacksize and a King-Size bar called Big Breaks!

If you laid out a year's production of KitKat Chunky, it would stretch from Land's End to John O'Groats a total of five and a half times

The giant, single-finger version of KitKat was launched as a milk variant and has seen versions of Orange and White chocolate.

In 2006, Neslte launched a new Peanut Butter version of KitKat Chunky in the UK. This bar, already sold in many foreign markets, has a smooth layer of Peanut Butter on top of the crisp KitKat wafer and is covered in KitKat Milk chocolate.

For the dark chocolate lovers, new KitKat 4 Finger Fine Dark uses the finest Cocoa beans to coat each bar in an intensely rich bittersweet dark chocolate. KitKat Fine Dark will also feature the new Foil Fresh packaging. This is a permanent edition to the KitKat range and taps into the growing consumer trend towards dark chocolate.

Manufactured by Hershey

Formerly known as Big Kat, these new Kit Kat bars have "twice the Crisp as regular Kit Kat"

KitKat with a minty flavour to the chocolate.

KitKat with an orange flavour to the chocolate.

Herbal flavour traditional hard sweets-very popular!

KP Nuts is brand leader in the UK Nuts category dominating the total convenience and impulse market with a 41% share. KP Nuts have been the snack of choice eaten at parties and pubs all over Britain for the last 50 years.

To consumers KP Nuts is the brand synonymous with peanuts - No ifs, No buts, Just nuts! It is distinctly positioned as an adult snack brand for everyday in-home socialising, at the pub or eating on the go. KP Nuts has a strong affinity with drinking and socialising with 40% of ‘eating occasions’ being with alcohol, especially over the peak social seasons – Summer and Christmas.

KP Nuts has a broad range of peanut and premium nuts including:
Original Salted Peanuts,
Dry Roasted Peanuts,
Chilli Peanuts,
Salt and Vinegar Peanuts,
Honey Roasted Peanuts,
Mixed Nut and Raisin, Cashews
and Pistachios.

KP have a variety of bag sizes available: 50GM, 100GM, 300GM and 500GM. For Christmas they also have a range of screw top pots for sharing.

In 2005 KP launched the 'Simply' range of unsalted peanuts and cashews.

Nuts can be a good source of protein and fibre as well as containing beneficial vitamins and minerals, making them the perfect snack choice that can fit easily into a healthy lifestyle including a balanced diet and exercise.

Peanuts are rich in monounsaturated fats. Over 75% of the fat in peanuts is monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. KP Original salted peanuts are high in fibre, a source of vitamin B3 and naturally low in carbohydrates. KP Cashews and Pistachios are all high in fibre, which is an essential part of our diet that helps to keep the digestive system in good working order.