Violet Crumble
Encyclopedia
Violet Crumble is an Australia
n chocolate bar
manufactured in Campbellfield near Melbourne
, Australia
, by Nestlé
. It is one of the best selling chocolate bars in Australia. Violet Crumble is also common in Hawaii
and is available in other places, including Hong Kong
.
The bar is a crumbly sponge toffee
center coated in compound chocolate. It is similar to the Crunchie
made by Cadbury
.
The slogan
for the chocolate bar is "It's the way it shatters that matters" (replacing the previous slogan, "Nothing else matters").
, in 1889, trading as A. Hoadley & Company. By 1895, business had expanded rapidly and Hoadley built a five-storey premises, the Rising Sun Preserving Works. He produced jams
, jellies, preserved fruits, candied peels, sauces, and confectionery
and employed a workforce as large as 200. By 1901, there were four preserving factories and a large confectionery works. Hoadley had acquired the firm of Dillon, Burrows & Co. and extended his products to vinegar
, cocoa
, and chocolate
.
In 1910, the jam business was sold to Henry Jones Co-operative Ltd
. and in 1913, Hoadley's Chocolates Ltd was formed.
The same year, Hoadley produced his first chocolate assortment and packed them in a purple box decorated with violets. The packaging was in tribute to his wife's favorite colour (purple) and favorite flower (violets). Within the box assortment was a piece of honeycomb that became so popular that Hoadley decided to produce an individual honeycomb bar.
This proved trickier than first thought, because as the pieces of honeycomb cooled, they absorbed moisture and started sticking together. This hygroscopic nature of honeycomb led Hoadley to eventually dip his bars in chocolate, to keep the honeycomb dry and crunchy. Thus, in 1913, the Violet Crumble bar was created.
Hoadley wanted to call his new bar just Crumble, but learned that it was not possible to protect the name with a trademark
. He thought of his wife (Susannah Ann née Barrett) and her favourite flower, the violet, and registered the name Violet Crumble, using a purple wrapper with a small flower logo. It was an instant success.
Violet Crumbles are crisper in texture than Crunchie
bars, with a slightly more marshmallow taste.
especially for Violet Crumble.
Now one of the best selling bars in Australia, Violet Crumble still requires great skill and experience in its production. The carefully formulated honeycomb is produced and conveyed into a specially constructed air-conditioned area where it is cut into bars. Then it goes through chocolate coating machines, especially designed for Violet Crumble. The bars are double coated to seal the honeycomb from the air. Special cooling tunnels take the bars to the automatic wrapping machines, designed in Switzerland. The metallised wrapper is highly moisture proof and special shippers give the product extra protection in shipping.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n chocolate bar
Candy bar
A chocolate bar is a confection in bar form comprising some or all of the following components: cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, milk. The relative presence or absence of these components form the subclasses of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. In addition to these main...
manufactured in Campbellfield near Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, by Nestlé
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
. It is one of the best selling chocolate bars in Australia. Violet Crumble is also common in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and is available in other places, including Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
The bar is a crumbly sponge toffee
Sponge toffee
Sponge toffee is a sugary confection with a light, rigid, sponge-like texture.The main ingredients are typically brown sugar, corn syrup and baking soda, sometimes with an acid such as vinegar. The baking soda and acid react to form carbon dioxide which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture...
center coated in compound chocolate. It is similar to the Crunchie
Crunchie
Crunchie is a brand of chocolate bar with a "honeycombed" sugar centre. It is made by Cadbury UK and was originally launched by J. S. Fry & Sons in 1929...
made by Cadbury
Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury is a confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Headquartered in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom, the company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide....
.
The slogan
Advertising slogan
Advertising slogans are short, often memorable phrases used in advertising campaigns. They are claimed to be the most effective means of drawing attention to one or more aspects of a product. A strapline is a British term used as a secondary sentence attached to a brand name...
for the chocolate bar is "It's the way it shatters that matters" (replacing the previous slogan, "Nothing else matters").
History
Abel Hoadley (born 10 September 1844, died 12 May 1918) opened a jam factory in South Melbourne, VictoriaSouth Melbourne, Victoria
South Melbourne is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Port Phillip and Melbourne...
, in 1889, trading as A. Hoadley & Company. By 1895, business had expanded rapidly and Hoadley built a five-storey premises, the Rising Sun Preserving Works. He produced jams
Jams
Jams is a line of clothing produced by Jams World. Jams shorts, a popular clothing item in the 1960s and 1980s, were closely associated with the surf scenes in California and Hawaii.-History:...
, jellies, preserved fruits, candied peels, sauces, and confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
and employed a workforce as large as 200. By 1901, there were four preserving factories and a large confectionery works. Hoadley had acquired the firm of Dillon, Burrows & Co. and extended his products to vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
, cocoa
Cocoa solids
Cocoa solids are the low-fat component of chocolate. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao....
, and chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
.
In 1910, the jam business was sold to Henry Jones Co-operative Ltd
Henry Jones IXL
Henry Jones IXL is a company primarily known as a manufacturer of jams, conserves and sauces in Australia.-History:The company was first established by Henry Jones in Hobart in 1891 as H. Jones & Company. The company derived from Jones' employment with George Peacock's jam factory from 1874...
. and in 1913, Hoadley's Chocolates Ltd was formed.
The same year, Hoadley produced his first chocolate assortment and packed them in a purple box decorated with violets. The packaging was in tribute to his wife's favorite colour (purple) and favorite flower (violets). Within the box assortment was a piece of honeycomb that became so popular that Hoadley decided to produce an individual honeycomb bar.
This proved trickier than first thought, because as the pieces of honeycomb cooled, they absorbed moisture and started sticking together. This hygroscopic nature of honeycomb led Hoadley to eventually dip his bars in chocolate, to keep the honeycomb dry and crunchy. Thus, in 1913, the Violet Crumble bar was created.
Hoadley wanted to call his new bar just Crumble, but learned that it was not possible to protect the name with a trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
. He thought of his wife (Susannah Ann née Barrett) and her favourite flower, the violet, and registered the name Violet Crumble, using a purple wrapper with a small flower logo. It was an instant success.
Violet Crumbles are crisper in texture than Crunchie
Crunchie
Crunchie is a brand of chocolate bar with a "honeycombed" sugar centre. It is made by Cadbury UK and was originally launched by J. S. Fry & Sons in 1929...
bars, with a slightly more marshmallow taste.
Packaging
The hygroscopic nature of the honeycomb centre continued to be problematic. Competitors tried to prove the bars weren't fresh by squeezing them. Hoadley responded by instituting a strict coding system to keep track of the shelf life (12 months) and ensure that only the freshest bars were sold. In addition, he searched worldwide for a new type of airtight wrapper that would keep the bar fresh. Eventually, a French company, La Cellophane, invented a metallised cellophaneCellophane
Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and water makes it useful for food packaging...
especially for Violet Crumble.
Now one of the best selling bars in Australia, Violet Crumble still requires great skill and experience in its production. The carefully formulated honeycomb is produced and conveyed into a specially constructed air-conditioned area where it is cut into bars. Then it goes through chocolate coating machines, especially designed for Violet Crumble. The bars are double coated to seal the honeycomb from the air. Special cooling tunnels take the bars to the automatic wrapping machines, designed in Switzerland. The metallised wrapper is highly moisture proof and special shippers give the product extra protection in shipping.
Timeline
- Hoadley's Chocolates made the first Violet Crumble bar in Melbourne in 1913.
- In 1972, Hoadley's Chocolates was acquired by Rowntree Company and became known as Rowntree Hoadley Ltd.
- In 1989, NestléNestléNestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
acquired Rowntree Company. The Rowntree chocolate brands were initially branded as Nestlé-Rowntree, until Nestlé dropped the Rowntree altogether. - In 2009, Nestlé changed the shape of the Violet Crumble to a wider, flatter bar. The honeycomb formulation was also changed to make it shatter into small pieces when bitten into.
- In 2010, Nestlé included Violet Crumble bags on their list of deleted products
Violet Crumble in Australian culture
- Bertie BeetleBertie BeetleA Bertie Beetle is an Australian chocolate bar manufactured by Nestlé. It consists of chocolate shaped like an anthropomorphised beetle with small pieces of honeycomb throughout...
s, sold at royal shows around AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, were invented to use up broken pieces of Violet Crumble. - The colours of the Melbourne Wesley CollegeWesley College, MelbourneWesley College, Melbourne is an independent, co-educational, Christian day school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1866, the college is a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Wesley is the largest school in Australia by enrolment, with 3,511 students and 564 full-time staff...
uniform (purple and yellow), has led to students occasionally being called, perhaps derogatorily, Violet Crumbles. - In the book Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice, Kellyanne's two imaginary friends eat nothing but Violet Crumbles and two other types of food.
- Violet Crumbles were sold for a brief period during the late 1980s in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, but are no longer available there. - Sydney KingsSydney KingsThe Sydney Kings are a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. They are the only team to date to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third behind the Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers two away from the record five wins...
, whose primary colours are purple and yellow, were often referred to as the "Violet Crumbles" during the 1990s for their constant underperformance in the NBLNational Basketball League (Australia)The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
.