Partial to a Cadbury(‘s) Flake? Had trouble with crumbs? You are not alone. The ‘fragmentation’ issue – present since the launch of the Flake™ in 1920 – is described by Cadbury UK Ltd. :
“[…] existing bars of convoluted chocolate sheet can be difficult to eat as a result of the crumbly texture. It is difficult to divide the bar into portions, such as for example by taking bites therefrom, or by breaking by hand to share with others, without the bar fragmenting. Such fragmentation can lead to the consumer dropping pieces of chocolate onto the ground or their clothing, and may deter consumers from eating such bars in a public place.”
Now, a new patent from the firm, which might help with fragmentation problems, has been granted :
The patent describes how a convoluted chocolate item might be partially pre-cut (see Fig. 1) into bite-sized chunks. See: ‘Convoluted chocolate product with regions of weakness and process for preparation thereof’ (US patent issued March 10th 2015).
“It is believed that a region of weakness extending throughout the chocolate sheet allows the convoluted chocolate sheet to be easily divided into separate portions by breaking at the region of weakness, with minimal fragmentation. The portions may be sized to be placed into the mouth cavity (typically referred to as `bite size` portions), enabling the product to be eaten with a minimum of mess.”
A small selection of (archive) Flake™ TV ads can be found via: Purple (chocolate) is the new brown (chocolate)?
Note re. the name: The patent calls the product ‘Cadbury Flake’. As does Wikpedia. But the early TV ads called it ‘Cadbury’s Flake’. Improbable awaits clarification on this matter.