Contrary to popular belief — or, y’know, contrary to that ad that’s been running for a bajillion years — Cadbury Crème Eggs don’t come from bunnies. So where do they come from? A factory, of course — although the process of making them isn’t exactly the stuff of Easter dreams. Wired went all the way to Birmingham in the UK to go behind the scenes at Cadbury; while they were there, they got a first-hand look at exactly how these treats are made, from start to finish. Here's what they found out:
It all starts with making the chocolate, although unfortunately it's a lot less appetizing than you might think: Something called “chocolate crumb,” a bizarre-sounding paste made from reduced cocoa liquor, milk, and sugar, gets ground down by a couple of mills; then, machines fold in cacao butter and warm the mixture up. Uh... yum? After it's mixed, the chocolate gets funneled into the eggcup molds, one half on each side of a hinged tray. The factory, by the way, does not look like this:
Although it probably would if I worked there.
Fun fact: The "white" and the "yolk" are pretty much the same thing, a mix of sugar, water, glucose, "blended syrup" (whatever that means), and — ready for this? — actual free-range egg powder. Once the cream is made, the hinged tray with the egg molds run beneath a machine that deposits the sugary goop into the chocolate shells. The hinged tray is then shut, bringing each egg half together to become one. Head over to Wired for more details about the whole process, but basically, that's it in a (haha) nutshell. Ta da!
Gothamist rounded up some other fun facts about the Crème Egg, including exactly how many get put out by the factory per year (the number is staggering); you can also test your knowledge of the treat over at PopSugar Food. Happy almost-Easter!
