THE CHOCOLATE WRAPPERS MUSEUM

What is chocolate wrapper and what not? My definition is any wrapper covering chocolate bar, tablet, slab, napolitain, egg or chocolate candy bar (where chocolate creates important part of product - at least 30% - for example Kit Kat or Mars bar) which contains any information about product and producer made of any material. It can be from chocolate of ANY WEIGHT. The exception can be some napolitain wrappers where isn´t often clear who and where it was made. I don´t collect inner metal or plastic wrappers protecting chocolate. I don´t mind if the wrapper is from "real" chocolate ( with cocoa butter and without added vegetable fat ) or from the "chocolate like" product without cocoa butter. What is not a chocolate wrapper for me: Thick chocolate ( or fat couverture) coated candy like waffers, müsli bars where the couverture created only small part of the candy. I don´t collect also  wrappers from M & M´s, Smarties  ( except Smarties in chocolate bars ), Lentilky and similar candy and chocolate boxes ( assortments).   Types of chocolate wrappers From early times of manufacturing chocolate bars paper became most popular material for chocolate wrappers. under outer paper wrapper is always inner wrapper (foil) usually made of aluminium or plastic ( this I don´t collect) .There are 3 main types of paper chocolate wrapper.  First type is strip of paper wrapped over the chocolate bar so it is usually easy to take off the wrapper from chocolate.This wrapping method was more frequent in the past. It is used mostly in Usa, England, the Netherlands, Estonia or in many asian countries now.  Second type covers complete chocolate bar like a envelope. This envelope style of paper wrapper is widely spread  in most countries.  It is sometimes necessary to open these wrappers carefully and  try not to tear them.  For some chocolates is often used as a wrapping material cardboard paper. Typical is for some filled chocolates especially those with liquid filling like spirits, for  chocolates with whole hazelnuts, for higher weights chocolates, portioned chocolates like Schogetten, for luxury chocolates or for chocolate bars with unusual shape. Also worldwide known chocolate bar Toblerone is covered by cardboard wrapper.  Except most frequented paper other wrapping materials like cellophane , metalized foils or plastic foils became more and more popular from economic reasons. These wrappers are often hard to open without damage that´s why some collectors don´t collect them. Typical use is for square chocolates, some cheaper chocolates or for chocolate candy bars like Mars.  German manufacturer of square chocolates Ritter used cellophane as a wrapping material till 1978, then paper wrapper combined with aluminium and since 1991 plastic foil wrapper which is easy to open without damage what I can´t say about some similar wrappers from other countries ( Garoto´s Talento bars from Brazil or czech Studentská Pečeť by Orion ).  Among european makers of chocolate bars is more and more common to wrap the chocolates in plastic foils. Almost all small bars and candy bars are now packed in plastic foil and also some  cheaper chocolates like 100g bars of Trumpf or Waldbaur in Germany or Lola chocolates by swiss Halba.  Specific type of wrappers use some scandinavian companies - they combine paper with inner metalized foil in one wrapper. This method is often used for packing chocolate pieces in rolls.  Some companies like italian Delicia also use combination of plastic wrapper with inner metalized foil. paper wrapper envelope paper wrapper cardboard wrapper Toblerone wrapper metalized foil wrapper cellophane wrapper plastic wrapper paper + inner metalized foil wrapper plastic and inner metalized foil wrapper   Motives on chocolate wrappers Most frequented motives are connected with chocolate and its composition: chocolate, milk, cows in alps, cocoa pods, cocoa seeds, nuts etc. There are also special wrappers made for some occasions, childern chocolates with motives like flowers, cars, planes, animals, cartoons . You can find almost everything especially on private labels wrappers. Some companies use own traditional colour of wrappers ( Milka, Cadbury, Orion ) but most of them use different colours of wrappers for each taste.   Information on wrappers In the past common information on wrappers consisted of manufacturer, kind of product and sometimes weight. Since 60´s infos on wrappers have became more informative. It began appear date of manufacture, composition of chocolate, address of manufacturer or distributor, storing conditions. In last years producers also have had to inform about nutrition content, cocoa solids, allergy information. What I miss on many wrappers is land of origin, then is hard to catalogize wrapper in collection. Especially in EU there are  more often "infos" like made in Eu and manufacturing private labels for other countries is there widely spread.