Everyone has their favourite chocolates come Christmas time - whether it be a tin of Quality Street, Roses, Celebrations or perhaps a posher selection box. But as far as I'm concerned, nothing can beat Guylian's chocolate praline seashells, which have been a staple in my household for decades.
I didn't think anything could come close to achieving their praline perfection - until I noticed that Aldi are doing a very convincing-looking dupe of the seashell confectionery in their stores. For what is pretty much HALF the price that you are likely to pay for the original Guylian version.
Guylian Seashells are available at most major supermarkets - with an RRP of £5.50 on the standard 250g pack at Tesco, although many stores have offers on at the moment - including reduced to £4 at Sainsbury's and Morrisons this week. Aldi's Moser Roth Belgian chocolate seashells in a 250g pack are priced at £2.69 - less than half the price of the Guylian standard price.
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But could the Aldi creations measure up in style and taste to the mighty Guylian original? I mean, Guylian have been making them since 1958 and are "world famous" as the chocolate seashell makers.
Having asked for a giant box of Guylian as my staple Christmas present for at least the past 25 years I doubted that Aldi could really measure up to my favoured confection of choice. But I was willing to give them a try.
I bought both boxes in the 250g weight size - the Guylian box I bought was from Morrisons on special offer down from £5.50 to £4. Meanwhile the Aldi Moser Roth box was priced at £2.69.
On packaging, Guylian has got a new style now, with no visible panel as of old and a blue-grey box featuring images of the shells on instead. Meanwhile Aldi is clearly taking inspiration from Guylian's old style box - white with a plastic window.
While both are the same weight of chocolate, Guylian has squeezed 22 shells out of it, whereas the Aldi box has 20. You can see that the Aldi shells are slightly larger than Guylian's.
But when I put the same shell types side by side (like the clam, oyster and shrimp) you can see they are very, very similar in looks. They've even got the same half and half of glossy brown and a more muted matt brown style too.
However, Guylian have placed an all-import "G" hallmark on every single chocolate so you can be sure you've got theirs. There are no signatures on the Aldi chocs.
Having been a Guylian girl since childhood, when it came to the taste test I felt sure I'd prefer the Belgian originals. But I was shook - shocked to the core, when I actually sampled both - and found that I actually preferred the Aldi shells.
The Moser Roth chocolate just seemed altogether creamier than the Guylian. I noticed on the newly-blue-grey packaging of the Guylian box they've said it's a "new improved praline recipe" so maybe I'm just not as keen on the new style they've gone for.
It was a nuttier, grainier praline than the Aldi version, so if you prepare your pralines like that then you may prefer the Guylian.
But for me, it's great to know I can put the Aldi Moser Roth seashells on my Christmas list and know I'm saving my mum half the money she usually spends on the Guylians for my chocolate festive treat.
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