Haribo Merry Mix - 140g

Haribo is part of the furniture in Britain, sitting by every corner shop till and in every lunchbox. Come December, Merry Mix joins the selection boxes and the big tins on the shelves, and that is when you know a British Christmas has properly started.

People in Canada go looking for it because the generic bag is not the point. They want the exact one from the stocking at the end of the bed, the one their kids should have too, the one that tastes like Christmas morning back home.

It is a 140g bag, which slips neatly into a stocking toe and still leaves room for the satsuma. Tucked in a cool, dry cupboard it waits for the day, assuming nobody finds it first. On Boxing Day it tends to end up tipped into a bowl in front of the telly.

Most people put it in the basket next to a selection box or a bag of chocolate coins, and a Christmas gift for someone who misses home starts to build itself.