Quality Street Carton - 220g

Quality Street sits with the selection box and the mince pie as part of the furniture of a UK Christmas. Assorted chocolates and sweets, each one in its own bright wrapper, handed round from the first film of the afternoon to the last cup of tea at night.

People in Canada go looking for it because nothing else makes the same noise. The wrappers held up to the light, the pile of cellophane on the coffee table by teatime, the one relative who hoards a particular colour and thinks nobody has noticed. A long way from family, that is exactly the bit you miss.

The carton is the lighter cousin of the big tub: a 220g box that sits flat in the cupboard, slips into a stocking or a parcel, and is easy to post to someone who misses home. Keep it somewhere cool, and somewhere the hoarder does not know about.

Nestlé also makes KitKat, Aero and Smarties, and a Quality Street carton tends to end up in the basket next to a UK selection box, a Christmas pudding and a box of crackers. A British Christmas, assembled one cupboard at a time.