The chocolate bars and sweets we'd love to see back in our Christmas selection boxes and tins

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

It's not Christmas until you've stuffed yourself sick on chocolate. Over the festive period, many of us will receive selection boxes and tins of Quality Street, Roses, and Celebrations as gifts tempting us to indulge.

Chocolate is simply the nation's favourite treat, and long before Europeans ate it, it was a part of the culture of ancient civilizations such as the Mayans and Aztecs - who even used cacao beans (the seed from which chocolate is made) as a beverage and even currency.

The birth of the chocolate bar didn't happen until the mid-19th century, when chocolate dynasty Fry and Sons developed a way to mix cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter to produce a smooth paste which could be poured into a mould.

This is considered the first time chocolate was designed for eating rather than being consumed as a drink. These days there are so many ways we get our chocolate fix, from drinks to bars and sweets.