New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, the chocolate fish or choccy fish is a popular confectionery item, and in Kiwi culture a common reward for a job done well ("Give that kid a chocolate fish"). Chocolate fish have a conventional

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

-shape and a length of . They are made of pink or white

marshmallow Marshmallow (, ) is a type of confectionery that is typically made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or normally molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. The sugar c ...

covered in a thin layer of milk

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civil ...

with the ripples or "scales" on the fish created simply by the fish moving under a blower; this slides the unset chocolate back, creating the illusion of scales on the fish. Several manufacturers make the fish; the most well-recognised is

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

. Smaller, or "fun-sized" variants of the chocolate fish are colloquially referred to as "

sprats ''Sprattus'' is a genus of small oily fish of the family Clupeidae. They are more usually known by their common name, sprats. There are five species in the genus. Species * '' Sprattus antipodum'' (Hector, 1872) (New Zealand blueback sprat) ...

". Today, there are many companies that make chocolate fish and these treats are enjoyed all over the world

History

Chocolate fish have been available in New Zealand since at least 1903, though early varieties may not have been made of marshmallow. Marshmallow fish were being produced in Dunedin in 1937. For a short period, in the late 1990s to early 2000s, there was a Tip Top brand chocolate fish ice-cream. In 2019, the chocolate fish was added to the Cadbury Favourites box. In 1970 RM Barclay, Member of Parliament for New Plymouth, asked a question in Parliament about the price of chocolate fish.

References

{{Reflist New Zealand confectionery Fish in human culture Chocolate desserts