The 125-year-old chocolate bar and other really old foods
A bar of chocolate is a very popular treat, but how would you feel about tucking into one from decades ago?Well, one lucky person could soon be the owner of an 125-year-old bar given to soldiers by Queen Victoria. The sweet snack, set to be sold at auction in June, could sell for between between £250 and £400.
The chocolate comes in its original tin and still has some of its foil wrapper. The bars were sent to British troops fighting in the Boer War in South Africa by the Queen in 1900 as a special gift. By the end of 1900, more than 120,000 tins had been made and given to soldiers.The bar has "a bit of a whiff to it", according to Andy Stowe from Auctioneum, the auction house which will be selling the chocolate.Lucy McCourt, expert on military items from the auction house, explained: "This would have been a rare treat back in 1900 and the willpower required to not eat it would have been quite substantial."Some soldiers chose to send the tins of chocolate home to their loved ones, while others traded them with their comrades.
The 125-year old chocolate bar isn't the only old food to grab headlines. Check out these other aged and ancient foods.
285-year-old lemon
A 285-year-old lemon sold for an incredible £1,400 last year. It was found hiding in the bottom drawer of a 19th century chest which was being photographed to be sold.The chest itself sold at Brettells auctioneers in Shropshire for just a fraction of the price of the hidden fruit - just £32.The citrus fruit is inscribed with a note which reads 'Given By Mr P Lu Franchini Nov 4 1739 to Miss E Baxter'.
Ancient fruit fossil
A 52-million-year-old fruit fossil was discovered in South America in 2023.The ancient berry is exciting because it is from the same family of plants as potatoes, tomatoes and peppers.On the fossil, you can see the lines of the papery wrapping that grew around the fruit.It was found in the Patagonia area of Argentina and researchers are hoping to find lots more plant fossils there.
Two-thousand-year-old bog butter
This huge 2,000-year-old lump of butter was found in a bog near Drakerath in Ireland in 2016.It probably wouldn't fit inside your fridge - it weighs as much as 10 large bags of sugar.Conditions in bogs are good for preserving things so the butter is in a good state, even though it's so old.It does, however, smell like strong cheese. We're not sure which would smell worse, this butter, or...
Three-hundred-and-forty-year-old cheese
Divers were exploring a shipwreck buried deep under the sea near Sweden when they found this jar.They didn't know there was cheese inside until the journey to the surface caused some of the contents to leak, releasing a very strong smell.The stinky discovery was made when the team were investigating the wreck of the Kronan, a warship that sank 348 years ago.Now that's taking mature cheddar to the extreme.
Sixty-year-old cake
In 2015, an American couple revealed they were still eating their wedding cake, 60 years after it was first baked in 1955.Ann and Ken Fredericks, from Florida, decided to eat one piece of the fruit cake every year to celebrate the day they got married.They said their children were horrified by them eating such old food but insisted the cake still tasted as good as ever.
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