Every Russian knows chocolate products of the Red October brand. The famous "Alyonka", iris "Kiss-kis", caramel "Cancer necks": all this was known to our grandmothers.
It’s not without reason that the metropolitan sweets “Red October” are so popular, because the history of production totals 165 years.
A little bit about the factory
Back in 1851, the Prussian merchant and chocolate lover T.F. von Einem decided to try to establish business in the Russian Empire by opening a small chocolate and candy factory.
Since 1867, the factory is already in the directory of enterprises of the Russian Empire under the name “Einem. Partnership of a steam factory of chocolate, sweets and tea biscuits. " Five kopecks in silver from every pound of cookies sold, von Einem donated to charity. Since 1869, Julius Geiss became his companion, finally Russified German from the Black Forest, which in the lands of Baden-Württemberg, who headed the factory in 1876 after the death of Theodor Ferdinand.
In 1917, the factory was nationalized, like everything in the country, but it did not stop working, and in 1922 it became known as “Red October”. During the war, only “Guards” and “Kola” chocolate was produced, but not the chocolate that everyone was used to, but Kola as the Arctic, the
Kola Peninsula.
Most famous
The most delicious products in Russia are “Red October” sweets. Their composition, of course, varies. Chocolate is simple and with nuts, a lot of types of caramel and waffles, various gingerbread cookies and cookies - all this is done according to its unique recipe.
Here, for example, sweets of the Alenka trademark. Between two wafer layers, the nuts grated with milk in fried sugar. Or "Alyonka creme brulee." Her filling is dark, milky, with cocoa powder, and coated with chocolate icing on top.
Caramel “Alyonka” appeared, although everyone was accustomed to the fact that it was chocolate. The oval-shaped candy looks and tastes very much like an orange.
“Thunderstorm of fillings” was always jokingly and seriously called the iris “Kis-kis”. Like a hundred years ago, they also stick to the teeth and remove poorly placed fillings. Despite this, the taste of these toffees forever settled in the memory of people. In the Soviet years, these sweets were in every home.
Candy "Red October" produces a wide variety of products, including the product "Bear-toed". The usual ones were waffle, but a novelty appeared - honey roasting. An oblong confetin coated with chocolate icing, and inside there is caramel with peanuts, hazelnuts and honey. Unusual, but insanely delicious!
Less famous but no less tasty
Chocolate "Red October" produces every day. Triumph is available in three forms: classic, latte and exotic.
“Classic” is sprinkled with coconut flakes and crumbles a little, but these are trifles. But in fact, it is a waffle in the glaze, under which a very tasty filling is hidden.
“Latte” also crumbles, but not with coconut, but with sesame seeds. Creamy filling with a taste of bright chocolate latte will not leave you indifferent. And in “exotic” all exotic is enclosed in pistachios. It is sprinkled with almost non-crumbling waffle chips (because there is not enough of it on top, this crumbs), has a filling of light green color and a pistachio flavor.
From the "chemistry", by the way, there are not many components in the sweets of the series. The evil "E", which everyone has long been afraid of, is present in the form of dye E-141 and flavoring E-476.
Candy "Red October" produces and such as "Walnut Grove." The advantages include the relative cheapness, less than three hundred rubles, but few nuts, although there should be a lot, if you believe the name. Well, cocoa butter is replaced with powder, which also does not add taste. In terms of price / quality ratio, the best option. You can eat, and inexpensively.
Jelly line
Candy "Red October" also produces "Jelly", which have a whole series. Barberry flavors, for example, are coated with good quality dark chocolate glaze. The pronounced taste of barberry sour in moderation, the jelly itself is quite elastic. In general, very tasty sweets, if not for one “but”: bust with “chemistry”. Polyglycerin, aka E-476, is banned in the Russian Federation, as it does not very well affect the liver and kidneys. E-331 and E-102 are not particularly dangerous, while E-122 is a carcinogen, and also very strong. So the health of the buyer is in his hands.
There is just marmalade in chocolate. There is a little less chemistry in it than in the “barberry” described above, and it tastes quite edible.
"Southern Night" from the same factory is known to many. Brown marmalade, covered with dark chocolate, which does not even crumble and does not crumble with candy. Despite the simple gray candy wrapper, the taste of these sweets is simply excellent. And the composition is quite acceptable, without excesses. Prices for the "jelly" series vary in the region of 180-220 rubles / kg.
Candy in boxes
The most interesting of the “boxed" chocolates is, undoubtedly, the set of chocolates "Red October", which is called the "Tretyakov Gallery". The sweets themselves are filled with condensed milk with sugar and vanilla (in the form of flavoring), irish cream, cognac and apricot yogurt. In a word, for every taste. From "chemistry" only E-492. But the charm of this set is that the box is an interesting gift. Guess from the name that is depicted on them? That's right, images of paintings by great artists from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. Such a gift is worth 250 rubles.
For connoisseurs there are more interesting handmade sweets “Red October”. Glazing and decoration of these sweets are done manually, due to which the price is astronomical. For example, a set of “Souvenir from Ryazan” from a dozen sweets will cost about 600 rubles, while a box “Deer”, where the sweets are made by the hands of confectioners, is already 2500 rubles. for three sweets. No, there are also low-cost conveyor options, the same well-known “Rus Troika” for 200 “wooden ones”, but you won’t give this to the general director, right?
Does the taste taste great in the Stolichniy candies?
I would like to separately sort out the weighted sweets “Stolichnie” (“Red October”), the price of which reaches seven hundred rubles per kilogram. Probably for this price you should expect a truly delicious taste. But not so simple.
Appearance, of course, is gorgeous. A wrapper stylized under Soviet reality looks breathtaking, no doubt. In the form of a rounded rectangle, they are covered with dark chocolate icing, to which questions immediately appeared. Well, not to the glaze itself, but to its manufacturer. Not so dark as real chocolate should be. In addition, a forensic find, because fingerprints remain very clear, which is also not a quality indicator.
Having reached the filling, we are surprised to find as much as a three-layer one. Cognac (or vodka, it is difficult to make out) pralines, burnt sugar and chocolate pralines (in theory) taste. It is possible that in the production sense, such a filling is difficult, but do not double the price because of difficulties in manufacturing?
The only thing that can please the wrapper is the composition. There are emulsifiers and flavorings, but there is not a single harmful or allergenic-carcinogenic "E".
Variety of factory products
As you can see, the assortment of sweets "Red October" is very large. Which is not surprising, because skill and recipe have been honed for more than a century and a half. There are more than sixty kinds of chocolates alone. Even for people with a penchant for religious fasting, there are five types of lean sweets, among which the beloved Truffles and Kara-Kum. In total, more than 250 types of various snacks are offered.
In addition to chocolates and chocolate itself, these are cookies, and marshmallows, and marmalade, and halva, and indeed a lot of oriental sweets. Could von Einem and Geiss imagine that, after a century and a half, a small production of four people will grow to a huge holding known throughout the world? Yes, in 1864 and 1865 the factory had bronze and silver medals at All-Russian Manufacturing Exhibitions, but the Grand Prix of the World and International Exhibitions in Paris and Brussels, the Grand Prix “Symbol of Russia” and “People’s Brand” were added to this.
Benefits
The company that we are discussing in detail there today, despite the obvious disadvantages presented in this article, has extensive experience, due to which it produces really high-quality sweets that are liked not only by residents of the Russian Federation, but also by other countries.
In most types of sweets there are no harmful carcinogens, which makes it possible to taste an incredible taste for everyone, without fear for their health. Believe me, the corporation deserves special attention. Workers try to present their customers chic sweets at a more or less normal price.
What is the result?
So, discussed the candy "Red October". Moscow, as the capital of our country, has greater potential in terms of the production of various sweets. The oldest Russian confectionery company “Confectionery concern Babaevsky” and the chocolate factory “Rot-Front” are also located in the capital. They, along with 16 more factories, are part of the United Confectioners holding, which has existed since 2002.
Their only worthy competitor is the St. Petersburg Krupskaya Confectionery Factory, which has existed since 1938. And no matter how they advertise other manufacturers, no matter how beautiful the boxes they produce, only the candy boxes of the Krupskaya factory, in which the most prominent graphic design specialists took part, became a collectible and kept in the State Russian Museum. And the quality of the products of St. Petersburg confectioners is often better, and the price is one and a half times lower. Why? Because Red October is a global brand for which buyers pay.
The choice is yours anyway!