Taste test: we review the best and worst supermarket Easter eggs for 2022 UK News

It’s easy to be cynical about the prospect of chocolate Easter eggs – after all, in many parts of the UK they hit shelves in January. Hardly have we recovered from having emptied our wallets at Christmas and here another pagan-Christian festival whose raison d’être seems to oblige us to part with our money.

We understand: capitalism has a lot to answer for. However, as a counter-argument, can we argue that everything seems a little less worrying with a bite of chocolate? And also, if you review the history of Easter eggs, it’s so storied and, well, silly, that making fun of them on Easter Sunday seems positively reasonable by comparison.

The tradition of giving people eggs has pagan roots, as centuries ago people gave each other (chicken) eggs to celebrate the onset of spring.

The delicate oval represented fertility, rebirth and new beginnings in the celebration of the vernal equinox for centuries, before being absorbed and adapted to fit Christian tradition. There, the donation of transmogrified eggs to symbolize the return to life of Jesus – the Resurrection – after three days of death, crucified by the Roman Empire.

In medieval times, eating eggs was forbidden for Lent (the 40 days before Easter. Lent marks the 40 days Jesus spent before his crucifixion wondering about the desert, feeling quite upset to be the son of God and knowing that he had to sacrifice himself to save humanity), as part of the abstinence practiced by Christians before Easter.

When Easter Sunday came, then, and the eggs were exchanged, they were not only considered a symbol of new life, the return of Jesus, but also, for the recipient, they were appreciated as a long missed treat.

Eggs were offered to the Church on Good Friday, and villagers would also offer eggs to the lord of their local manor (runoff economy? See, a silly story indeed).

As we entered the Victorian era, eggs had turned into hollow cardboard ovals, decorated in various ways, stuffed with Easter gifts and – mmmm, chocolate. The most prestigious example of this are the jeweled Fabergé eggs given to the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia – now worth millions of pounds.

Around this time, the French and Germans began to offer chocolate eggs, although the chocolate-making process at that time lacked refinement: the eggs produced were solid, bitter and black.

In 1875, Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter changed the ball game by inventing milk chocolate, and the silky, delicious, and sweet Easter confection we love has become an annual staple.

(Fortunately, they didn’t record the excess calories consumed by adults at that time).

Potted (or scrambled) history aside, let’s get to the eggs of 2022. It’s a crowded chocolate market out there, so before you shove anything up your ass, it’s worth knowing that chocolate on hand is worth your money – and the calories.

We’ve met Britain’s most prominent supermarkets for their own brand or store of exclusive eggs, eaten them – and somehow emerged with mouths smeared and bellies full – to write about it.

Reporting by Aimee Stanton, Harriet Clugston, Rhona Shennan, Rosalind Erskine, Helen Johnson