Chocolate sales reveal a curious trend to Yorkshire's favourite flavours

Now new findings from Yorkshire's "chocolate city" reveal a clear change to the nation's favourites.

What it shows is a shift back towards the classics as more people turn away from novelty treats.

Milk chocolate remains the favourite cocoa flavour, official findings reveal, with chocolate orange seeing a surge amid a 20 per cent sales spike just this year.

Novelty flavours such as honey and banoffee are "on the slide" though, according to the new data from York's Chocolate Story.

Stuart Wood, general manager of the visitor attraction, said it is "fascinating" to see how people's tastes are constantly evolving.

"Everbody loves chocolate," he said. "It gives us a bit of a 'feel good' factor, and it's a little treat that doesn't cost a lot but keeps us going.

"While flavours like salted caramel are here to stay, there’s clearly growing demand for traditional options like dark, mint and white chocolate," he added. "At the same time, some of the more experimental or novelty flavours that performed strongly last year have dipped in popularity."

Milk chocolate remains "top of the tree", said Mr Wood, as it has done for some time albeit with a five per cent sales drop on last year.

When there are trends in cooking, he added, it does feed through which may explain why honeyed chocolate has taken a dip.

Sales of dark chocolate are up nine per cent, meanwhile, which could be attributed to changing tastes or health benefits, he suggested. Seasonality often plays a part.

York is widely known as the UK's capital of chocolate, dating back to its time with factory giants including Terry's and Rowntree's.

These "founding families" helped to create great empires in the city, which with philanthropy and worker benefits were well ahead of their time.

Now York’s Chocolate Story shares that confectionary history, along with a taste of sweet treats to its 100,000 visitors a year. While at the site, they made 10,000 purchases last year.

Now, analysis of the rankings shows, some once-trendy flavours are losing ground.

While milk chocolate remains the "undisputed" favourite, salted caramel rises 12 per cent to second spot. Dark chocolate rises to third place, overtaking coffee.

On the other end of the scale, the attraction's data revealed, dessert-style options are fading away.

Banoffee, which previously ranked fifth, has dropped out of the top 10 entirely. Honey kept its place but suffered an 11 per cent drop.

Mr Wood said: "It suggests that while people enjoy trying something new, they often return to flavours they know and love - especially when it comes to chocolate.”