KCOM launches search to find the sweet taste of Hull

Can you help capture the authentic taste of Hull in a sweet treat?

KCOM has launched a competition to find the city’s favourite flavours which it will make into real confectionery to tickle those distinctly ‘Ull taste buds.

Whether you think the ideal Hull sweet is a chip spice lozenge, a pattie-infused toffee or a brandy snap bonbon KCOM wants to hear from you.

And if your suggestion is one of three Hull flavours picked to go into full Willy Wonka-style production later this year you will receive a scrumdiddlyumptious supply of your candy creation.

Three lucky winners will also be picked to receive a selection of pick and mix sweeties big enough to turn Augustus Gloop green with envy.

Cathy Phillips, KCOM’s chief marketing officer, said: “When you think of Hull what are the flavours that instantly spring to mind? Is it chip spice, a nicely seasoned Bob Carver’s pattie, some brandy snap from Hull Fair or – if you’re a little older - a classic Needler’s glace fruit drop?

“We’re determined to find the tastes that evoke real Hullness and, once we’ve discovered the city’s favourites, we’ll turn them into a selection of flavoured sweets that capture the essence of Hull in three distinct Humber humbugs.

“If there’s a flavour that instantly makes you think of Hull - or nostalgic for your childhood visiting the pick and mix at Woolworths on King Edward Street - we want to hear from you.”

The search is part of the launch of KCOM’s new Pick and Mix range of broadband packages.

Pick and Mix enables customers to choose the speed and data that best suits their needs, with the option of adding a call package on top.

As well as creating new sweets instilled with the essence of Hull, KCOM is giving eight of its famous cream phone boxes a colourful Pick and Mix makeover. Several of its vans will also be sporting new pick and mix-inspired livery.

If you would like to suggest a flavour in person and enter the sweet competition, KCOM will be bringing its pick and mix roadshow to the Freedom Festival in Hull’s Queens Gardens on Saturday, 1 September and Sunday, 2 September. Youngsters will be able to colour in their ideal wrapper and claim a free bag of sweets at the KCOM stand between 11am and 5.30pm.

• To enter the competition to have your taste of Hull turned into a real confectionery online visit www.kcomhome.com/hullsweets

To find out what flavours the people of Hull think epitomise their city, KCOM visited an open day Pelican Park Community Trust to hear some tasty – and some not so tasty – suggestions.

Luca Griffin, ten, of Bransholme, whose favourite sweet is Dairy Milk Oreo, said: “I’d like to have a half-and-half candy floss and pattie sweet – because I like candy floss at Hull Fair and you don’t get patties anywhere else but Hull.”

While colouring his ideal sweet wrapper William Robinson, seven, from Wawne, said: “I’d like a penguin flavour because I was trying to draw a chicken but it looked more like a penguin – and I like the penguins at The Deep.”

Emily Coulson, 11, of east Hull, said: “I’d like a candy floss and hotdog flavour and then throw a burger into the mix because they’re my favourite things.”

Alex Pulford, 11, of east Hull, said: “I’d do a Dead Bod flavour because I like the picture and it was part of the City of Culture. What would it taste like? Horrible probably.”

The older generation had very different favourites to the youngsters – with the emphasis on nostalgic flavours and smells from their childhoods.

Jackie Burns, 78, a retired school cook, of east Hull, said: “I think the smell that reminds me most of Hull was that of the Cocoa Factory. The smell of chocolate down Stoneferry used to be very strong and quite overpowering sometimes. So maybe a chocolate sweet wrapped in a Reckitt’s Blue wrapper?”

Pat Coates, 83, a retired youth worker, from north Hull, said: “My favourite taste was the cinnamon sticks we used to get after the war. Because we were still on rationing we only got 2oz of sweets a week – but the cinnamon sticks didn’t count toward the sweets ration so we all bought them. It very much reminds me of my childhood.”

Pat Peaks, 73, a retired social worker, from west Hull, said: “The smell I remember most of Hull as fish from the docks. You could always tell when it was going to rain because the smell of the fish became really strong as the rain moved towards you. I don’t think I’d pick it for a sweet flavour though! Maybe I’d go for Sherbert Kali which we all had when we were kids, which was sherbet you dipped a stick of liquorice in and it fizzed on your tongue.”