Yes indeedee.  It was even possible to eat your favourite characters,in a rather sadistic act of fan worship !

The top pic comes from the Autumn 1976 trade catalogue of Tobler Suchard Limited.

And the pic to the right comes from the Christmas 1972 version,

when they were known as Tobler Meltis.(of Meltis Fruits fame).

Clearly a very incestuous industry,and some may also remember a time when the likes of Cadbury Schweppes & Rowntree Machintosh were actually 4 seperate companies.

Sadly,details on these Herbs items are limited I'm afraid.

But what I do know for sure is that the 1972 one opposite was the first year of production.

And they were clearly popular because they actually appeared as

part of the Tobler Suchard range right upto and including the

Autumn 1978 catalogue.Which is a pretty impressive run.

Whether they were produced continuously is unclear though.

And I don't know whether there were any variations or new

products brought out along the way.

Although you'd imagine it would've been packaging tweeks rather

than any brand new lines.

And certainly there's not a whole lot to choose between the 2 items shown here,despite the fact that the 1976 product is described as ' new '.

So I'm not sure what that might have referred to.

The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley

CLASSIC BBC KID'S ANIMATION DEVISED & WRITTEN BY MICHAEL BOND

ON THIS PAGE.....This choccie is a graduate from the bits 'n' pieces 'Other memorabilia' page.

Sadly,just the result of some more research rather than a chance meeting with an Oompa-loompa.But nevermind.

It's nice to be able to see the wholesale box as well as the product.And it's sufficiently colourful to think it might actually have graced the odd counter somewhere.Although most were probably emptied and the contents displayed seperately.

But,perhaps,the biggest imponderable is how much the actual chocs looked like the characters they were supposed to represent  ?

Not that you could expect too much from a humble bit of confectionary of course,but I don't suppose we'll ever get the chance to find out now.Because despite the fact that chocolate bars have survived from W.W.1,goodness only knows what sort of state they'd be in.

But it's maybe not quite so fanciful to think there's the odd empty packet still floating around somewhere.Or maybe even a battle-weary display box.

Funnier things have happened,although as a wise man once said......

"I can live with certainty of failure,but it's the hope that kills you."

Re the pics....   The quality of the pics isn't great I'm afraid.

Small blown-up images from poorish quality paper = not the best !

There's no significance in including the Teddy Bears items by the way, other than their close proximity to the Herbs item.

• Colourful packaging
  

• Sold well,so tasted good
  

• But 10p good value in 1972  ?
  

The only other thing that strikes me was how late in the day it was to be bringing them out.Because repeats or not,1972 was quite some time after the main event.Although Tobler were still selling them 6 years later,so what do I know.

Admittedly,we don't know if it was an unbroken run or not because of the dearth of catalogue evidence from '72 to '76.

But it was pretty darn impressive for a spin-off product -many of which are lucky to have a shelf life of 6 months, nevermind 6 years.

Although I suppose if they tasted good and kids' liked the look of them then the actual link to the series could've been almost coincidental.I mean,how many kids eat Kellog's Frosties because they think Tony the Tiger's Greeeeeat  ?!

On a personal note,I'm sad to admit they completely passed me by.And it's quite a puzzling gap in my sweet and choccie cv actually.Because what I lacked in volume I more than made up for with variety.

Nothing unusual there I suppose,and maybe if they'd brought out character bars sold individually I'd have come across them more readily.(The Wombles examples spring to mind)

Not that I'd have kept any for posterity of course.Because,like most 70's kids,I'd have scoffed the lot and chucked the packaging without even giving it a thought.

And biting Sage's head off and sinking your teeth into Bayleaf's longjohns are probably best done without thinking about it too much frankly !