IT'S a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Chocolate spreads, like scooters and sharp suits, are one of the greatest Italian inventions. Being Italian, they mixed the chocolate with hazel nut so you get a more interesting flavour and the result is rich and delicious but not too cloying.

The English adapted it but leaving out the nuts. More chocolatey, less subtle. Then the Americans adapted it and the result was a sweet and sickly gloop. And our shelves are groaning with all types and variations on the original Italian /American/Belgian/German themes.

If you're trying to wean yourself off chocolate spreads, here's a tip - read the small print. This is where you discover (a) the number of calories you're layering on your bread - probably enough to need a 100 mile jog to work it off and (b) that in most spreads, the main ingredients are sugar and vegetable oil. Sort of off-putting really.

But not off-putting enough. Our testers have got stuck in

MOST CHOCOLATEY

ENGLISH PROVENDER COMPANY DARK CHOCOLATE SPREAD

£1.49 for 300g.

Oh yes. This was the only one we tasted that contained no vegetable oil, milk powder or things we didn't understand. Instead its entire list of ingredients is: sugar, water, cocoa butter, cocoa powder. Very very rich, strong chocolate taste. For serious, sophisticated chocoholics only.

*****

CADBURYS SMOOTH

£1.38 for 400g

Has a very distinctive Cadbury's taste. If you want the equivalent of chocolate bars on your bread, this is the one for you. Kids loved it. Excellent in the middle of a sponge cake. Made in Belgium.

****

CO-OP CHOCOLATE SPREAD

£1.15 for 350g

Also made in Belgium, but tasting very different. Quite acceptable.

***

NICEST NUTTIEST

NUTELLA HAZELNUT CHOCOLATE

£1.65 for 400g

13 per cent nuts

The classic. Rich and strong, very chocolatey with a distinct, though not overwhelming taste of nuts.

*****

PENOTTI PRALINE CHOCOLATTI

£1.29 for 300g

13 per cent nuts

Sounds Italian, made in Holland. Grown ups' favourite. Not quite as sickly as many that we tasted but with a delicious praline nutty taste.

*****

GREEN AND BLACK ORGANIC

£2.29

13 per cent hazelnuts.

Very smooth and nutty. Not such an overwhelming chocolate taste as some. Very good.

*****

TESCO CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT

£1.19 for 400g

13 per cent hazelnuts

Definitely tasted of nuts, but this was also very strongly chocolatey - which is why some people liked it more and others not as much.

****

TOO SICKLY SWEET FOR SENSIBLE TASTES

ASDA SMARTPRICE

65p for 350g

This was very cheap and, sadly, tasted it. So much so, it left an oily residue after we'd tried it. Made in Germany.

*

MILKY WAY

99p for 300g

This looks very appealing, a pretty swirly stripey pattern. Reassuring too as across the front it says "Rich in calcium, magnesium and vitamins". Mmmmm.....But read the small print, it's also dripping with fat (33 per cent) and sugar. Anyway, most of our testers didn't like it saying it was all too sickly and in any case, the cream bits tasted "musty".

**

SNICKERS

£1.19 for 350g

25 per cent peanuts, caramel and chocolate.

Tasted quite nicely of peanuts, but the taste was overwhelmingly of caramel and hardly at all of chocolate.

**

SCOTTS MISSISSIPPI MUD

99p for 400g

American style choc spread made in Germany. Really sickly sweet and slimy and not very chocolatey.