Zagnut surprised me. It’s one of those “classic” bars, and it’s always struck me as being somewhat ho-hum. That, combined with its limited availability (it’s not sold at all in Canada, at least outside of specialty stores), has led this to being one of the few major candy bars that I’ve never actually [...]

Aero is another British bar that, for whatever reason, is sold pretty much everywhere in the world except for the States. I’m really not sure why; it’s pretty good, and as far as I’m aware, there’s nothing else in the US quite like it. There’s Mirage, but I think that may only be [...]

Hershey launched Cacao Reserve, its “upscale” line of chocolates, a couple of years ago (you know a chocolate maker is trying a bit too hard to seem fancy when they use the pretentious “cacao” rather than the more common “cocoa”). I guess it’s a been a success for them, because here we are two [...]

Yorkie is the British bar which proudly proclaims that “it’s not for girls!” Based on that slogan, I had sort of figured that Yorkie was going to do something like cram every conceivable candy bar filling into one bar, or something similarly ridiculous. But nope, it’s just plain milk chocolate. I’m really [...]

Heath may not be the most exciting bar in the store, but with its memorable combination of crunchy toffee and creamy milk chocolate, it’s definitely a classic.
Heath pretty much defines simplicity: it’s just a flat piece of crunchy toffee coated in chocolate. That’s it. Simple, but good. The toffee is crunchy [...]

I’m generally a pretty big fan of coconut in candy – Bounty, which is essentially a superior version of Mounds, is one of my favourites. But there are those who feel differently, such as Steve Almond, who described coconut as having a “creepy dead skin texture” (in his very entertaining book, Candyfreak). I [...]

Being a Canadian, it is hard-coded into me to enjoy anything with maple syrup in it. So when I saw this maple and roasted peanut “Bun”, it was pretty clear that I’d have to buy it (this was during a recent trip to the States – the Bun is, oddly enough, not available in [...]

The contrast between chewy and crunchy/crispy is a popular one among many candy makers, and is certainly at the forefront here. Featuring an appealing mix of crispy puffed rice and chewy caramel, 100 Grand is a tasty bar (or a couple of bars, in this case).
The caramel is soft, chewy and slightly grainy. [...]

Chunky isn’t sold in Canada and isn’t exactly a high-profile bar, so I hadn’t even heard of it when it was memorably referenced in an episode of Seinfeld (“I know the chunky that left these Chunkies!”). Of course, at that point I had to try it, and I do recall being somewhat disappointed in [...]

With some older candies, their continuing longevity is somewhat mystifying to me (the surprisingly unpleasant Necco Wafers being a prime example of this). However, in the case of Goldenberg’s Original Peanut Chews, I can definitely understand how they’ve managed to stick around all these years (since 1917, according to the packaging): they’re simple, satisfying [...]