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Aerated

Chocolate that has bubbles trapped in it. Brands include Nestle Aero, Elite Aerated and Cadbury Wispa.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Cadbury Wispa

Cadbury WispaAerated chocolate bars are quite popular in Europe. The Nestle Aero holds the top seat but there are others worthy of sampling.

The Cadbury Wispa was introduced in 1981 in the United Kingdom. The Wispa was later reformulated and rebranded as the Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly Bar in 2003 (2005 review). Fans of the classic bar clamored for the original, which returned as a regular item in 2008.

Cadbury Wispa

The ingredients have nothing special in them that mentions the carbonation (extra nitrogen). It’s just the same ingredients as any Cadbury Dairy Milk bar in the UK: milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dried skimmed milk, vegetable fat, emulsifer (E442), flavouring. It’s the vegetable fat that sets it apart in the UK from Australia or the US.

Hershey’s recently introduced Air Delight (review) to the US, and wasn’t the first to bring aerated chocolate to the masses. It just doesn’t go over here in the States. I notice a consistent comment from consumers (even if it is from a minority) is that they think that the candy companies are making cheaper candy by putting air in it. The odd thing is that I don’t hear the same thing about marshmallows being filled with air, it’s just part of the texture of the product.

Cadbury Wispa

The Wispa bar is milky and a tad malty, slightly salty. It’s not as sweet or sticky as a traditional Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate slab. The aeration helps it melt quickly, but also gives it a drier feeling on the tongue. Often I find Cadbury to be a very soft bar, but this was more crumbly and less fudgy. The bubbles are smaller and denser than the Nestle Aero and many other bubbled chocolates that I’ve tried. It’s no better or worse as far as texture goes, just a slight difference.

The bar contains dairy and soy. No mention of gluten or any nuts. Some of Cadbury’s items are being ethically sourced, including their most popular Dairy Milk Bar in the UK, but the Wispa is not on that list yet. I’m not certain about what kind of vegetable fat is used in the bar, as UK standards don’t require listing it specifically, so there’s no word on its sustainability.

Related Candies

  1. Hershey’s Air Delight Aerated Milk Chocolate
  2. Frey Chocobloc AIR
  3. Nestle Aero 70% Dark
  4. Bubble Chocolate (2010)
  5. UK vs US Cadbury Dairy Milk
  6. Elite Aerated & Lotte Airs
  7. Dairy Milk Bubbly


Name: Wispa
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Cadbury
Place Purchased: Cost Plus World Market (Farmers Market)
Price: $1.89
Size: 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 154
Categories: Candy, Cadbury, Kraft/Mondelez, Aerated, Mockolate, 6-Tempting, United Kingdom, Cost Plus

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:45 pm     CandyReviewCadburyKraft/MondelezAeratedMockolate6-TemptingUnited KingdomCost Plus

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hershey’s Air Delight Aerated Milk Chocolate

DSC_3791rbHershey’s has made their biggest debut of a new chocolate product in 10 years. I know this because their press release told me so.

It’s their new Air Delight Aerated Milk Chocolate. I’ve already covered the Air Delight Kisses, which were sent to me by the National Confectioners Association back during The Sweets & Snacks Expo. The bar was supposed to go on sale shortly after that in June nationwide. Believe me, I tried to find it. Southern California may be the first for movie premieres, but we’re often the last for candy rollouts. I tried Walgreen’s, RiteAid, Target, Ralph’s, Gelson’s, Von’s and CVS. Eventually, by mid June the Kisses showed up at the drug stores, but I still couldn’t find the bar. Even more frustrating, the CVS store I was in was advertising the bar on their PA system ... but didn’t actually have it in stock.

I finally found it the other night at a different CVS, and on sale (buy 2 and get 1 free).

DSC_3798rb

The package describes the bar as:

The HERSHEY’S milk chocolate you love gently blended for a light, airy texture that melts effortlessly in your mouth.

Finally, an end to the effort! I bet you didn’t think about how much effort it actually was to melt things in your mouth. You know, the opening and closing and then application of heat. All of that is solved with this new chocolate bar ... it’s so light, it practically inserts itself into your mouth. Wait, no. No, it doesn’t. You apply the exact same effort, except for the possible fact that this bar weighs 1.44 ounces instead of the 1.55 so it is actually a lighter bar.

Hershey's Air Delight

The bar is thick but also a bit more narrow than the standard Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar. Both bars I picked up were unbroken and unblemished. They have six narrow segments that cleave off easily to reveal the little air bubbles within.

Since the bar is aerated, the snap and bite is softer. It’s not that it’s melted or anything, it’s just quieter or something. It does seem to melt quicker and has a stronger scent (perhaps because of the increased surface area on the exposed surfaces). The flavor is undeniably Hershey’s Milk Chocolate. If you don’t like the sweet, caramelly and tangy flavor of Hershey’s, you’re really not going to like this. The fudgy cheesecake flavors are more noticeable now that the texture matches that more closely. It’s really filling, I was surprised. I took each section as two bites and took quite a while to eat it. It felt like a lot more chocolate than 1.44 ounces.

As far as the success of Hershey’s aerated bar, I’d say they’ve done a great job. It’s exactly what you’d want if you wanted a bubbly Hershey’s milk chocolate experience. I found it far too sweet and gave the back of my throat that “acidic burp” feeling. So if you’re looking for a satisfying actual chocolate experience, you might want to step up to something a little higher quality. But if you’ve always wanted a Nestle Aero bar that you can buy at your local store without the import premium, this may be your thing.

This bar was made in Mexico. There’s no allergen statement anywhere on it (though it does actually contain dairy and soy, so you know those for sure).

Related Candies

  1. Frey Chocobloc AIR
  2. Hershey’s Kisses Air Delight
  3. Nestle Aero 70% Dark
  4. Bubble Chocolate (2010)
  5. Rising Cost of Candy - A Brief Study of Hershey Prices
  6. Hershey’s Miniatures
  7. Dairy Milk Bubbly


Name: Air Delight Aerated Milk Chocolate
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: CVS (Silver Lake)
Price: $.53 (on sale)
Size: 1.44 ounces
Calories per ounce: 139
Categories: Candy, Hershey's, Aerated, Chocolate, Kosher, 6-Tempting, Mexico, Sav-On/CVS

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:47 pm     CandyReviewHershey'sAeratedChocolate6-TemptingMexicoSav-On/CVS

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Frey Chocobloc AIR

imageI mentioned this bar a couple of months ago in a candy tease. It’s called Frey Chocobloc AIR and as you might guess from the name, it’s an aerated chocolate bar. Frey is a large Swiss chocolate company (I used to see their bars at Target and often at airport duty free shops) but they’re not as well known in North America as some others.

Now that I’ve had the Hershey’s Air Delight Kisses, I thought it was a good time to compare it to another newly introduced product.

Frey makes a line of bars called Chocobloc which have a similar format to the Kraft Toblerone bar. They’re a long, chunky block that has little divided, angular sections. The regular Chocobloc bars are 100 grams, the aerated AIR bar is only 70 grams. But what’s really different about this bar from all the other aerated chocolate out there right now is that this is a milk chocolate bar with honey nougat and almonds. The milk chocolate does have a lot of cocoa content, 34% according to the label.

Frey Aerated Bar

I know it seems odd to note it, but there are a lot of bubbles in the bar. I’m not calling your attention in this case to the ones in the center, but the edges of the bar, the peaks and corners have a lot of voids. A well molded bar, even one with inclusions will have an even surface.

The bar does feel light and the color is also on the creamy milky side of things. The pieces cleave off easily, much better than some other blocky bars (like the Toblerone). It smells quite milky and a little like malt and honey. There are little hard nougat bits in there, just tiny chips.

The bar melts quickly and has a very strong, sweet flavor to it. There are caramel and honey notes and quite a bit of the powdered dairy taste that Swiss chocolate often has. It’s not very chocolatey but still the melt is velvety enough.

As far as its performance as an aerated bar, it was light and did have a bit of a foamy melt with all the air included. About 30% of the mass of an ordinary bar was missing because of the air bubbles. But it also tasted a lot sweeter. Perhaps a dark chocolate version of this would be more to my liking.

The comparison to the other bars I’ve tried to so far is similar. The texture of this one in particular felt a bit smoother and I liked the notes of honey. But aerated still isn’t a trend I’m hopping on. There’s really nothing here that’s perceptibly better than solid chocolate. If you’re looking for something that gives the appearance of more to trick yourself that you’re eating lots, well, maybe this will do the trick for you but be warned that ounce for ounce, this is some pretty high calorie stuff. But the sugary flavor couldn’t match the satisfaction of slightly bitter, very dark chocolate for me.

(I used a photo from Frey for the package image. In the case of the review bar I received, it was in the Swiss packaging, which is sold there as Mahony Sweet Air - photo.)

Related Candies

  1. PUR Gum: Xylitol Sweetened
  2. Aldi Chocolate Swiss Assorted Chocolate Squares
  3. Ferrara Belgian Milk Chocolate
  4. Swiss Army Energy Bar Chocolate
  5. Toblerone Single Peaks
  6. Frey Supreme: White, Lemon & Lime and Citron & Poivre


Name: Chocobloc AIR
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Frey
Place Purchased: samples from Frey at ISM Cologne
Price: $3.25
Size: 2.47 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Frey, Aerated, Chocolate, Nougat, Nuts, 7-Worth It, Switzerland

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:04 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewFreyAeratedChocolateNougatNuts7-Worth ItSwitzerland

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hershey’s Kisses Air Delight

Hershey's Kisses Air DelightHershey’s has come out with dozens of varieties of Kisses over the past ten years or so. They’ve filled them with Peanut Butter, Cherry Cordial, Caramel and Coconut while others were flavored like Candy Corn and Mint. The new Hershey’s Kisses Air Delight are the first I can think of that are less than other Kisses. They’re not filled with chocolate, they’re filled with little air bubbles.

Aerated chocolate is nothing new, it’s actually quite popular in other countries like the United Kingdom where the Cadbury Wispa is popular and Japan where the Nestle Aero bar comes at least a half a dozen seasonal varieties. (Hershey’s says that aerated chocolate is a $500 million dollar market segment worldwide.) The new Air Delight line is a first for Hershey’s though. In addition to the new Kisses, there’s also a bar version which weighs the same as a regular bar (1.44 ounces) but has almost 20% more volume.

Hershey's Kisses Air Delight

The Kisses are molded, but look like virtually all other non-classic Kisses. The foil wrapper is silver with brown dots on it. The little flag says Air Delight. They do actually feel lighter than a regular Kiss. The bite is soft or if you’re not a chewer, they do melt much quicker. The flavor isn’t quite the regular Hershey’s milk chocolate twang, but there are some sour notes in there. It’s not quite fudgy, but a little salty and milky. I have to say that just a half a dozen were very satisfying and they go nicely with other snacks like pretzels, nuts or Cheez-its. It’s rather smooth, but I wouldn’t call it rich. The melt is like a chocolate frosting - a little on the sugary side and not enough chocolate and certainly not enough cocoa butter. But it’s candy.

So the chocolate is lighter, because they put air bubbles in there, diluting the chocolate. The same “classic bag” of solid Kisses is 12 ounces. The Kisses Air Delight is 9.4 ounces. A standard portion size (200 calories) is 9 pieces (40 grams). For Air Delight it’s 11 pieces (41 grams). So each Air Delight Kiss is approximately 3.64 grams, while a classic Hershey’s Kiss is 4.44 grams, or approximately 18% lighter.

I like the idea of having an American version of a style of confection that seems to be available everywhere else. The addition of air does make the melt more pronounced and heighten the flavors. It’s also a darn clever way of giving consumer less for the same money. But sometimes we, apparently, want less for our money. The fact that chocolate can hold such a texture is a bit of a marvel, but like many molecular gastronomy novelties, just because you can do something doesn’t mean that it’s good. I’ve had my fair share of aerated chocolate products over the years and find that I’m not particularly enamored of them - but since Hershey’s pointed out that there’s a half a billion dollar market out there for the stuff, I guess it’d be silly of them not to try.

Hershey’s marketing information promises that this will be their largest Hershey’s Kisses Brand introduction in 5 years (I’m guessing the last was the now defunct Kissables) and the largest Hershey’s launch in 10 years. What that means for consumers is a greater likelihood that you’ll actually be able to find them in stores, if you’re looking for them. The Kisses Air Delight are supposed to be on shelves in early June 2011.

Related Candies

  1. Nestle Aero 70% Dark
  2. Vanilla Beans KitKat & Bitter Orange Aero
  3. Candy Corn Kisses
  4. Kisses Coconut Creme
  5. The Mint Kisses: Chocolate Mint & Candy Cane
  6. Elite Aerated & Lotte Airs
  7. Dairy Milk Bubbly


Name: Kisses Air Delight
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: Samples from Sweets & Snacks Expo
Price: $4.29 retail
Size: 9.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Candy, Hershey's, Aerated, Chocolate, Kosher, 7-Worth It, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:55 am     CandyReviewHershey'sAeratedChocolateKosher7-Worth ItUnited States

Friday, November 5, 2010

Nestle Tex

Nestle TexRowntree’s created what would be one of the most popular candy bars in the world, the KitKat, in 1935. In the same year they also created the Aero bar. There have been dozens of versions since then even as Nestle’s has taken over the brand and spread the bars worldwide.

It’s odd then to ponder that there is a mash-up bar of the two that’s found in South Africa. The Nestle Tex was launched around 1956 and combines the aerated chocolate of the Aero bar and the crispy filled wafers of the KitKat. I don’t know how the bar got the name Tex.

Nestle Tex

It’s a big chunky looking bar. It’s over 5.5 inches long and a little under one inch square. The wrapping isn’t fancy, just the name of the bar and a satisfyingly accurate cross section of the bar that shows the bubbly chocolate center with a layer of wafers above and below.

Nestle Tex Bar

The bar smells more like sweetened cereal than a decadent chocolate bar. It’s quite light for its size, only 40 grams (1.41 ounces) when you think that a 3 Musketeers bar is 60 grams and has similar volume.

The bar is a little messy to eat. The wafers are crispy but also darn flaky.

The chocolate flavors are disappointing. There’s little cocoa flavor or chocolate texture in there. It’s not grainy or waxy, but certainly doesn’t have a silky smooth melt. The wafers are fun and distinctive, though not quite KitKat-like since they’re wider and have a more distinctive cream filling. The Aero layer is lost in the mix, it’s light on the chocolate but I didn’t really get the same airy melt and bubbly texture because of the fact that I felt obligated to chew the wafers.

Mostly I’m disappointed in the poor quality of the chocolate (it might be mockolate, it’s hard to tell which ingredients are the chocolate coating and which are the cream filling in the wafer part). I know Nestle is capable of making better chocolate, and since I bought this as an import, it was $2.00. I could buy some really good chocolate for that.

I could see this bar benefiting from other versions, like dark chocolate and flavors like coffee or orange. As it is, I see it as a middle of the road offering. Certainly unique but not better than the sum of its progenitors.

(I found one note in a book about Rowntree that said that the Tex bar was first introduced in Canada in 1955 around the same time as Coffee Crisp but was a flop.)

Related Candies

  1. Nestle Aero 70% Dark
  2. Vanilla Beans KitKat & Bitter Orange Aero
  3. Nestle Lion
  4. Aero
  5. Coffee Crisp


Name: Tex
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $1.99
Size: 1.41 ounces
Calories per ounce: 143
Categories: Candy, Nestle, Aerated, Chocolate, Cookie, 5-Pleasant, South Africa

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:56 pm     CandyReviewNestleAeratedChocolateCookie5-PleasantSouth Africa

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Nestle Aero 70% Dark

Nestle Aero 70%I found this smart looking bar at Mel & Rose Wine and Liquors a few weeks ago, before it got blisteringly hot and I’m adverse to buying chocolate.

The Nestle Aero line is a fun sort - it’s aerated chocolate. That means that air bubbles are trapped in the chocolate, making it light and fluffy, kind of like chocolate pumice. This is rather foreign to us here in the US where aerated chocolate isn’t that common. Europe Cadbury has a whole Wispa and Diary Milk Bubby line of products and they’re also popular in Israel where Elite makes some bars.

The Aero 70% Cocoa bar was a little more expensive than some of the imports I find, I paid $2 for mine, though in Canada, where these are from, they might be more reasonably priced. It’s five inches long and 1/75 inches across making it seem like a large bar. It only weighs 1.41 ounces, which is a great portion for chocolate but at this size it looks large but feels a bit puffy. Well, that’s because it is. The wrapping is simple and elegant. There’s a lot of info on the bar but they balance it well with the bubbly graphic elements and the matte paper keeps it from being too chaotic.

Nestle Aero 70%

Inside the foil wrapper, the bar is nicely molded, the shape is great and does a great job of highlighting the bubbly attributes while still making it easy to portion. The bubbles vary in size, but are consistently distributed throughout the bar - no solids spots.

The bite is easy and doesn’t flake or crumble. The scent is odd, almost alcoholic - like whiskey with hints of tobacco and cedar. The chocolate flavors are similarly woodsy and rich with just a hint of tannic cherries. The melt is creamy and slick. It’s amazing how good this is for a Nestle bar. Like all the best things about Nestle Chocolate Morsels, but even creamier.

The nutrition label was kind of shocking. The reason the melt was so smooth was the level of dreamy cocoa butter in the bar - it has one of the highest calorie counts per ounce of a whole chocolate product: 169. There are 16 grams of fat in here, but also 4 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar and finally 3 grams of protein. There’s a shocking 35% of the Canadian RDA of iron & 25% of the magnesium. The front of the package also says that there are 500 mg of polyphenols. The ingredients are also simple and easy to understand: cacao mass, sugar, cocoa, cocoa butter, soy lecithin & natural flavor.

I happened to have some of the Bubble Chocolate 60% Dark bar around to compare it to, and the Nestle Aero is surprisingly richer and smoother. I ate the whole bar and would probably buy it again if I saw it - it’s my favorite of the aerated bars I’ve had.

Related Candies

  1. Bubble Chocolate (2010)
  2. Nestle Noir
  3. Vanilla Beans KitKat & Bitter Orange Aero
  4. Elite Aerated & Lotte Airs
  5. Dairy Milk Bubbly
  6. Mint Aero
  7. Aero


Name: Aero 70% Cocoa
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $2.00
Size: 1.41 ounces
Calories per ounce: 169
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Nestle, Aerated, Chocolate, 8-Tasty, Canada

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:07 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewNestleAeratedChocolate8-TastyCanada

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Bubble Chocolate (2010)

Bubble Chocolate BarsBubble Chocolate was introduced back in 2006 (original review) as the only American brand aerated chocolate. I reviewed it at that time but never saw it widely distributed.

Fast forward four years and Bubble Chocolate has a new look and a new formula. They went all natural (basically went to real vanilla instead of vanillin) and pared down the flavor offerings to just Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate.

The bars are large but not hefty. They come in a box with slanted sides (a severely truncated pyramid) and a nicely texture foil wrapping inside. The bars weigh 2.82 ounces but look far more substantial than that, because, well, there are a lot of bubbles in there.

Dark Chocolate Bubble Bar

The Bubble Chocolate Dark Chocolate Bar is 60% cocoa. It’s not terribly dark in color or content. The recommended serving is half of the bar, about 200 calories. I admit, it does feel pretty decadent to eat half of the bar and realize that it’s no more than a regular weight serving of chocolate.

The smell is kind of odd. It’s almost alcoholic, the vanilla notes are that strong. There’s also a hint of coconut.

The bite is easy and just slightly crumbly. It’s chalky in a way and cool on the tongue, but once it melts it doesn’t taste cheap or old. It’s just weird. The deep cocoa flavors never quite develop, it’s like the chocolate intensity of an unfrosted chocolate cake - soft and pillowy and sure, there’s cocoa in there. But the powerful fatty experience of the chocolate is rather lost on me, no rich puddles on the tongue of cocoa butter and cocoa solids.

Milk Chocolate Bubble Bar

The Milk Chocolate Bubble Chocolate Bar is much lighter looking but has a lovely gloss and good snap. There are 220 calories per serving in this version, I’m guessing because there’s less fiber in there ... its place is taken by sugar.

The bar doesn’t smell like much at all, a little like Cocoa Krispies. The texture is similarly light on the tongue and cool as it melts. The flavor is quite milky though not in the European or Swiss style, it’s more American. The cocoa flavors are muted and rather bland. There’s a little hint of caramel and malt but not much else from the chocolate.

Overall, I don’t know how different these are from the initial versions that I tried years ago but I’m just can’t get into this stuff. It’s smooth and nicely tempered but just not enough of a flavor punch for me. For the price I’d probably go for something else on the same shelf like Green & Black’s Peanut Bar or if I’m feeling particular decadent and want to pay a little more, an Amano. For pure fun, the bubbles just don’t do anything for me. However, the price on these is comparable to a similar imported Aero or Dairy Milk but with the all natural ingredients it’s just a step above.

They’re made in Belarus.

Related Candies

  1. Gimbal’s Scottie Dogs
  2. Choxie 3 Ounce Chocolate Bars
  3. Bubble Chocolate
  4. Elite Aerated & Lotte Airs
  5. Dairy Milk Bubbly
  6. Aero


Name: Bubble Chocolate Dark Chocolate
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Bubble Chocolate
Place Purchased: sample from Sweets & Snacks Expo
Price: $2.50 retail
Size: 2.82 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Candy, Aerated, Chocolate, 6-Tempting


Name: Bubble Chocolate Milk Chocolate
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Bubble Chocolate
Place Purchased: sample from Sweets & Snacks Expo
Price: $2.50 retail
Size: 2.82 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Candy, Aerated, Chocolate, 6-Tempting

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:51 pm     All NaturalCandyAeratedChocolate6-Tempting

Monday, April 14, 2008

Vanilla Beans KitKat & Bitter Orange Aero

KitKat in Japan has been hard at work churning out new limited edition and seasonal flavors. I’ve been kind of picky about which ones I want to buy and review, so here was one that I was particularly interested in: KitKat Vanilla Beans.

    KitKat Vanilla Beans

As with all of the premium limited edition KitKats in the single serve size, this comes in a box with two individually wrapped finger pairs.

It’s basically a white chocolate KitKat. I picked it up because the ingredients listed real cocoa butter, so this is true white chocolate instead of some partially hydrogenated/tropical oil mess.

It features real flecks of vanilla beans in the coating as well, which I’d hoped would be like the rich bourbon flavors of the Green & Black’s White Chocolate bar.

It smells quite milky and sweet, almost cloyingly so. The melt is nice, it does have a good dairy flavor and it’s not as sweet as I’d feared. The vanilla flavor is true and well rounded (not single-noted like the nature-identical vanillin).

The wafers balance it all out ... but I think I could have used a little bit of salt in the cream or something to keep it from being throat burningly sugary.

It’s not spectacularly better than a regular US white chocolate KitKat, certainly not for the price. In fact for the price per ounce the Green & Black’s is a better deal and ethically traded (but you’ll have to add your own crispy element). Rating: 6 out of 10

Bitter Orange AeroLike the KitKat, Nestle goes through a lot of different limited editions of their popular Aero Bar for Japan. Aeros are available in the UK, Canada and Australia but for some reason have never been introduced in the US. (There was a Nestle chocolate bar called the Choco-Lite back in the 70s-early 80s.)

I’ve reviewed the Mint and Milk Chocolate Aero before and have a Caramel Aero in my review queue. The UK also has a version of little spheres (about the size of malted milk balls) called Aero Bubbles. I find the UK Aeros at import shops including Cost Plus World Market pretty regularly.

It’s the Japanese Aeros that are so fun though, especially since they have these cute little individually wrapped nuggets in the Limited Edition versions. I found these at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Little Tokyo but they’re also available online through eBay and JBox. This one is called Aero Bitter Orange and has a companion KitKat bar that came out last year as well. (I tried them but didn’t review them. Pretty tasty milk chocolate with a mellow orange cream filling between the wafers.)

Bitter Orange AeroI opened the package and sniffed it and thought, “mmm, chocolate and baby aspirin.” Yes, it’s true. Orange baby aspirin is also bitter.

It lives up to the Aero name. It is a fluffed bite of chocolate. The orange topping is orangy, not in the least tangy or complexly zesty but slightly bitter as promised.

The bubbles in Aero give it an interesting texture, more fudgy than chocolatey, it’s still a nice confectionery experience. The box makes them seem like a nicer candy treat than perhaps they actually are, as does the price ($1.99 for 1.76 ounces.) Rating: 7 out of 10

Related Candies

  1. KitKat Red Bean & Fruit Parfait
  2. KitKat Bitter & White
  3. KitKat Cappuccino
  4. Hanahiyori - Green Tea White Chocolates
  5. KitKat Tsubu Ichigo and Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme
  6. Mint Aero
  7. Aero
Name: KitKat Vanilla Beans & Aero Bitter Orange
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: Mitsuwa Marketplace (Little Tokyo)
Price: $1.49 & $1.99
Size: 1.52 ounces & 1.76 ounces
Calories per ounce: 153 & 159
Categories: Chocolate, White Chocolate, Aerated, Cookie, Japan, Nestle, Limited Edition, KitKat

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:32 am    

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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

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COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2538 days

Read previous coverage

 

 

Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
  •   Easter

 

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ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

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