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Thursday, December 8, 2005

KitKat Mint

Name: KitKat Mint
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased:  7-11 (Hollywood)
Price: $.85
Size: 1.5
Calories per ounce: 147
Type: Chocolate/Crisp

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Yup, there it is, the latest KitKat iteration that Hershey has graced us with. It’s mint flavored milk chocolate covering layers of crisp and cream. Limited Edition, so try it and love it and then get upset when it goes away or miss out and curse yourself for the rest of your life.

First, I have to say that the color of the package, like the Orange and Cream one (which didn’t photograph nearly as bad as it looked in real life) is one of the least appealing colors I think I’ve encountered in a while. It’s not a color that I want to eat. It looks like some bad frosting on a cheap cake.

That aside, upon opening the package the KitKat looks perfectly normal. Only there’s a slight minty smell. Upon eating the KitKat there’s the familiar crunch and snap to it, but again, the cooling sensation of mint. It’s not really strong like a York Peppermint Pattie, and the milk chocolate keeps it from being rich like a Girl Scout Mint Thin cookie. But it’s nice. It doesn’t blow me away, but when you think about it, there are very few mint/milk chocolate combos out there, so if I’m in a minty mood, this might be what I grab. (Of course my favorite will always be the sometimes limited edition, sometimes discontinued Hershey’s Cookies n’ Mint.)

I was doing a little research last night and found that Japan has some new Wine KitKats (and White Chocolate Maple Syrup and Strawberry with real strawberry bits). I could just make a KitKat blog.

Once again, here are all the KitKat reviews/profiles to date.

UPDATE: Rating - 7 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:04 am     CandyReviewHershey'sChocolateCookieKitKatLimited Edition7-Worth ItUnited States

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Clark Bar

Name: Clark Bar
Brand: Necco (used to be made by Clark)
Place Purchased:  Marcel’s at the Farmer’s Market
Price: $.89
Size: 1.75 ounces
Calories per ounce: 137
Type: Chocolate/ Peanut Butter

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I finally tracked down a Clark bar (they aren’t that easy to find on the West Coast). Clark bars were originally manufactured by the Clark company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starting in 1917 (WWI) but were bought a few years back by Necco. I remember when I lived in Pittsburgh one of the best things about it was the huge, lit Clark sign on the factory. What I also liked about the Clark company is that they made one of my favorite gums, Teaberry. 

The Clark bar is very similar to the Butterfinger and the current 5th Avenue bar. (All of these bars have changed hands over the years, Butterfinger was originally made by Curtis and 5th Avenue was by Ludens.) It’s possible Clark was the original peanut butter honeycomb bar, but even if it wasn’t it was one of the few to survive to the present day. The center of a Clark bar is honeycomb peanut butter crisp covered in a chocolate-like substance (I don’t know if it was ever covered in real chocolate).

Given the choice when it came to peanut crisp bars, I usually opted for the Zagnut, which is a coconut covered peanut crisp bar (now made by Hershey’s). So my recollection of the real Clark bars is a bit dim. But what I can tell you about the one I tried is that it’s very dense. It’s not crispy like a Butterfinger and it lacks the complex toasted flavors of the 5th Avenue. (Look at the photos on the head to head review to see the difference in the centers.) However, the fake chocolate is much better than most, it’s sweet and smooth without being waxy. The crisp ends up becoming rather chewy and finally gives up a little more molasses flavor, but still doesn’t have the pop that 5th Avenue gives me.

(Related nostalgia - Clark wrappers, Clark bar memories, Clark sign on Flickr, two more shots of the same old sign, story about classic sign on North Side.)

Rating - 5 out of 10

Clark Bar - Get Real Milk Chocolate & All NaturalUPDATE April 21, 2010: Necco has updated the Clark Bar, it’s now bigger and has a real chocolate coating. They’re also available in dark chocolate. Check out the new reviews as well as a full head-to-head comparison of Butterfinger, 5th Avenue and Clark Bar.

Related Candies

  1. Head to Head: Clark, Butterfinger & 5th Avenue
  2. Clark Bar (Get Real - Milk & Dark)
  3. Hershey’s Website Inaccuracies
  4. Chick-o-Stick
  5. Head-to-Head: Butterfinger vs. 5th Avenue

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:03 am     CandyReviewNeccoChocolateMockolatePeanuts5-PleasantUnited States

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Scharffen Berger - Cacao Nibs

Name: Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs
Brand: Scharffen Berger
Place Purchased:  Factory Store (Berkeley, CA)
Price: $8.00
Size: 4.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 160
Type: Chocolate

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You’re saying, what the heck is a cacao nib and why cover it in chocolate? (Well, never ask why cover anything in chocolate ... we cover things in chocolate because that’s what sets us apart from animals.)

Cacao (that’s pronounced cuh-COW) nibs are what chocolate are made from. They’re the edible part of the cocoa bean after it’s been harvested, dried, fermented, roasted and hulled (winnowed). Yes, after all those steps (usually invovling at least two continents) you get these unassuming little crumbly brown bits. These are raw chocolate. In order to make a chocolate bar you take a bunch of them and mash them into a paste and then add some more cocoa butter and some sugar and maybe a little lecithin to keep everything smooth and you’ve got a chocolate bar. (The extra cocoa butter is made from taking nibs and expeller pressing them to get out the cocoa butter which leaves behind the cocoa solids which are used to make powdered cocoa.)

You can eat the nibs just as they are. They’re kind of like really roasty tasting nuts. Not quite chocolately, but they have a wonderful butteriness that you don’t find in many nuts. But they’re a little chalkier than a regular nut as well and can be freakishly bitter at times. Apparently using nibs in recipes is all the rage now, especially since Martha Stewart featured them in a recipe recently. By coating the nibs in chocolate they’re a lot more scrumptious.

But enough about the history lesson. This is pure chocolate enjoyment. Seriously. Whew!

The chocolate coating is 62% semi-sweet Scharffen Berger chocolate over the cacao nibs, which are unsweetened. They look kind of like little glossy cocoa krispies. But they taste absolutely divine. There’s an alcoholic aroma to them, an intense bitter start and then this incredible mix of woodsy flavors, acidic elements, astringency and this lingering smoky feeling on the tongue. The vanilla of the chocolate coating also lingers nicely. The nibs, being a rather raw product, are unpredictable. Sometimes they’re crunchy and smooth, sometimes you get one that’s a little fibery or chewy.

What’s also odd is that some of them taste different. I guess they may have been from different trees or harvested a different week or something. Some mouthfuls will be fruity, with intense plum or apricot notes and sometimes it’s oaky or maybe have a touch of maple or even sassafrass to it. What it does is make me want more ... I keep eating them. Which is bad. These are expensive little puppies. (As is all Scharffen Berger.) Of all the Scharffen Berger products I’ve tried (and they’re very well regarded though I’m not particularly fond of them) this is the one that sends me over the moon.

Rating - 10 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:06 am     CandyReviewScharffen BergerChocolateKosherNibs10-SuperbUnited States

Monday, December 5, 2005

Reese’s Snack Barz

Name: Reese’s Snack Barz
Brand: Reese’s (Hershey’s)
Place Purchased:  Long’s Drug
Price: $.69
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Type: Crisp/Peanut Butter/Chocolate

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You know this is a cool candy for kidz because there’s that hip Z at the end.

This bar is not really a snack bar in the sense that a power bar or some sort of trail mix bar would be. It’s a candy bar. (I think most bar shaped things that are sweet are considered candy bars whether you stuff some vitamins in there or not.)

This bar is a peanut butter marshmallow crisped rice treat with a base of chocolate. The peanut butter mixed in with the marshmallow cement is smooth and nutty with a good hit of salt. The crisped rice is, well, crispy and it all pulls apart easily without crumbling into bits (as is a problem with some crunchy granola bars). The chocolate base for the whole thing is a really nice sweet complement.

Hershey has a full range of these bars in different flavors including S’mores and Chocolate Cream. They’re apparently fortified with calcium and seven essential vitamins (only 15% of the RDA for them though) and have no saturated fats but 3 grams of protein. There are worse decisions you can make for snack foods and certainly better ones in the candy family, but this is a nice in-between food. It’s certainly satisfying and is a rather large feeling bar. I can see this being a good candy to travel with, a nice little snack on the plane with a watery cup of coffee to wash it down.

Rating - 8 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:31 am     CandyReese'sReviewHershey'sReese'sChocolateCookiePeanuts7-Worth ItUnited States

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Hershey’s Extra Dark

Name: Extra Dark with Cranberries and Macadamias
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: Target
Price: $1.89
Size: 3.52 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Type: Chocolate/Nuts

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It took me a long time to actually like Hershey’s milk chocolate. I was never fond of their Special Dark, but I ate it quite a bit when I was younger because it was often the only dark chocolate I could get my hands on easily. Sometimes a girl just needs dark chocolate. Call it medication.

I was curious when I saw this at Target a couple of weeks ago. I know that all the major chocolate companies are into this whole “chocolate as a health food thing” (which by the way, I’ve been saying for about twenty years) so it’s only natural that they start packaging stuff with that sort of market in mind.

If I were to create the ideal fruit and nut bar, I would definitely start with dark chocolate and cranberries are a good choice. I think I’d prefer cashews or pecans over macadamias (especially if we’re going healthy - pecans have a load of good stuff in them). Check out the site I link to up there, they talk about the benefit of antioxidants, which can be found in many fruits (especially dried ones), wine, tea and of course chocolate.

The bar itself was nice. A good woodsy flavor, the nuts were barely perceptible for me as a flavor but added good texture. The cranberries were a good tart, chewy snap. The chocolate was crisp, not bitter with a decent creamy melty quality and good flavor. Not the best chocolate I’ve ever had, but if this were as available as a regular Hershey bar, I’d probably pick it up as a less-sweet snack with 60% cocoa solids. The price is just right as well, a good value for less than $2.

Rating - 8 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:02 am     CandyReviewHershey'sChocolateNuts8-TastyUnited States

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

KitKat Orange & Cream

Name: KitKat Orange & Cream
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: 7-11 (Hollywood)
Price: $.85
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 147
Type: White Chocolate/Cookie

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I think Hershey introduced these first for Halloween in miniatures. I shyed away from them then because I didn’t really want to buy 14 ounces of something I might detest. (Well, I suppose I could have given them to the kiddies.) I’m glad I restrained myself and waited for the full sized bar.

First, the bar looks weird. It’s a creepy orange, like a bad jell-o mold or maybe I’m associating it with hospitals (I can’t figure why). It smells like a cross between orange sherbet and aspergum. Very sweet and oddly artificially orange.

The taste isn’t bad. The white chocolate is infused with orange flavor which diffuses what is often a “too sweet” taste for white chocolate. The crisp of the cookie part is nice and balances well, good texture and crunch and it adds a bit of vanilla hit to the whole escapade. I’m pleased to see that Hershey is using real cocoa butter for their white chocolate instead of trans fats but it’s just not my style of a bar. I can see other folks liking it - it has a good texture and smoothness.

I have higher hopes for the mint bar (I hope to get to that next week) and if you’re really into orange and chocolate, go the extra mile to get a hold of the Candian/Euro Orange KitKat. You can see all the KitKats I’ve reviewed so far here.

Rating - 5 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:34 pm     CandyReviewHershey'sCookieDiscontinuedKitKatLimited EditionWhite Chocolate5-PleasantUnited States

Friday, November 25, 2005

See’s Awesome Nut & Chew Bar

Name: Awesome Nut & Chew Bar
Brand: See’s
Place Purchased: See’s (Glendale Galleria)
Price: $1.50
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Type: Chocolate/Nuts

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If you’ve ever had a box of Nuts & Chews from See’s or gone into the store and selected the Dark Nougat, you’ve pretty much had this bar. It’s a dense, chewy honey nougat with almonds covered in dark chocolate. I was reading the November issue of Los Angeles magazine, where they explain this new candy bar. Apparently the staff at See’s had been making these candy bars for quite some time, for their own enjoyment. I guess the See’s higher-ups decided the rest of us might enjoy them. (They’ve been selling the Scotchmallows in milk chocolate for as long as I can remember and to good success as far as I can tell.) The story should be up on their website next month, I’ll link to it then, as it was a great article.

The Dark Nougat has always been one of my favorite See’s candies and I often picked them up when I was at the mall.

This is a beautiful looking bar. Long and with glossy dark ripples of chocolate enrobement. It smells wonderful, chocolatey with a touch of honey. It’s jam packed with almonds. Crunchy, smooth, chewy and sweet with a good pop of semi-sweet chocolate.

Fabulous. Mmm. I wish I’d bought more. You can buy them singly or in a box of eight of them for $7.50, which brings them into the price range of plain old Nestle, Mars or Hershey bars. I think these might end up in some Christmas stockings this year.

Rating - 10 out of 10

Related Candies

  1. Snickers Rockin’ Nut Road Bar
  2. Nutpatch Nougats
  3. Valerie Lemon Hazelnut Nougat
  4. See’s Scotchmallow Eggs
  5. Snickers Almond Dark

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:29 am     CandyReviewSee'sChewsChocolateNougatNuts10-SuperbUnited States

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Dagoba Dark Bars

Name: Roseberry, Lavender and Xocolatl
Brand: Dagoba
Place Purchased: Wild Oats
Price: $2.79 each
Size: 2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 157
Type: Chocolate

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I know it seems strange that I got this on the same trip as the dismal SunDrops, but it’s true. I tried the Dagoba Chai bar last spring and really enjoyed it. That was a milk chocolate bar and I was very interested in the more botanical and spice flavored bars, but alas, Whole Foods does not seem to carry them. So, the trip to Wild Oats was most fortunate in the end. All the bars contain 59% cocoa mass chocolate. It’s extra smooth and very buttery. The chocolate itself isn’t too sweet and is a nice backdrop for the flavor additions.

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Roseberry - Dark Chocolate, Raspberries & Rosehips. 59% cocoa mass chocolate. This was not one of the bars I was most interested in, but the concept of rosehips was rather intriguing. I used to try to eat rose hips when I was a kid because I’d heard they were good for you. Though they didn’t really taste very good. This bar has a wonderful fruity and flowery aroma. The raspberries provide a dash of zesty flavor. However, I found the raspberry seeds incredibly annoying. They’re big and when chewing or dissolving such a smooth bar, a big seed was a rather unpleasant finding.

Lavender - Dark Chocolate, Lavender & Blueberries. 59% cocoa mass chocolate. I’ve heard of a few lavender infused chocolates and even tried the New Tree Tranquility bar (which was milk chocolate) and still believed that there would be a better lavender chocolate bar out there. Well, this might be it. I was a little leary of the blueberries in the mix as I thought maybe they’d give the chocolate too much of a fruit punch flavor. Of the three I tried, this was by far my favorite. Where the Roseberry has gritty things in it, this bar is smooth through and through, with little chewy bits of blueberries. The lavender gives the bar a soft essence, a lingering top note that doesn’t overpower the smokey and woodsy flavors of the chocolate itself. Not sticky sweet or cloying, it’s just an incredibly pleasant bar with a good, slightly dry finish.

Xocalatl - dark chocolate, chilies & nibs. 74% cocoa mass chocolate. The darkest of the three bars, this one was much more chocolatey. Not quite as buttery, it still melted quickly and had a very nice flowery note at first, like orange blossoms. That quickly gives way to a peppery heat that sizzles on the tongue as the buttery chocolate melts away and brings out some very woodsy, earthy tones. The finish is slightly dry with some lingering plum notes and of course the warm burn in the throat. The most interesting part of this bar is that it contains no cinnamon. Most of the other “spicy” chocolate bars I’ve tried have cinnamon (and sometimes cloves) in them. What’s cool about this one is that it’s all New World spices (okay, maybe that’s not true ... seems there’s some nutmeg in there).

I am completely in love with Dagoba now and I want to try everything of theirs. However, at $2.79 for a 2 ounce bar, it’s freaking pricey stuff and I don’t plan on buying much of it anytime soon. I’m curious about their single origin line and there are still about 20 bars that I haven’t tried yet. Maybe I’ll splurge via mailorder on one of their tasting kits except for the fact that it’s more expensive on their website than in stores. Sigh. I need a corporate sponsor.

Rating - 9 out of 10

Related Candies

  1. Chocolate Hellfire Chip Cookies
  2. Chuao ChocoPods
  3. Xocoatl 73.5%
  4. Green & Black’s Maya Gold
  5. Pumpkin Pie

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:25 am     All NaturalCandyReviewDagobaChocolateOrganic9-YummyUnited States

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