Candy Blog

I 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.

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

Mederer GmbH is a Germany candy company best known for its Trolli is a brand of gummis. By 1975 gummis were already very popular in Germany, with most of the market dominated by Haribo. So Mederer introduced the Trolli line with an affectionate mascot, the Trolli troll, with rainbow hair. The Mederer company also started making gummis in the United States, in Iowa, but later sold that off in 1996. It changed hands a bunch of times (passing through Nabisco & Wrigley’s, notably) to what is now known as Farley’s and Sathers Candy Company.

So in the United States, the Trollis you buy here are different from the Trolli candies from Europe (which are now made in Germany, Spain and Czech Republic). But that doesn’t mean that you can’t get the German Trolli brand, you just have to look for it under their American brand, called e.fruitti.

While I was in Europe earlier this year, I visited with the Trolli company’s booth at the ISM Cologne candy fair. They make an amazing array of candy and many of their gummis, most in novelty flavors and shapes, which are available in the United States as well. One that I was excited about was the Trolli Gummi Bear Rings. (They’re sold here in the United States with the same name, here’s a comparison of the non-US branding of the candy with the Trolli brand and the American efruitti branding.) They’re exactly what the name sounds like, rings made out of gummi candy with gummi bears on them like gems.

The bears are made with real fruit juice. Each piece is a combination of two flavors which are: orange, strawberry, apple, lemon/lime and cherry. The bears come in a variety of poses as well, with reclining bears, bears doing single pawed handstands, waving and splits.

The pieces are firm and have a soft, non greasy waxy coating. They fit pretty well on the top of my rather chubby fingers. If I tried I could get them down across the big knuckle. As long as your hands are really sweaty or damp, they don’t get sticky.

The gummi part is quite stiff though still chewy and intense in its flavor. I’ll just dissect them and take the flavors separately:

Cherry (red) is quite good and not the American style, it’s more Kirsch-like, more like a classic cherry juice flavor.

Lemon/Lime (yellow) is zesty and tangy. It really is a great flavor to complement just about all the others.

Orange (orange) is rather ordinary. There’s a fair amount of zest which keeps it from tasting like a rubberized version of orange Jell-O. But it was still a little bland.

Apple (green) isn’t the regular artificial American green apple flavor, this was quite authentic, with apple juice flavors, it reminded me a little bit of a fruit roll up with a much smoother texture.

Berry (blue) is the one I wasn’t sure about. The flavor of the blue gummi was rather berry-ish, more like raspberry. But the package said strawberry. However, the red was most definitely cherry. So I’m not sure about this one. It was tasty, chewy and a bit sour with some nice florals and jam notes.

The big point to these though isn’t the flavor it’s the fact that they’re rings. You can wear them while you eat them. As an alternative to keeping them on your fingers, I’d say putting them on a necklace (just a piece of string) might be fun too. Just in case you were thinking that these were the gummi equivalent of brass knuckles, well, they would have the opposite effect if you punched someone with them on. They’re quite bouncy. (Don’t try that at home, please.)

Related Candies

1. Trolli Big Bold Bears
2. Katjes Tappsy
3. Big Bite Gummy Bear
4. Katjes Saure Ananas (Sour Pineapple)
5. Storck Chocolate Riesen
6. Bear Bubble Gum

Trolli (owned by Farley’s & Sathers) has come out with a few new gummis lately. They’re probably best known for their gummi worms.

The company sent me some sample packages back in May in advance of the Sweets & Snacks Expo. Summer is a great time for gummis, the sweet and tangy flavors are great for quenching dry mouths and of course as a sugar candy they’re not prone to melting.

Trolli Big Bold Bears come in six flavors: Blue Raspberry, Wild Cherry, Grape, Green Apple, Lemon-Lime and Orange.

My package came with only five flavors, the Wild Cherry was missing. There were only fifteen bears in the bag.

The bears stand two inches tall and have a arms-pan of one inch.

The look alien. The colors are vivid and plastic, the colors aren’t even normal for the classic gummi bear flavors. They look like toys or keychains, really anything but something to eat.

They’re firm and pliable, they don’t stick together and don’t have that greasy coating of some gummi products.

Lemon-Lime smelled spicy and zesty, though a little like aftershave. The flavor was more on the lime side of things though still sweet and maybe even a little fizzy (but maybe that’s just Sprite on my mind). The color was like antifreeze.

Green Apple is vague and muted, only slightly tangy. It’s not a peppy artificial green apple flavor and not even an authentic apple juice flavor.

Orange is reliably zesty and artificially juicy. I enjoyed this one most of all.

Grape was bland and much like a flat grape soda.

Blue Raspberry was more like a fruit punch than a floral berry flavor. It was still good, but just a little more tropical than I expected.

So the name is Big Bold Bears. I did find their colors and size to be bold but their flavors were downright timid. For smaller kids, parents may prefer the larger size (but maybe not the extra artificial colors). The mild flavor may actually be a selling point for adults who don’t necessarily want the overpowering sour gummi worm experience.

The Candy Enthusiast also reviewed them last month.

Related Candies

1. Goody Good Stuff Koala Gummy Bears
2. Trolli Little Green Men
3. Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers
4. Big Bite Gummy Bear
5. Bear Bubble Gum
6. Haribo Gummi Bears vs Trolli Gummi Bears

Milo is a chocolate malt beverage introduced in Australia in 1934 by Nestle. The powder is mixed with either hot or cold water to make the drink which boasts complex carbohydrates and added nutrients such as calcium, B vitamins and protein. It’s now become popular around the world including Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Of course that kind of popularity means that there will be spin off products.

I’ve never had the Milo drink, but the idea of a malted beverage is right up my alley. When I saw the Nestle Milo Chocolate Bar at Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors recently, I knew I had to try it, even though the thing was nearly $5 for a 2.82 ounce bar. For that kind of coin I could get a really good chocolate bar, not just something from Nestle.

Even though Milo is an Australian drink, this bar was made in South Africa. The bar is thick and in a really easy to spot green thick plastic wrapper. The format reminds me of Cadbury big tablet bars, it’s compact at about 5.5 inches long, only 2 inches wide and thick. There are seven rows of double segments.

Instead of being a malted chocolate flavored bar, this features big chunks of the Milo beverage mix. (I can’t tell if the stuff is also mixed into the chocolate as well.)

The bar smells rich and chocolatey: Sweet, milky and with a touch of malt and coconut. The melt isn’t quite as satisfying, it’s fudgy and rather similar to any cheap chocolate. It’s sweet and has a lot of dairy to it but then the malt notes kick in to mellow out the sugar. The chunks of Milo powder are crunchy and a little gritty, but dissolve quickly with a strong malt flavor with a hint of toffee, molasses and cocoa. However, there’s a lingering bitterness after all this, a little metallic and a lot like B vitamins. It’s not off-putting, just odd for candy.

I would love this bar to have actual good chocolate, stuff that’s creamy and smooth and less sugary. But it’s Nestle, so this is about as good as it gets unless you buy one of their branded names. I don’t think I’ll pick up this bar again, for a malt fix I’ll stick with malted milk balls or seek out the Ovamaltine bar sold in Europe.

Related Candies

1. Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Malted Milk Eggs (Plus a Bonus)
2. Nestle Milk Chocolate
3. Nestle Crunch (Now Even Richer Milk Chocolate)
4. Cadbury Dairy Milk Whispers
5. Villars Swiss Milk Chocolate
6. Malted Milk

In the United States there are only a few options for candy coated chocolate morsels. There are M&Ms, and let’s face it, they’re ubiquitous and come in so many varieties, it’s hard to fathom why anyone else would try to make them. But there are Koppers Milkies and Hershey’s Pieces (though not in milk chocolate), and every once in a while you can find a store that carries Nestle Smarties.

In Europe things are a little different. There are M&Ms, though fewer varieties, and their main competitor, Nestle Smarties. And then there are all the other lentils. I picked up a few of them in Germany, today I present the Choceur Choco Dragees. For those who are familiar with Aldi, you’ll recognize the name Choceur as one of their house-brands of chocolate confections.

The package says (in German), multicolored full milk chocolate pieces with natural colors. I picked up the smallest bag I could find, which is 400 grams (14.11 ounces). I liked the package, it’s pretty compact and features a gusseted bottom so it stands up.

The Choco Dragees come in five rather muted colors. The pieces were all perfectly formed and consistent.

The shells were crunchy and shiny. The chocolate inside, well, it’s very German tasting. There’s a strong milk taste to it, a little tangy but not spoiled like Hershey’s. It’s smooth and rather sweet as well, but has a discernible caramel note to it as well.

They’re very different from M&Ms. The crunch of the shell is more pronounced and there’s no faint bitterness from any artificial flavors like I get from brown or red M&Ms. They’re sweet, but in a more muted, perhaps honey flavored way.

I’ve never seen these at Aldi in the United States, though they might have them in the seasonal stuff for holidays and I missed it. They’re worth picking up if you do see them and if I lived in Germany, I’d probably get these quite often.

Related Candies

1. Crispy M&Ms
2. Choceur Chocolate Crisp Bars
3. Russell Stover Color Me Candies
4. Choceur After Dinner Mints: Orange & Peppermint
5. Choceur Luxury Mini Chocolate Bars
6. Head to Head: M&Ms vs Koppers Milkies
7. UK Smarties (no artificial colors)
8. M&Ms Line
9. Head-to-Head: Smarties vs. M&Ms