Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ferrara Milk Chocolate with Almond Nougat

Ferrara Belgian Milk Chocolate with Almond NougatThere’s a lot that goes on before our beloved candy hits the store shelves. The same is true with Candy Blog, though it probably looks like all I do is play with candy, take photos of candy and of course eat candy. I also read about what’s going on in the candy business and of course visit trade shows and talk to candy companies, distributors & retailers.

One of the things I always found curious about the American candy business is how some foreign candies are represented in the United States. One such oddity was that the American distributor for Toblerone and Cote d’Or (owned by Kraft) chocolate for two years was Ferrara Pan. Yes, the Lemonhead & Atomic Fireball makers. Well, that deal ended in December 2008. So that left Ferrara free to move into the chocolate bar field without competing with his own interests ... and he’s come up with something that looks familiar yet has its own distinctiveness.

The chocolate is made in Belgium but the rest of the manufacturing is done at the new Ferrara facility in Forest Park, IL. If you like the behind the scenes stuff, you might love this article (which is one of the most blunt I’ve seen about how the candy business is a business and made up of people).

Ferrara Belgian Milk Chocolate with Almond NougatThe new Ferrara Imported Belgian Milk Chocolate with Almond Nougat bar has a distinctive shape and a similar construction. It’s an atypical shape (a trapezoidal bar with deep sections) enclosed in a box shaped just like the bar. Yes, it’s a Faux-blerone.

The ingredients are in fact quite nice: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, chocolate, soy lecithin and natural vanilla flavor), almond nougat (sugar, corn syrup, almonds, honey, egg white, natural vanilla flavor) plus wheat starch as a processing aid.

Inside the box the bar is sealed in a heavy mylar wrap with the Ferrara “F” crest reminding consumers that Ferrara has been making candy since 1908 on it.

It does smell quite good, sweet and milky with just a hint of the promised honey in the nougat.

Ferrara Belgian Milk Chocolate with Almond Nougat

Biting into it the first thing I noticed was how packed with nuts & nougat bits it was. My issue with Toblerone has long been the lack of enough bits to satisfy me.

The chocolate is quite milky but surprisingly smooth. The milky flavors are lightly caramelized, so there’s a malty & honey undertone to it. The chocolate comes across as rich, but also a little sweet.

I liked the little almond slivers and crunches and the Italian-style nougat which had a hint of honey and toasted marshmallow flavors. The bits are a little tough and sometimes sticky ... I’d kind of like to try the milk chocolate without the nougat & nuts. (Ferrara is planning on making sectioned chocolate balls a la Terry’s Chocolate Orange later this year as well.)

I’d say this is a great addition to a rather open segment of the candy shelf - better than a standard Hershey’s with Almonds and rivaling Toblerone without the price tag. I paid $1.99 for this bar ... on the shelf next to it was Toblerone, for $2.79 each.  The fact that it’s all natural (no artificial vanilla flavor in there) is a bonus.

Related Candies

  1. Toblerone Fruit & Nut
  2. Ferrara Dark Chocolate Covered Biscotti
  3. Lemonhead Fruit Snacks
  4. Toblerone Single Peaks
  5. Atomic Fireballs
  6. The Lemonhead & Fruit Heads
Name: Milk Chocolate with Almond Nougat
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Ferrara Chocolate
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $1.99
Size: 3.52 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Chocolate, Nougat, Nuts, United States, Belgium, Ferrara Pan, Kosher, All Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:51 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. You can buy Toblerone at $1.99 or less at Kroger, Walmart, Target all day long . Why is Walgreens so high?
    You must have high prices where you live, oh yeah Chicago. As for ripping off Toblerone, and being mad because whoever fired Ferrara and his cronies.  Ripping off and thinking you make a better product and saying mean things about a group you have been EXtremely well paid to represent, then steal their ideas, well, it is the sign of things being ripped out from songs (remakes haha) to movies (remakes) or Ferrara anything thing. (faux remake)
    Its too bad all the press has been how this company is out to Break Toblerone, and Terry’s oranges, too bad Ferrara didn’t put that much work into selling Toblerone and Terry’s products.
    Duplication is the highest Compliment!. I guess I will go with that.

    Comment by K D on 10/06/09 at 2:48 pm #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    K D - I live in Los Angeles, not Chicago.

    You’re right about the candy should be able to stand on its own without being compared to whatever inspired its creation. I think those are the products that stand the test of time.

    (If you clicked through to the article, it said sales were up 150% during the time that Ferrara Pan distributed it.)

    There is another company, Florida Tropic, that makes a version of the Terry’s Chocolate Orange that I’m going to have a review of as we get closer to Christmas.

    Comment by Cybele on 10/06/09 at 2:58 pm #
  3. Before Kraft bought Toblerone and Terry’s it was owned by Callard & Bowser and it was mega, then Kraft, maybe it got lost in all the other Kraft products.  I don’t think Ferrara built it up to its original amount but maybe built up from bottom. where it was.
    I really just don’t like the press saying that this man Ferrera is going after them and going to bring them down as was written in several Chicago new items.
    Florida Tropic has been making them for quite a while but they never said they were out to bring a company down. That is my point. Copying a candy is old news,  making threats is not the right way and making a product (copying packaging with inside info and making an annoucement that you are going to that like Ferrara said. is not the correct thing to do).  Florida Tropic (Sweetworks) is good with differnent flavors too.
    of course this is just my opinion.  I just didn’t like the way this all came about because a company chose not to use your services.
    Oh yeah I forgot you were in Cali.  Thank you for listening

    Comment by K D on 10/06/09 at 4:00 pm #
  4. I have one of the Ferrara Milk Chocolate Orange things in my “chocolate drawer” that I need to sample (my husband has an in at Ferrara smile  I’ll have to give it a try and post a review.  My husband told me they were going to be doing this modified Tobelerone type of thing and I was really looking forward to trying it.  Glad to hear it is good—I’ll have to see if he can snag me one!

    Comment by Julie on 10/07/09 at 6:07 am #
  5. “Faux-blerone”; that is priceless!

    Do they make it in dark chocolate also? That’s the favorite in my house, although I stopped eating Toblerone a while ago due to sticky-nougat-in-dental-work issues. Wish the Ferrara version had softer nougat, but still sounds like it’s worth a try.

    Thanks for the link also, provides interesting context for Kraft’s recent attempt to buy Cadbury.

    Comment by CandyProfessor on 10/07/09 at 7:05 am #
  6. I have yet to taste the ‘Ferrara’ but have complete confidence that it is nothing short of amazing. Ferrara rocks! Anything they do is bound to be successful and great tasting!

    Comment by Laurie Kokenes on 10/19/09 at 6:38 am #
  7. I just have to pipe in about the chocolate. I have eat two squares and not a nougat to be found.  The chocolate is amazing though.

    Comment by Neefer on 11/04/09 at 4:23 pm #
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