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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Christopher’s Good News
The bars were extremely popular as a gift parents would hand out to friends heralding the birth of their baby. The package design to this day looks like a newspaper masthead and my bar even had a little sticker that said “it’s a girl”. But the curious thing about this bar was instead of going national, as other brands within Ben Myerson’s company did, the Good News bar became hyper-regional. In fact, the only place it’s still sold widely is in Hawaii. I happened to find my bar at Marukai Market in Torrance, CA which is a Japanese grocery store that also carries a lot of Hawaiian favorites (as many Southern California Japanese folks either immigrated through Hawaii or have relatives there).
The bar’s description is rich milk chocolate, peanuts, caramel. What the description doesn’t mention is that there’s also crisped rice in there. Looking at all that, you can see that it’s actually a unique bar, there are no other nationally distributed bars that match this element combination. The bar is beautifully enrobed in a rippled, dark looking milk chocolate. The center is a combination of caramel, peanuts and crisped rice. The ingredients are wholesome and easy to understand and probably the worse thing on the list is a little bit of hydrogenated cottonseed oil towards the end.
The chew is firm and light with a good balance of crisped rice. There weren’t that many peanuts in my bar, enough to impart a nutty flavor but the cereal flavors of the crisped rice definitely won out. The caramel had a milky flavor that was far stronger than the chocolate, which was passable and well-tempered. I was afraid the bar would be messy to eat, as sometimes chocolate coatings flake off, but this was easy to bite even slice. I’m not sure why these bars aren’t more popular. The elements are similar to a 100 Grand but with a few peanuts tossed in (and an extra quarter ounce for the same price). Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:24 pm
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Commenting is not available in this channel entry.That looks absolutely delicious. Almost as good as a Caravelle!
Dang, this looks hell-a yummy. Stupid me living in Florida, can’t get any…
This one needs to go nationwide!
I had to look these up—you can also get them online:
http://www.hometownfavorites.com/Good-News-Bar-175oz/productinfo/HFCA534/
There is no such thing as a LITTLE bit of partially-hyrdrogenated oil. The only safe amount is zero. It goes straight to your aorta (heart) and helps to put build plaque and heart disease.
In the case of plain chocolate bars with no cookies or things inside, there is no reason to have these oils in the ingredients other than to save money. I know that they add a creamy texture, but think about this: That creamy texture is not cocoa butter or butter fat, it’s a creamy substance that won’t really break-down when you digest it and it will attach itself to your heart.
NJ Buoy - there is a difference between partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils.
And yes, there is a difference between a little and a lot of either. In this instance the oil is not there in the chocolate, it’s in the caramel. (And I’m not sure how long you’ve been reading Candy Blog, but I’ve written at length about the use of alternate vegetable oils in chocolate.)
Thanks for the history/info! I was curious about what ever happened to this candy bar that my dad would bring to us girls as kids in Hawaii. It was our treat sometimes when he came home from work. Yummy…and with fond childhood memories attached. It was flatter and thinner in the 50’s and 60’s. I would savor it by cutting it into in half lengthwise and then crosswise into several little pieces to eat slowly and methodically. (Weirdo!!) I loved me that Good News candy bar!
Thank you for the history of my favorite candy bar! As a child growing up in Hawaii I always knew I could purchase it at Long’s Drugs. I knew there was a crunch to it but could not fugure out what it was; now I know it is crisped rice. After moving to Michigan, I would crave this candy bar and could not find it in the stores. Told my family and they would always include it in the goody snack box when they mailed snacks to me. I then moved to Georgia and again could not find it in stores; thanks again to family (they always come through) and at age 47, you never out grow this wonderful tasty treat. Call me a weird, I also, cut this candy bar in halves until I get about eight pcs. to saver them. Albeit, I often wondered how it would taste if it were made of dark chocolate…?
Where can I find a convenient retail store that carries Big Cherry candy bars.CVS pharmacy stopped carrying them.I live in Orange. Co…...92782 zip…..Thanks
They sell these at Sweets Candys in Gettysburg PA. I bought one this weekend. Never heard if them until I did some internet searches. It was great!!!
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