Thursday, February 15, 2007

Mountain - Regular & Raspberry

While I was at the Fancy Food Show last month I saw that Brown & Haley (who make those Almond Rocas) had a large booth. It was devoted to the Rocas, which is natural for the crowd there. But their display case on one side caught my eye because it had a large pile of a Limited Edition Raspberry Mountain. (I hesitate to call them bars, as they fit into my category of “plops” instead.)

I looked around for a sample bin (but did eat a sample of the Candy Cane Roca while on my search), but when I couldn’t find one, I asked and they happily handed over one!

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It’s not easy to find Brown Haley’s Mountain line in Los Angeles. In fact, the regular Mountain (see below) was purchased at Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC (even further from its spawning grounds). But I know that many Northwesters are in love with their indigenous candy, so it’s high time I covered it.

I have to admit that when the Raspberry Mountain came out of the package I had to giggle. It looks rather poop-like. However, it had the much more pleasant smell of raspberries and sugar. My first bite into it was all mockolate. It wasn’t until the second that I reached the raspberry center. It’s very berry, in fact one of the ingredients, after milk powder, is raspberries. There’s a little tang to the filling and it’s a rather smooth fondant type center that has a little gooey flow to it. The peanuts and mockolate weren’t doing much for it, so I confined my bites towards the end to getting as much filling as possible (yes, eating it from the bottom and leaving the peak).

As the Mountain line goes, this bar is a winner. It’s a flavor combo that you don’t often see and is far and away more satisfying than the regular Mountain ... however, the classic Mountain has very little going for it.

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Before I finish this up I should say a little bit about the classic bar. Since the Mountain is made with partially hydrogenated fats instead of cocoa butter for the chocolate, it really never achieves a chocolatey texture or taste. It’s greasy and slightly slippery on the tongue as it melts. In the case of the classic bar, the center is simply a plain firm fondant (think of a flavorless York Peppermint Pattie). It is sweet though perhaps a little bland (but I enjoy that texture). The only thing that offsets the whole fakeness of it are the peanuts, which give it all a little crunch and texture.

There are two other versions of this bar, Peanut Butter (which I bought it was completely rancid and unworthy of even photographing) and Cherry (which we all know I’m not going to like). You can buy the Mountains via the Brown & Haley website (and at a really good price). As a regional bar with such a great history, I’d love to see them convert to real chocolate and really show us how good this combination can be.

Note: after this review I created a new category called “mockolate” so you can find all the fake goodies in one place.

Name: Mountain Bars: Raspberry & Classic
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Brown & Haley
Place Purchased: sample & Dylan's Candy Bar (NYC)
Price: $1.49 (yee!)
Size: 1.6 ounces
Calories per ounce: 125
Categories: Mockolate, Peanut, United States, Brown & Haley, Limited Edition, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:14 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Is the price of chocolate on the rise?  There’s a lot of fake chocolate out there these days.  I picked up a 5th Avenue at Target the other day and it is now mockolate. It smelled like Avon’s “chocolate” lip balm.  It didn’t taste much better.

    Comment by April on 2/15/07 at 8:04 am #
  2. Hahahaha…..mockolate….the new “Hall of Shame”, right? raspberry

    Comment by Sera on 2/15/07 at 8:35 am #
  3. Something that looks this upscale shouldn’t be mocklate.

    Comment by Dave on 2/15/07 at 2:05 pm #
  4. Ha, the mockolate reference has forced me out of lurker mode.  Too good.  While I’m here I have to say your reviews are always spot-on.  Love finding treats for the kids and you’ve also taken my candy awareness to an entirely different level. Thanks for that.

    Comment by Janelle Ray on 2/15/07 at 5:16 pm #
  5. FINALLY!!!! LOL Yes they do rather look like poop. I love cherry they’re my fav. I have to admit I can’t eat a whole one all at one sitting, too sweet. But it’s great, you can go to their Outlet Store in Fife WA, and buy mis-plops in bulk, cheap. also almond roca miswraps.

    Comment by Amy on 2/21/07 at 6:12 pm #
  6. I grew up in the Puget Sound area, and fresh Mounatain Bars are completely awesome. Especially the peanut butter ones. So sorry you got a bad one!

    Comment by Lainie on 6/10/07 at 7:12 pm #
  7. I love Mt. Bars.  They have changed over the years, but mostly in how they look.  I found out that they used to all be made by hand and now they are made by a machine.  But I still think they are as good as ever.  I can’t eat a whole one in one sitting like I used to when I was a kid, but my neice who is only 11 ate one like it was nothing.  I guess its a kid thing!!!

    Comment by kathi on 3/19/08 at 8:18 am #
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