Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Oreo Bitter Bar (Japan)Nabisco Oreos were one of my favorite cookies. Most of what I like though is the crispy and crumbly dark chocolate cookie. Their initial form, the Oreo Biscuit, was introduced in 1912 and later became the format we know today with the molded sandwich cookie in 1952. One of the best mashups ever invented using Oreos was Cookies ‘n’ Cream Ice Cream. There are so many things you can do with Oreos, so it seems a little odd that Nabisco never came out with their own Oreo chocolate bar in the United States. Perhaps it’s their complacency that they’re the most popular cookie in the country. In Asia though, Nabisco tries harder. They have Oreo Chocolate Bars. I picked up the Nabisco Oreo Bitter Bar at the Japanese market. The standard Oreo Bar has a cream filling with bits of chocolate cookies embedded in it, then the whole thing is covered in chocolate. When I looked at the ingredients on this bitter bar, I was pleased to see the intensity of the chocolate ingredients and decided that maybe this could be the ideal marriage of the Oreo Cookie and the candy bar. The wrapper is in the familiar Oreo Blue color but decorated with a cacao pod and a little gold ribbon that says bitter in the center. The back of the wrapper is in Japanese though my imported one has a little English sticker on it with the ingredients & nutritional panel. The bar isn’t that big, it’s only 1.35 ounces, so it weighs less than a pair of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (1.5 ounces) but still manages to contain 216 calories. The wrapper is 6.5” long but the actual bar is only 4.5”. I can’t complain since the bars I bought were pretty flawless looking, so it must have done a nice job of protecting the contents. The bar smells toasty and sweet, like a cup of hot chocolate. The bite is firm, the center isn’t a soft truffle, instead it’s kind of like a firm cream, like the center of a Frango. There are cookie bits mixed into the dark chocolate center, so the melt isn’t quite smooth because of the crumbs. There is a distinct bitter note of charcoal and deep cocoa The chocolate coating outside is not terribly dark but is really creamy and smooth. The ingredients impressed me for the most part, no tropical oils, no partially hydrogenated fats. It’s all milk and cocoa butter. Sure there’s sugar in there and even a small amount of high fructose corn syrup (in the cookie part, I believe), but I overlooked that. I loved this bar. Absolutely loved it. I bought one while shopping with my sister in Little Tokyo with no intention of reviewing it, then after eating it I went back and bought three more. They were $2.19 each, and I’m pretty price conscious, so that alone is an endorsement. However, most other reviews I saw of it online were underwhelming. I can see their point, it is a little dry and kind of single note with the bitter chocolate cookie dominating. The bars come in other versions. Aside from the Cookies ‘n’ Cream classic style, they’ve also been available in caramel coffee, strawberry, matcha, banana and macadamia nut. Related Candies
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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Oooo, that looks yummy! My favorite part is the cookie ( like the cream too, but prefer the cookie), so I desperately want this bar!
Bitter’s a dealbreaker for me. Especially when something’s so bitter they have to announce it on the wrapper! (Granted, I have a sensitive palate: I consider chocolate chips and hot fudge way over the bitter barrier.)
I’m glad you rated this bar just as highly as I thought of it.
I thought it was going to be just another what I call ‘mass consumer friendly’ dark chocolates, but it was actually packed full of flavour, I remember being very impressed indeed.
Thanks for the link love at the end of your review :D Much appreciated.
JIM
And they have made apple flavor! Let me tell you, it was awesome.
Where do all these reviewers get the “charcoal” taste from. How many of you have bitten into a piece of charcoal, be it a burned match stick, camping log, or even kingsford. I have. That taste has no place in candy, and i have never encountered it.
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