Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Hershey’s Symphony with Almonds and Toffee Chips

DSC_7990rbIt’s odd to think that the 10 most popular chocolate candy bars have been around longer than most of us. Those bars are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, M&Ms, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate and KitKat, all of which were introduced before 1950. Plenty of candy bars have come and gone over the past century, but it’s so crowded at the top with those tried and true favorites. I bring this up because it’s rare for me to remember the introduction of a new candy bar that’s actually still on the market 25 years later.

Hershey’s launched a new line of chocolate bars in 1989 with a simple idea, that they were a little creamier than their famous Milk Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Almonds. They came up with the brand called Symphony and introduced them with actual fanfare ... commercials featuring classical music.

Their tagline was pretty good: They’ll never be another unfinished Symphony.

The packaging design is largely unchanged since their introduction in 1989. There are two different bars in the line, the same as at the launch. There’s a plain milk chocolate bar (with red accents) and the Symphony Creamy Milk Chocolate Almonds & Toffee Chips with blue accents. Though they’re both still on the market, the Almond and Toffee Chips is the easiest to find, since it’s distinctively different from those other top 10 bars.

DSC_7993rb

The bars themselves have changed quite a bit, partly because Hershey’s no longer wraps their bars in foil with a paper sleeve. The Symphony bar I picked up bore a striking resemblance in shape to the Hershey’s Almond bar ... once I opened it, it was pretty clear why. It’s now the same mold. The previous versions of the bar had segments with the Symphony logo at the center of each.

The current ingredients are not at all premium:

Milk Chocolate (Sugar; Milk; Cocoa Butter; Chocolate; Milk Fat; Soy Lecithin; PGPR; Vanillin) ; Sugar; Almonds (Roasted in Cocoa Butter and/or Sunflower Oil) ; Palm Oil; Dairy Butter; Salt; Artificial Flavor; Soy Lecithin

I found a wrapper online from 2001 that tells a simpler story (but the current bar is .1 ounces larger):

Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk, Chocolate, Soya Lecithin, Vanillin), Almonds, Sugar, Dairy Butter, Milk and Salt

DSC_7996rb

When I was photographing the bar, I noticed that it had a lot of voids and bubbles in it, so I weighed it to make sure that it was accounted for in the bar. Sure enough, the bar weighed 43 grams, the wrapper states 42 grams.

Though it looks like a Hershey’s chocolate bar, it doesn’t taste like it. That’s not to say that it’s spectacular or that different from many of the other inexpensive chocolate bars, but it definitely doesn’t have the Hershey’s sharpness. Instead of the bar is fudgy sweet, so sweet that there’s very little chocolate flavor. The dairy notes are good, and combine well with the toasty flavors of the toffee chips and almond bits. It’s exceptionally sweet overall, only the inclusions give a little relief.

For the most part the bar gave me a sore throat. The combination is refreshing for the price point, but for a little more I could just get a Ritter Sport bar or even a Toblerone (but really the same price per ounce), since their bars are two times or more the size). If Hershey’s wants to step up their game with this bar, I think it needs a brand refresh - I’m not saying they need to go dark chocolate, but actual better chocolate like the Bliss line or going with a certified cacao source would help it stand out.

Related Candies

  1. See’s Bridge Mix
  2. Hershey’s Heath Pieces
  3. Eclat Chocolate Caramelized Hazelnuts 65%
  4. Trader Joe’s Almondictive Bits
  5. Poco Dolce Popcorn Toffee
  6. Equal Exchange Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt
  7. Lindt Excellence Toffee Crunch


Name: Symphony with Almonds and Toffee Chips
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Glendale)
Price: $.99
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 147
Categories: Candy, Hershey's, Chocolate, Kosher, Nuts, Toffee, 6-Tempting, United States, Walgreen's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:57 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewHershey'sChocolateKosherNutsToffee6-TemptingUnited StatesWalgreen's

Comments
  1. I have a few of these at home right now. The bar doesn’t look like this one - it has the segments!

    Comment by Marci on 1/15/15 at 5:13 am #
  2. This is disappointing. I used to really like these bars. I wish Hershey would quit adding cheap ingredients and making lower-quality products.

    Comment by Rene S on 1/15/15 at 6:19 am #
  3. Oh I’m so glad you tracked down an old wrapper!  I have an aunt whose signature cookie recipe is a chocolate chip where the chips are Symphony bar chunks instead of chips.  I got the recipe in the 90s and I’ve wondered for a while whether they’ve changed their formula.  It’s hard to tell when you only have something once or twice a year, though.

    Comment by Marie on 1/15/15 at 8:22 pm #
  4. These are one of my favorites! They were my introduction to chocolate bars that weren’t *just* chocolate…basically they made me realize I freaking loved toffee. I never tried Heath or Skor bars before because I just assumed they were gross “adult” candy xD

    We still have the large, segmented bars where I live though (north eastern PA). I really hope they aren’t being phased out. I actually order the candy for the store I work at and will order extra boxes of the original if that’s the case.

    Comment by Kelly on 1/30/15 at 8:00 pm #
  5. The toffee/almond has been my fav bar since it came out.  About once a year I get giant 4oz [used to be 8oz] bar and eat the whole thing by myself. Ahhh, bliss.

    Comment by JayMelo on 2/21/15 at 10:36 pm #
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