Friday, September 11, 2009

Walkers’ Nonsuch Liquorice Toffee

Walkers' Nonsuch Liquorice ToffeeWhen I was in college at Humboldt State University one summer I house-sat for a friend and as a thank you they gave me some tickets to see Twelfth Night at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. So my best friend and I packed up her rabbit puppet in her yellow Dodge Dart and we hit the road for the journey to Ashland to see the show.

The theatre was in the classic outdoor Elizabethan-style, except for the electric lights and assigned seating. The show was fantastic. In addition they also had an amazing selection of treats and sweets to consume during the show. At an intermission I picked up a roll of Callard & Bowser Licorice Toffee. The roll was long and had individually wax-wrapped pieces. I was ill informed what they were, I was expecting buttery hard candy with a licorice note to it. Instead it was what we call a caramel here in the States and it had a pleasant spicy & woodsy flavor. I ate the whole roll right there during the show.

Over the years I found them here and there but the last time I had some was when I was in London sometime late in the last century.

Callard & Bowser was a British founded in 1837 and the maker of toffees but most notably to Americans are their Altoids mints. They were swallowed up by Kraft, which later spat them back out in 2004 to Wrigley’s ... which in turn was bought out by Mars last year. Somewhere along the way they discontinued the Licorice Toffee. So I no longer look for it. Instead, I’ve been on the prowl for alternatives and found a few promising options to suggest to readers. Today, I present to you the Walkers’ Nonsuch Liquorice Toffee.

Walkers' Nonsuch Liquorice Toffee

Unlike the other Walkers’ Nonsuch Toffees I’ve reviewed so far, these are individually wrapped in twisted paper-backed foil. The wrapper is cute & easy to identify as licorice since it’s a simple black & white design with a checkerboard pattern and red text.

Each little nugget is a little bigger around than a quarter and a lovely lump of sugar, sweetened condensed milk and treacle. It also features real liquorice extract as well as oil of aniseed.

They’re softer than the bar toffees; it’s an immediate stiff chew that softens with heat & mastication. The flavors are buttery and dark - not so much licorice but a soft anise with deep woodsy tones that reminded me of pumpernickel bread and spice cake. It’s smooth and satisfying.

I found the 150 gram (5.3 ounces) package to be completely inadequate (but it’s partly my fault for sharing these with my other licorice loving friends). The good news is that I got them at India Sweets & Spices and have also seen them listed online at The British Food Shop down in Orange County and if I get really desperate I can order online at Licorice International (though more than twice the price I find them locally).

Related Candies

  1. Walkers Nonsuch Roasted Hazelnut Toffee
  2. Bequet Gourmet Caramels
  3. J Morgan Caramels
  4. Organic Finnska Soft Licorice
  5. Walkers Nonsuch Toffee
Name: Liquorice Toffees
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Walkers' Nonsuch
Place Purchased: India Sweets & Spices (Los Feliz)
Price: $2.49
Size: 5.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Caramel, Licorice, United Kingdom, Walkers' Nonsuch, All Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:50 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Sounds yummy. I’ll have to look for them here in DC.

    2nd paragraph: role -> roll

    Comment by bitguru on 9/11/09 at 12:26 pm #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    bitguru - dang! I reread it twice this morning! (Maybe I was thinking of an actor’s role.)

    I’m thinking about having all homophones flagged as misspellings just so I can check myself.

    Comment by Cybele on 9/11/09 at 12:29 pm #
  3. My mouth is positively watering. Must try these as soon as possible!

    Comment by That Kind Of Girl on 9/11/09 at 7:16 pm #
  4. I have three packages of these in the kitchen cupboard - they’re so utterly yummy I had to buy several packages just in case they won’t be available for long in our local store :D

    Comment by Outi on 9/11/09 at 11:15 pm #
  5. That explains why I can’t those wonderful toffees anymore. But at least now I have a replacement.

    Comment by Neefer on 9/13/09 at 4:29 am #
  6. Thanks so much for listing where you find your candy.  I went to India Sweets yesterday and pick up some licorice for my mom and other candies for me and plan to go to Rocket Fizz this week to check it out.

    Comment by Liz on 9/13/09 at 8:29 am #
  7. I highly recommend the licorice caramels from Surfas in Culver City—they are AWESOME and addictive, my replacement for the beloved Callard & Bowsers.  But I’ll have to try these Walkers’, too!

    Comment by Hermine on 9/15/09 at 2:08 pm #
  8. Walkers is the best licorice toffee to be found at this time

    Comment by wynne on 9/19/09 at 1:39 pm #
  9. I am 59 and remember a liquorice toffee sucker made by baby bats suckers from the early 60’s.  They have long since stopped making the licorice flavour.  I used to buy the Callard and Bowers liquorice taffee because it was almost identical to the suckers.  I was so disappointed when I could no longer purchase them in the U.S.  Looks like Walker’s licquorice toffee is exactly what I am looking for. Now how do I buy it?

    Comment by Bonnie Stark on 8/05/10 at 5:13 pm #
  10. Cybele, as a HSU alum, I found your review to be both tasty and nostalgic. I haven’t tried Walkers yet, but Oatfield’s out of Ireland produces a licorice toffee very similar to C&B. If you happen to revisit the northeast, check out the mercantile in Ferndale, they carry the most varied licorice collection to be found anywhere, including the salted Norse recipes.

    Comment by Robert on 3/07/11 at 12:54 pm #
  11. if you loved C&B nougat, then you should check out the latest confectionery manufacturer at http://www.championreeves.com or C&R

    Comment by andrew on 2/08/16 at 1:25 pm #
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