Wednesday, July 26, 2006

And Now For Something Completely Different


I realized that our blogs had been a bit more serious than expected recently. With that in mind, today's topic is the Candy Bar. I am going to talk about some candy bars, rate and rank a few of my favorites and maybe others can comment with a top three favorite candy bar list.

Now, I have two friends who lived in Europe for a while with their families and they swear that chocolate from the United States is horrible compared to their European, particularly Swiss, counterparts. They say it is as though chocolate here in the U.S. is watered down compared to other world chocolates. However here, we are not going to discuss chocolate bars per se; we are going to discuss candy bars and chocolate only as it pertains to the specific mentioned bars. Well, let's get started!

First, I would like to mention my very favorite candy bars. This candy bar hails from Australia/New Zealand. The Violet Crumble, made by Nestle now, is a "honey comb" center covered in chocolate. This ambrosia candy bar is not to be confused with it's lesser Cadbury made rival the Crunchie. While both are similarly made and styled, the Violet Crumble has this sort of melt-in-your-mouth texture that tastes and feels fresher than the Crunchie (Cadbury 1939). Just to give an idea of my feelings for Violet Crumble, if I were in the woods and my left arm were caught in a bear trap and there were a Violet Crumble just out of reach, I would naw off my left arm in order to reach that miracle of a candy bar. You can purchase this candy bar at some specialty candy stores as well as Jason's Deli. There you have numero uno in the candy bar list.

Second place goes to another Nestle product. This bar has recently reemerged and because of the popularity of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is Nestle owned Willy Wonka's Wonka Bar. The Wonka Bar is Wonka milk chocolate (reminds me a bit of Tobler chocolate because of the texture and chew quality) with crumbled up graham crackers. It is the perfect candy bar to eat while playing board games. I don't know why, but I enjoy them very much while playing Settlers of Catan. You can purchase this bar at some convenient stores, movie rental counters, and the occasional grocer.

The final candy bar on my list to round off the top three is a Cadbury product. Caramello has been one of my favorite bars since I was a kid. I can't tell you how many Caramellos and Mt. Dews I've had. All that sweet caramel and chocolate can't be bad for you! This is also a good board game candy bar, although I'd be kidding myself if I didn't say all three of these candy bars are good with a board game and a glass of milk (whole, of course).

There you have it, the best three candy bars in the history of candy: Violet Crumble, Wonka Bar, Caramello. What do you all have?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. Snickers Cruncher
2. Twix (preferably chilled)
3. Dove Dark Chocolate Bar

I am a candy fanatic, so it was hard to name just three, but there you go. When I worked in the bookstore at Trevecca we sold candy and I was in charge of reordering and restocking. If anything went out of date, we put it in the break room for everyone to eat. I would count down the days until that sweet (expired) candy would be mine...

Scott Williams said...

I used to absolutely love the Marathon bar. Can't find it anymore. Love the Carmello and not a candy bar, but Dairy Queen now has a Chocolate Carmel Cheesecake Blizzard.
Love Chocolate and Carmel

EF + said...

While I can't even begin to compare my taste in candybars with your exquisit palate, I would like to suggest that the Carmello is too sweet. Further, the caramel is too runny. It is if the caramel is watered down. Good caramel is firm...like the ROLO!

To top off my list has to be the new and much more glamorous Take 5. In the take five, one has all the components of gourmet junkfood. Sweet and salt existing in perfect harmony as the yen and yang of candybars. Pretzels and peanut butter and just enough saltiness to the super sweet carmal and chocolate to resotre balance and order in the candy bar universe.

The other candy bar to find itself in the top three must be the Baby Ruth. It is steeped in history with the not so subtle alusion to baseball royalty. Royalty itself, the Baby Ruth has even had a staring role in classics such as Caddyshack. Not only is it great in the mouth it is equally at home on the big screen.

I dare not try to rank them, but the top three in no particular order are as noted: Rolo, Take 5, and Baby Ruth

Evan and Julia Abla said...

Eric,
I have to say that I always knew you were a nut. Right on with the Rolo. However, in my defense I will say that I've always had a palette for the sweeter candies. But I have to tell you that the Baby Ruth was not actually named after Babe Ruth. It's namesake has been claimed as Grover Cleveland's new born daughter, Ruth. However, she died in 1904 and the candy bar wasn't introduced until 1921. Another source says it was named for the daughter of Williamson Candy Company's owner. Some say the recipe originated with the Williamson Candy Company. However, the Baby Ruth bar was introduced in 1921 by a Chicago candy company, Curtis. The company priced the bars at $.05 which was half the price of comparable candy bars at the time. They even dropped thousands of bars over Pittsburg as an advertising campaign. Each candy bar was fitted with a little parachute.

John said...

Seriously Evan, let's not waste too many valuable brain cells on anymore useless candy bar history. I am a candy bar fan from way back but honestly, I could care less when and why a candy bar was made. The palate is the ultimate dissiminator of all the candy knowledge I must possess. In the caramel vein of thought though, let us not forget about the ever wonderful, yet more difficul to find, Cowtail. What a treat. Enjoy.