Settle in tight, this is a fun one! We had an opportunity to try lots of new candy and chocolate all the way from across the pond. Big thanks to our pals over at Jolly Grub for helping us out with this project and providing most of the goodies that we sampled. Be sure to check them out if you're looking to find some authentic British goodies, and I don't mean only chocolate and candy. They've also got all kinds of goodies like beverages, cookies, crackers, cereal, spices, teas, and lots more than I can list here.
First we tried Maltesers by Mars, Inc, described as crunchy malt balls covered in milk chocolate.
Matt: Looks like a Whopper, but the color seems lighter.
Erin: My mom used to put a huge milk carton-shaped thing of Whoppers in our stockings every year, and these look like those, so I'm game.
... annnd after trying them:
Matt: Tastes like a Whopper, but it melts in your mouth faster.
Erin: I get a Whopper vibe as well, but the inside is a little chewier? I don't hate it.
Purchase Maltesers from Jolly Grub: click here.
Next was a good ole Mars bar, which consists of layers of nougat and caramel that's covered in milk chocolate.
Erin: Is this like a British Milky Way? Because it looks like a Milky Way. But British.
Matt: The nougat inside looks chocolatey and fluffy, like a Three Musketeers bar. Did Milky Ways always look like that?
After a bite:
Matt: Fantastic flavor in the chocolate coating. Still getting a Three Musketeers vibe from the nougat.
Erin: If you gave me a Milky Way and a Mars bar with the packaging removed, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you the difference.
Purchase Mars Bars from Jolly Grub: click here.
Next we busted open the Drifter bar, which is a twin pack of slender bars consisting of layers of thin crispy waves surrounded by caramel and then coated in milk chocolate.
Matt: It's like the mullet of candy bars, business on the outside, party on the inside.
Erin: This looks like the love child of a Twix bar and a Kit Kat.
After taking a big chomp:
Erin: This one is my favorite so far. The wafers melt away in your mouth and the caramel adds extra flavor and sweetness but isn't too sticky. We need these in the U.S, pronto.
Matt: It's got a quick crunch that melts into ooey gooeyness in your mouth.
Purchased at Cost Plus World Market
The Lion bar was next, described as thin layers of filled crispy wafers, coated in caramel, and then covered with milk chocolate filled with crispy cereal pieces.
Erin: This looks like a Drifter bar in the middle of a steroid cycle, and I want to eat it now.
Matt: It looks like a Kit Kat drove through a caramel-coated Nestle Crunch tunnel.
The verdict:
Matt: It's light and airy, tasty chocolate, and a nice balance of crispy textures.
Erin: This freaking rocks, that's all I can say. Why aren't these mainstream in the U.S.?! Someone please e-mail Nestle and make it happen.
Purchase Lion Bars from Jolly Grub: click here.
Time for some aerated chocolate! The process of introducing air/gas bubbles into chocolate to change its texture was discovered by the Rowntree's company in 1947. There are several types of aerated British candy, and the original Wispa bar by Cadbury is an example of this.
Erin: It looks like chocolate foam. The bar is super light, almost weightless.
Matt: Yep, chocolate styrofoam. Incredibly light.
After giving it a go:
Matt: It's like tempered glass in chocolate form. It explodes into a million melty chocolate morsels when you bite into it. Also, tasty chocolate.
Erin: It's like the chocolate version of a cheese puff. It kind of disappears in your mouth without much effort. Really delicious.
Next we tried a different version of aerated chocolate by Nestle, the Aero bar. This bar comes in many flavors and the one we had was mint and milk chocolate.
Erin: I can't look at this bar without setting off my trypophobia, so let's just get to the tasting.
Matt: This looks like something straight out of Willy Wonka's factory. How do they even do this?
What we thought:
Matt: The bar is completely smooth, tastes like a mint meltaway or an Andes, except it melts away even faster than that.
Erin: You can feel the bubbles with your teeth when you bite into it, but then they kind of disappear. It's more firm and has less of the light "foamy" texture of the Wispa though, so I like that one quite a bit better. Dig the mint.
Purchase Aero Mint from Jolly Grub: click here.
Next is the Curly Wurly bar by Cadbury, which is made up of two long intertwined strands of chocolate-coated caramel.
Matt: So it's a chocolate rope? Cool.
Erin: No, it's a chocolate-covered caramel rope. Get it right.
The taste test:
Matt: It's too sticky for me, like it would pull your fillings out.
Erin: I like it, it's kinda fun. I can see kids going nuts over it. I think it'd be better if the caramel was hard and crunchy like a brittle, instead of soft and sticky. And you don't even have fillings.
Purchase Curly Wurly from Jolly Grub: click here.
Next up was something a little fruity, Fruit Pastilles by the Rowntrees company. Pastilles include the flavors of lemon, lime, black currant, strawberry, and orange and contain no artificial colorings or flavor - they are made with real fruit juice.
Erin: They're like flat gum drops but with more natural coloring. They're not sticky when you hold them but if you give them a squeeze you can tell they are nice and soft.
Matt: They look like what happens when a Smartie and a gum drop get married.
After trying each flavor:
Erin: I got a strawberry one first, and it tastes exactly like a fresh strawberry. Holy crap, these are good. Give me another one. Mmm. Black currant. And it tastes real, but even better because it's chewy and covered in sugar. This is the best fruit candy I have ever had in my life, no joke.
Matt: The flavor keeps building and building. A crescendo of yum that hits full volume just as you're done and makes you want to grab another one. They're all ka-pow except the lemon, that one is surprisingly weak in comparison.
Our favorite flavors, from most to least:
strawberry, black currant, orange, lime, and lemon
Purchase Fruit Pastilles from Jolly Grub: click here.
Next we started in on some vegan chocolate by a brand called Moo Free. First up were these Choccy Drops.
Matt: So basically chocolate chips for vegans.
Erin: I'm not vegan, am I allowed to eat these?
After popping a few:
Matt: Not bad at all. Has a little wang to the flavor, an aftertaste.
Erin: Tastes similar to a regular chocolate chip. I'd totally bake with these.
Purchase Moo Free Choccy Drops from Jolly Grub: click here.
Original Organic Bar:
Matt: The flavor is pretty weak. The drops were better, but the ingredients list is the same. What is this sorcery?
Erin: It's chocolate but like... not chocolate. The texture is kind of waxy.
Cheeky Orange:
Erin: The plain vegan bar is definitely made better by some citrus flavor. I could eat this if I was vegan.
Matt: It tastes like a mild chocolate orange, but with more zest.
Bunnycomb Bar:
Matt: The honey flavor stands out really well.
Erin: Yeah, the honey pieces jazz up the bland chocolate and I like the little crunchy pieces. I would eat this one again.
Lily-Lu's Minty Moo:
Matt: Did they forget the mint?
Erin: Yeah, I'm barely getting any mint here. I need to eat another bite of that Aero bar. I'll take a pass on this one, sorry.
Purchase Moo Free products from Jolly Grub: click here.
The last thing we tried from Moo Free was this vegan cranberry & hazelnut bar.
Matt: Looks like hazelnuts and cranberries floating down a river of chocolate.
Erin: It's so pretty. Entire hazelnuts and whole dried cranberries, sign me up.
After trying a chunk:
Erin: This is my favorite of the vegan products. The big dried cranberries and whole hazelnuts add a ton of flavor. This bar might turn me vegan (just kidding)
Matt: The tartness from the cranberries are an amazing addition to to the bland vegan chocolate. I love hazelnuts, but maybe not whole like this. They kinda stick in your mouth.
Purchase Moo Free Cranberry Hazelnut Bar from Jolly Grub: click here.
This was such a fun post, but then again how can a post involving trying a ton of different kinds of candy NOT be fun? What did you guys think? Would you like to see more posts like this? Let me know in the comments!
Pin this post using this pretty little image, just hover your mouse over the image and click the button that pops up.
Say Something About This Post: