classic Archives - Candyrageous

April 25, 2021 Michael

Abba-Zaba – Ultra-Chewy Taffy with Peanut Butter

Candy Bars

Abba-Zaba has been around for almost a hundred years (since 1922), so it clearly has its fans. I can’t say that I’ll ever buy one again, but if you’ve been around that long, you must be doing something right. It’s basically just a big old hunk of ultra-chewy taffy, and if you’re into that, you’ll probably enjoy it.

It’s odd; the shiny white bar looks plasticky enough that after I opened it I assumed it had some kind of inner wrapping, but nope, that’s just the bar. It’s certainly not the most appealing looking candy bar ever.

It’s filled with a decent amount of creamy, slightly salty peanut butter, which is where most of the flavour comes from. It’s otherwise surprisingly restrained in its sweetness, and is mostly notable for how incredibly chewy it is. It’s actually kind of aggressive in its chewiness, like, “oh, you want to chew me? Good luck with that, pal.” It made my jaw tired almost immediately.

I wasn’t crazy about it, but then I’m not a huge fan of taffy in general, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Manufactured by: Annabelle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 51 grams): 210 calories, 4 grams of fat (2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 45 mg of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, liquid sugar (cane sugar, water), peanut butter (dry roasted peanuts, sucrose, hydrogenated rapeseed and cottonseed oil, salt), fully hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm kernel oil, soybean oil), dextrose, salt, mono- and diglycerides, BHA (antioxidant).

January 21, 2009January 10, 2021 Michael

Zero – The Nuttiness Grows on You

Candy Bars

Not to be confused with the far superior Belgian chocolate truffle bar, Hershey’s Zero consists of nougat studded with tiny pieces of almonds and peanuts, topped with chewy caramel and enrobed in white chocolate. Only, it’s not really white chocolate – Hershey calls it “white fudge,” presumably because it doesn’t contain the requisite amount of cocoa butter to legally be allowed to be called chocolate (vegetable oil is one of the first ingredients).

Zero sort of resembles a nuttier Mars Bar (or Milky Way in the States). Unlike a Mars Bar, the nougat contains really small chunks of peanuts and almonds. I think the pieces are probably a bit too small, as they give the bar an off-puttingly gritty texture. They do, however, lend the bar a pleasantly nutty flavour, which gives the nougat an almost marzipan-like taste. The caramel adds some additional chewiness, though it doesn’t really contribute any real flavour to the bar. As for the “white fudge,” it’s basically just superfluous.

For the first couple of bites, I was definitely ready to give this a negative review. But it grew on me. It’s not as sweet as you might expect, and it has a much nuttier flavour than you’ll find in most mainstream candy bars. It’s certainly not great, but it’s not bad either.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (52 g bar): 230

December 29, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Zagnut – Like a Butterfinger, but Better

Candy Bars

Zagnut surprised me. It’s one of those “classic” bars, and it’s always struck me as being somewhat ho-hum. That, combined with its limited availability (it’s not sold at all in Canada, at least outside of specialty stores), has led this to being one of the few major candy bars that I’ve never actually tried.

The bulk of Zagnut consists of crispy, crunchy peanut butter which is fairly similar (if not identical) to the stuff found within a 5^th Avenue or a Butterfinger. Both 5^th Avenue and Zagnut are made by Hershey, so it’s possible that both bars have the same base. Where Zagnut differs from the two other bars is its coating: Zagnut is covered in a layer of toasted coconut, as opposed to the chocolate (or mockolate, to be more accurate) found on 5^th Avenue and Butterfinger.

It’s surprisingly good. The toasted coconut gives Zagnut a pleasant coconutty taste, and proves to be a much better accompaniment to the crunchy peanut butter than mockolate (or even real chocolate). In fact I’m kind of surprised that Zagnut isn’t more popular than it is, as the toasted coconut works perfectly, and definitely makes this superior to both 5^th Avenue and Butterfinger. I guess the fact that it isn’t covered in chocolate probably works against it, as does the general ho-humness of the name and the packaging. Regardless, it is delicious, and definitely something I’ll be buying more often, at least when I can find it.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (49 g bar): 230

December 8, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

3 Color Coconut – Not Something I Ever Need to Eat Again

Candy Bars

I’m generally a pretty big fan of coconut in candy – Bounty, which is essentially a superior version of Mounds, is one of my favourites. But there are those who feel differently, such as Steve Almond, who described coconut as having a “creepy dead skin texture” (in his very entertaining book, Candyfreak). I can see what he’s saying with a complaint like that, though it’s not something that generally perturbs me. 3 Color Coconut, however, is drier and less sweet than the usual coconut candy, which makes the “dead skin” factor much more of an issue.

3 Color Coconut contains three sections with three distinct flavours: strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. The strawberry section definitely has the strongest flavour, with a sweet, unmistakably strawberry taste. Vanilla is just plain, sweetened coconut – only it’s not very sweet, and it doesn’t have a particularly pronounced coconut flavour (leading to the flavour running out before you’re actually done chewing it, and to the aforementioned dead skin problem). The chocolate section has a weak, vaguely chocolatey flavour (there’s no cocoa or anything even resembling chocolate in the list of ingredients, so take from that what you will).

The chocolate coating that you’d generally find in a coconut confection such as this (like Mounds or Bounty) is definitely missed here. It’s kind of dry and not particularly flavourful; while the three different flavours make this an interesting novelty, I can’t say it’s something I’ll ever buy again.

Manufactured by: Friesinger’s Candies
Calories (71 g bar): 320