mockolate Archives - Page 2 of 5

February 10, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Gold – Kinda Tastes like a Reese’s Pieces Bar

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Like a lot of Hershey products, the word “chocolate” is conspicuously absent from the packaging of Hershey’s Gold. The reason for that is pretty simple — chocolate (even white chocolate) has to have a certain percentage of cocoa butter to legally use that name, and if you look at the ingredients here, you’ll notice a couple of types of oil, but zero cocoa butter.

Which means that while the base of this bar is theoretically caramelized white chocolate (a type of white chocolate that’s roasted to give it a deeper flavour), the stuff here is actually “caramelized creme.”

It also has peanuts and pretzels, and it’s actually pretty good. No, it’s not real chocolate. Yes, it’s a bit waxy, as you’d expect from the fake stuff. But it’s tasty enough.

The bar is so thoroughly suffused with little crispy and crunchy bits that the mockolate’s lack of creaminess is never all that obvious; the peanuts and pretzels add enough texture to (mostly) hide the mockolate’s faults.

It actually reminded me quite a bit of the filling of Reese’s Pieces; there’s no peanut butter in here, but the peanut bits are so generous that it definitely has that flavour.

As for the pretzel, it’s mostly just there for crispiness and for a mild hit of salt; the pieces are too tiny to particularly stand out.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 39 grams): 210 calories, 13 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.2 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 85 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 19 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified palm oil and modified vegetable oil (shea, sunflower and/or safflower), milk ingredients, peanuts, wheat flour, lactose, lecithin (soy), salt, malt, soybean oil, yeast.

January 17, 2021 Michael

Milky Bar – Average White Chocolate

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Here’s something odd: the wrapper of the Milky Bar I ate for this review contains two separate lists of ingredients. One of them is on the wrapper itself, and one is on a sticker, presumably put there by the company that imported the British bar into Canada.

The lists are surprisingly different. Most pressingly, the sticker version lists sugar as the first ingredient, directly contradicting the wrapper’s proclamation that “milk is our no. 1 ingredient.” Is milk the number one ingredient or not? Who am I supposed to believe??

Anyway, it’s plain white chocolate, so there’s not much to it. I should note that the sticker on the front of the wrapper is keen to point out that’s it’s actually a “white chocolaty candy bar” rather than a white chocolate candy bar, presumably due to the inclusion of vegetable fat supplementing the cocoa butter.

It’s tasty enough. I guess it’s not technically real white chocolate, but it’s fairly creamy. True to its name, it has a pronounced milky flavour. It’s not the best white chocolate you’ll ever eat, but it’ll do in a pinch.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 25 grams): 140 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 40 mg of sodium, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 14 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients (from the wrapper, not the sticker): Milk powders (whole and skimmed) (37.5%), sugar, cocoa butter, vegetable fats (mango kernel, palm, sal, shea), emulsifier (sunflower lecithin), natural flavouring.

January 13, 2021 Michael

Charleston Chew – Listen to the Packaging and Try it Frozen

Candy Bars

Charleston Chew is one of those old-timey candy bars that’s been around for decades and decades. Which is obvious just by looking at it — it’s named after the Charleston, the dance that was popular in the 1920s. It’s got some history.

It’s an abundantly simple bar. It’s just vanilla-flavoured nougat (it’s also available in chocolate or strawberry) with a chocolatey coating.

Yes, the chocolate is fake, but in this case it doesn’t really matter — the nougat is chewy enough to completely overwhelm the texture of the mockolate.

“Chew” is right there in the name, so it shouldn’t come as any particular surprise that it’s intensely chewy. The nougat here is quite different from the stuff you’ll find in something like a Mars Bar — it’s way, way more dense.

It’s vaguely marshmallow-esque, both in its flavour and texture, with a springier, more marshmallow-like consistency than traditional nougat. But it’s a lot chewier than any marshmallow I’ve ever had. It’s closer to the level of chew you’ll find in a Tootsie Roll, which isn’t surprising considering that this is made by the same company.

The packaging says to try it frozen, which I did. I mean, what am I supposed to do, not take advice from a candy bar wrapper?? I’m generally not crazy about freezing candy bars, so I was highly skeptical about this.

It was way better than I thought it would be; the freezing process completely changes the texture of the bar. I had feared it was going to be inedibly chewy, but instead the frozen bar takes on an appealing crunchiness (that eventually gives way to chewiness) that kind of reminded me of a Crunchie bar. I can admit when I’m wrong: this is clearly the superior way to eat a Charleston Chew.

Manufactured by: Tootsie Roll Industries
Nutritional info (1 bar, 53 grams): 230 calories, 6 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 20 mg of sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 31 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: corn syrup, sugar, palm kernel and palm oil, nonfat dry milk, cocoa, lactose, milk protein concentrate, egg albumen, artificial flavor, soy lecithin, soy protein, salt, sodium citrate.

November 22, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Baby Ruth – Chewy, Nutty, and Tasty

Candy Bars

Like Crunch and Butterfinger, Baby Ruth is one of the candy bars that was recently bought out by Ferrero and reformulated. In this case, the wrapper is very proud to proclaim that they’ve improved the recipe with the addition of dry-roasted peanuts. Alas, it’s been several years since I’ve last tried a Baby Ruth, so I couldn’t particularly tell you whether or not this is an upgrade.

The other thing that initially stands out is the presence of mockolate rather than actual chocolate on the exterior of the bar (red flag: the wrapper doesn’t mention the word “chocolate” once). I thought this might be a Ferrero thing, but a quick search reveals that Baby Ruth has used fake chocolate since at least 2008.

Aside from the mockolate coating and the new-and-improved dry-roasted nuts, the other two elements of a Baby Ruth are caramel and nougat.

If you’ve ever had an Oh Henry, this is basically the same thing. I think the level of chewiness here is slightly less intense, but they’re very similar.

It’s quite tasty. In particular, the much-touted dry-roasted peanuts add a ton of flavour; there’s a really satisfying roasty nuttiness that complements the bar’s other flavours quite well, not to mention the pleasant crunch.

The other thing that I quite like here is the caramel — a lot of candy bar caramel basically tastes like thick, chewy sugar, but the stuff here actually has some flavour outside of generic sweetness.

The bar definitely tastes sweeter than average, but there’s also a nice hit of salt that helps to balance things out. As for the mockolate, it’s fairly inoffensive; it adds zero taste or texture. Real chocolate would have been nice, but the mockolate doesn’t detract from the bar, which is really all you can ask.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 53.8 grams): 260 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 28 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, dry roasted peanuts, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm kernel, coconut, and soybean), nonfat milk, cocoa, less than 2% of high fructose corn syrup, dairy product solids, glycerin, dextrose, salt, soy lecithin, lactic acid esters, carrageenan.

November 11, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Chocolatey PayDay – A Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

I like PayDay. Consisting entirely of a dense caramel centre covered in salted peanuts, it’s delightfully peanutty and chewy, with a really satisfying combination of sweetness and saltiness that sets it apart from the competition. It’s also the rare candy bar that’s chocolate-free, which adds to its distinctive charm.

Enter: Chocolatey PayDay, which takes the classic bar and adds a “chocolatey” exterior. In case the word “chocolatey” wasn’t a dead giveaway, the bar features mockolate rather than the real deal. Oddly, chocolate is present towards the end of the ingredients list — but not enough to avoid the dreaded “chocolatey” designation, or to avoid the telltale waxy texture and lack of personality that you get from the fake stuff.

It’s fine. I’m not sure if they’ve just covered a standard PayDay in a chocolatey coating or if other modifications were made, but it tastes like the latter to me. I’m pretty sure there are less peanuts, and while the original hits you in the face with the sweet/salty combo, the level of salt is much more restrained here. It’s definitely there, but it’s in the background.

This makes a bigger difference than you’d think; the bar tastes noticeably sweeter, and the nutty flavour is much more muted. It doesn’t help that the mockolate coating basically adds nothing, and only detracts from the bar (unlike a lot of candy bars covered in mockolate, there’s a thick enough layer here that the waxy texture is quite noticeable).

The whole thing is inoffensive enough, but it takes something distinctive and makes it generic; it basically tastes like an inferior version of an Oh Henry.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 52 grams): 260 calories, 14 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fibre, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, peanuts, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil, corn syrup, chocolate, skim milk. Contains 2% or less of: whey (milk), salt, lecithin (soy), carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, vanillin, artificial flavor.