Hershey’s has made their biggest debut of a new chocolate product in 10 years. I know this because their press release told me so.

It’s their new Air Delight Aerated Milk Chocolate. I’ve already covered the Air Delight Kisses, which were sent to me by the National Confectioners Association back during The Sweets & Snacks Expo. The bar was supposed to go on sale shortly after that in June nationwide. Believe me, I tried to find it. Southern California may be the first for movie premieres, but we’re often the last for candy rollouts. I tried Walgreen’s, RiteAid, Target, Ralph’s, Gelson’s, Von’s and CVS. Eventually, by mid June the Kisses showed up at the drug stores, but I still couldn’t find the bar. Even more frustrating, the CVS store I was in was advertising the bar on their PA system ... but didn’t actually have it in stock.

I finally found it the other night at a different CVS, and on sale (buy 2 and get 1 free).

The package describes the bar as:

The HERSHEY’S milk chocolate you love gently blended for a light, airy texture that melts effortlessly in your mouth.

Finally, an end to the effort! I bet you didn’t think about how much effort it actually was to melt things in your mouth. You know, the opening and closing and then application of heat. All of that is solved with this new chocolate bar ... it’s so light, it practically inserts itself into your mouth. Wait, no. No, it doesn’t. You apply the exact same effort, except for the possible fact that this bar weighs 1.44 ounces instead of the 1.55 so it is actually a lighter bar.

The bar is thick but also a bit more narrow than the standard Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar. Both bars I picked up were unbroken and unblemished. They have six narrow segments that cleave off easily to reveal the little air bubbles within.

Since the bar is aerated, the snap and bite is softer. It’s not that it’s melted or anything, it’s just quieter or something. It does seem to melt quicker and has a stronger scent (perhaps because of the increased surface area on the exposed surfaces). The flavor is undeniably Hershey’s Milk Chocolate. If you don’t like the sweet, caramelly and tangy flavor of Hershey’s, you’re really not going to like this. The fudgy cheesecake flavors are more noticeable now that the texture matches that more closely. It’s really filling, I was surprised. I took each section as two bites and took quite a while to eat it. It felt like a lot more chocolate than 1.44 ounces.

As far as the success of Hershey’s aerated bar, I’d say they’ve done a great job. It’s exactly what you’d want if you wanted a bubbly Hershey’s milk chocolate experience. I found it far too sweet and gave the back of my throat that “acidic burp” feeling. So if you’re looking for a satisfying actual chocolate experience, you might want to step up to something a little higher quality. But if you’ve always wanted a Nestle Aero bar that you can buy at your local store without the import premium, this may be your thing.

This bar was made in Mexico. There’s no allergen statement anywhere on it (though it does actually contain dairy and soy, so you know those for sure).

Related Candies

1. Frey Chocobloc AIR
2. Hershey’s Kisses Air Delight
3. Nestle Aero 70% Dark
4. Bubble Chocolate (2010)
5. Rising Cost of Candy - A Brief Study of Hershey Prices
6. Hershey’s Miniatures
7. Dairy Milk Bubbly

A juicy slice of orange on a sunny summer day.

This is a Goody Good Stuff vegan gummi (which technically means it’s a jelly, not a gummi).

We don’t have Tesco stores where I live. I’ve heard from my other candy obsessed compatriots that they have an excellent selection. So I was pretty happy to hear that Tesco was creating a little chain of American stores called Fresh & Easy, which might be described as a Trader Joe’s style of no frills shopping for the price conscious. I’ve visited a few times and tried their house brand chocolate (but never wrote it up).

Over the weekend I popped in because I’d read online that they carry Gimbal’s candy and I was on the prowl for the Sour Lovers (no luck on that front). Instead, I picked up one of the house branded tubs of candy, in this case their Fresh & Easy Milk Chocolate Covered Toffee Pieces which were a smidge expensive at $3.99 for 11 ounces. However, they do boast there there are no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives used.

The little nuggets varied quite a bit in size. Some were as small as a ball bearing while the large ones were about the size of a Peanut M&M.

The chocolate coating is sweet and milky and quite smooth. It was far too sweet for me, I would have preferred a dark chocolate version of these if they were around. However, the toffee center makes up for it with a deep toasted flavor, crunchy texture and salted butter notes.

They’re not earth shattering. There are other products like this, but not a lot available in this format: a tub for unabashed full-fisted snacking. I might get them again, or I might go for the little caramels they also had that looked kind of like the Tahitian Vanilla Caramels that Trader Joe’s has in little packets, except of course they don’t mention the vanilla part and the price is in keeping with the bulk tubs, not the single serve.

They’re good for snacking, for watching movies or perhaps even as an addition to ice cream.

Related Candies

1. Zeke’s Butterscotch
2. Kraft Daim
3. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee
4. Wonka Exceptionals Scrumdiddlyumptious
5. Green & Black’s Peanut Milk Chocolate
6. Roca Buttercrunch Thins

My sense of adventure with licorice from around the world is starting to ruin my appreciation of licorice. I’ve found that I’ve spent a lot of time trying to appreciate other versions, especially the salted styles from Northern Europe, that I’m spending less of my time just eating the products I’ve already found I love.

After my earlier experiments with German licorice, more specifically, licorice from Haribo (Lakritz Parade, Goliath Lakritz-Stangen and Sali-Kritz) , you’d think I would have learned something. I found most of the licorice I bought there downright inedible by my preferences. Yet when I was at Mel & Rose Wine and Liquors last month, I bought yet another Haribo licorice product. At the very least while I was in Germany I could rationalize that the candy was cheap, most under one Euro per package, here it was over $3.00.

They’re called Haribo Pearlico. The ingredients seemed to indicate that they were a children’s licorice, with no ammonia salts. My mouth may say otherwise.

I admit that I was attracted by the look of them. Each is a large mounded gumdrop shape. They’re soft enough to be squished with firm pressure. The ingredients are all natural, so the muted tones of the little candy spheres coating the licorice center is made from vegetable dyes.

At the center of each is a soft licorice gumdrop made with treacle flavor and licorice. It’s earthy, soft and relatively smooth. The candy sphere are soft and crunchy, not dense like the American version that might be found on SnoCaps. If you’ve ever had the Haribo Raspberries, you’ll know what I mean.

The licorice center has a lot of molasses flavor, some deep ginger and beet notes, burnt sugar and soft anise. But every once in a while I was getting a real whiff of ammonia. At first I thought that certain colors were ammonia (yellow in particular) but it turned out that they were all the same, just very mildly “salted” licorice.

As a first introduction to the world of salted licorice, they’re good. The textures are fun, though the colors remind me of something that’s been left in the sun to be bleached, like old plastic toys found washed up in October on the beach.

The center contains a combination of gelatin and agar-agar so it’s not quite suitable for vegetarians.

Related Candies

1. 12 European Licorices
2. Panda Candy Coated Licorice
3. Haribo Sali-Kritz
4. Krema Batna
5. Haribo Pontefract Cakes
6. Barratt Liquorice Catherine Wheels
7. Marich Black Heart Licorice

A couple of years ago Mars introduced some new candy bars to the United States based on their popularity in Australia. They were called Fling and came in bright pink packages along with lots of marketing directed towards women. They came in three flavor varieties: Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut.

About a year later the test marketing of Fling waned and a new bar came out nationally, the 3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp. The bar is described on the package as whipped-up chocolate truffle on a crisp layer enrobed in real milk chocolate.

The bars are narrow fingers, nicely domed with drizzled chocolate across the top. They’re light, literally - each weights a smidge over a half an ounce. (For comparison, a single Twix finger is about an ounce.) The package says that each one contains less than 85 calories. Well, that’s pretty easy since it doesn’t weigh much. In reality, the calories per ounce are quite high at 155 but the package limits your portion.

The bar snaps nicely with a light cracking sound. The construction is interesting (and this is where the bar is unique). The base is a plank of chocolate meringue. It’s crispy and airy with a light sweetness and hint of salt and cocoa to it. The truffle on top really isn’t - it’s a mix of cocoa and hydrogenated and/or non-hydrogenated palm and palm kernel oils. (In my world a truffle is made of actual chocolate and some sort of dairy fat.) The chocolatey cream is okay, fluffy but a little greasy and flavorless to my tongue. It’s all wrapped in a good amount of milk chocolate. The milk chocolate is sweet and creamy with a strong dairy note to it. It pulls it all together well.

The idea and execution of this is actually really good. I wish the truffle part was better and having had the Fling in dark chocolate, I know this is actually better in dark chocolate.

I actually like these bars, even with all my complaining about various elements of the promotion, packaging and ingredients. They’re unique and inventive, once consumers try them, I think the rest of the weirdness of the rest of it will be irrelevant. It would also be cool if Mars extended the use of the meringue crisp - I could see them as interesting centers for M&Ms, different flavored cream toppings for this bar (like coffee) and perhaps something berry with dark chocolate.

Though there are no wheat ingredients on the list, it is made on shared equipment with wheat (and peanuts) so it’s not technically gluten free, so try at your own risk.

Update 10/29/2012: I just heard back from Mars, they are discontinuing the Truffle Crisp bar. They just weren’t popular enough. My suggestion for those who love the bar is to write to Mars and propose that they bring them back seasonally. So you can stock up.

Related Candies

1. Nestle Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp
2. Fling: Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut
3. Fancy Food Show 2009 Notes - Day Three
4. Parkside Candy Sponge Candy
5. 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate
6. Violet Crumble