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Candy Bars Worth Crossing State Lines ForA field guide to great American treats |
Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, put together this list of his favorite regional candy bars. Turn to Chowhound to find out where to get many of these retro confections; some people already have.
1. Valomilk (Kansas). Chocolate and vanilla in a goopy masterpiece.
2. Twin Bing (Iowa). Two brown-gold balls of sweet cherry cream covered with crushed peanuts and chocolate.
3. Idaho Spud (Idaho and the Northwest). A potato-shaped marshmallow, flavored with maple and cocoa, drenched in chocolate, and sprinkled with coconut.
4. GooGoo Cluster (The South). A sugar bomb made of marshmallow, caramel, peanuts, and chocolate.
5. Big Hunk (The West). A delicious vanilla nougat shot through with roasted peanuts.
6. Peanut Chews (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey). A Philly classic loaded with peanuts and molasses, and covered in chocolate.
7. Sky Bar (New England). The only mainstream candy bar that comes in four flavors: vanilla nougat, peanut, fudge, and caramel. A Boston icon.
8. Nut Goodie (Minnesota). Peanuts and chocolate around a chewy center: the classic cold-weather comfort bar.
9. Blue Monday (Kentucky). An unusual creamy center covered in dark chocolate.
10. Coffee Crisp, Aero (Canada). A trip over the border offers a multitude of delights—the candy equivalent of cheap meds.
Images courtesy of Candy Direct.
Reminds me of when my SO and I "discovered" Coffee Crisps in Canada and brought a bunch back! Now that we're out of them, we feel, somehow, oppressed...denied the goodness of Coffee Crisps under a totalitarian regime.
Skybars were a must when we went East for visits.
I am now doubtful of my knowledge of candybars. I haven't heard of any of these!!!!
the best part of the idaho spud is that the marshmallow is made with agar-agar and has a crazy, sponge-y weird texture.
Canadian chocolate is essentially the same as British chocolate, which is less sweet and more chocolatey than American chocolate. Canadian Kit-Kats are my favorite, and I also like Smarties (not technically a bar, but at least they're chocolate) and also Time Out bars.
I usually end up importing cases of Coffee Crisps with me when I head South. Given the volume of people who insist that I bring them some, I can't imagine why they don't attempt to market them in the US.
Until you have had a Twin Bing you have not lived. I buy boxes if I go through Iowa or Nebraska, and now my friends are hooked.
As a Canadian, this is funny to me, as we used to stock up on American chocolate bars everytime we visited the States. As kids we liked the increased sugar, as well as the exoticness.
My Canadian boyfriend brought me a bag of candy bars after his last visit home. Coffee Crisp is so good!
And as a former New Englander, I hold Sky Bars rather dear. They were my favorite growing up.
coffee crisp are the best! aero is good as another canadian-bred treat, although in vermont we used to get them (coffee crisp as well). my mom's from newfoundland, so we found ourselves up in canada frequently.
another great canadian candy bar is turkish delight, although that's more of an acquired taste.
Yum, Goldenberg's peanut Chews. I dont even like peanuts, but I love love love these...especially once I found out they are dark chocolate! FYI, you can get some of the Aero type bars at specialty places in the states...some places in Cali carry those Cadbury and British chocolates that are in Canada as well.
It's come at the expense of the Goldenberg name and the old-style packaging, but Peanut Chews are rather widely available now. I've bought them at a small grocery in Oregon but some of the big drugstore/supermarket chains have 'em too.
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I grew up with big hunks-in L.A. Better when they're chocolate dipped. Then today, I rambled into the Tudor House, a British tea house in Santa Monica. They had Kit Kat Bar's in 3 different flavors: dark chocolate, orange, and mint. The markets sell in milk chocolate only. - I thought that was rather funky.... Aero is Nestle and sold in Britain. Tudor House was loaded with many varieties. I'm rather partial to Australian Violet Crumbles and Tim Tams's.
I used to work for a company that would get boxes of files shipped from Canada about 4 times a year. There was one client in Saskatchewan that used to cause fights because instead of using packing peanuts in the box to fill extra space, she used Aero Bars, Coffee Crisps, and Smarties. I still dream about our special treats from Saskatchewan!
To all the US fans of Coffee Crisp: you may find that you don't have to cross the border to get your fix! Nestle has confirmed they are distributing it in the States, though "availability is somewhat limited."
See http://www.nestle-coffeecrisp.com for more details.
If you can't find it in a store near you that carries other Nestle products, the site even has a product request form that you can print off and bring to the store manager.
I am CRAZY about Twin Bings!! I grew up in Nebraska and always buy a few for cupboard back home in LA.
The Blue Monday sounds great! I'm intrigued!
Apparently, when Just Born, the makers of Peeps, bought Goldberg's, the peanut chews converted to Christianity. Since then, they've been welcome in the vending machines of even the most "exclusive" country clubs, though they still get a little anxious when they're placed next to the pork rinds or when they see the Cheetos and Slim Jims too close together.
Coffee Crisps, Crunchies, smarties are all part of my favorite things from North of the border. When my parents come and visit me on Florida they pack those up for me!!!!
I learned to ration my goodies so that they can last until the next visit from friends and family!!!
The vending machines where I work have Coffee Crisps in them, although I haven't ever tried one since I don't drink coffee. I haven't ever seen one anywhere but the vending machine though.
Oh man, do I ever love candy bars. Eating them makes you feel like a kid again sometimes. Not the Hersey's or Snicker's variety, but the Violet Crumbles (nod to you Kitchen Queen), Sky Bars, Twin Bigs, and the Big Hunks! THOSE are where it’s at. Here in Austin (and surrounding area's) we are blessed/cursed with a specialty grocery store called Central Market. They carry most of the candy bars on the list and then some. The Sky Bar will give you an instant cavity it's so sweet. I mean that in a good way. I think the Big Hunk is best when they get a little warm. Just hold it in your hand for a minute.
Read Candy Freak by Steve Almond - he mentions a lot of these candy bars. It inspired me to seek out many of the ones mentioned above.
Oh yeah, Big Hunks...haven't had one in years, will rip the fillings right out of your teeth its so sticky.... Loved 'em as a kid.
Better than Big Hunks are Looks, the same bar, but covered in chocolate. Don't know if they still make Cup o' Golds in California, but they were my childhood favorite.
When I was a kid, my grandmother used to buy us googoo clusters as a special treat from the Family Dollar store in Montross, Virginia. I had totally forgotten that they even existed! Crunchy, chocolatey, gooey goodness!
Skybars were my favorite candy bar as a kid. Those different flavors made it seem as if you got 4 different chocolate bars for one price. Just the thing for a kid scraping by with only 25 cents to spend on candy.
Yum, candy. Nielsen's Malted Milk from Canada are my favorite, but I cannot seem to find them very often. They are kind of like a milky way, only a lot better :)
I recently took my first trip to the Pacific Northwest. While cruising the back roads in Washington, we stopped to pick up some munchies, including an Idaho Spud, which we had never heard of before. It became the "mascot" of the trip. We'd include it in our photos (sort of like the traveling gnome) and on the last day of our trip we made a video of us eating it. Sorry to say, it was pretty nasty.
Coffee Crisp is another matter. I first had it when I went to Expo67. I used pretty much of my "souvenir" money on them. Giuliano's Italian Deli in Torrance sells them.
Peanut Chews are so good!
Anyone know where you can get Aero bars (canadian) in New York State or where I can order a box? Ebay only has single bars for sale. Thanks
singletam@hotmail.com
Surprisingly Coffee Crisps are showing up at Dollar Tree stores all over New York State and also at P&C Grocery Stores. My cousin who lives in Montana loves them and I sent her a case of 36 of them and she thought I went to Canada for them! She was quite surprised!
I love Twin Bing. they are my favorite. they taste good on top of a bowl of vanilla ice cream.