Candy Bar Lab

In the UK and the Middle East, the Dove brand of chocolate is known as Galaxy. This particular product from them seems very similar to a Flake and possibly an Aero. It seems that outside the US, people like air in their chocolate. I’ve never seen anything like this regularly sold over here in the States. I previously enjoyed Mint Aero, so let’s give this one a try.

Structure
The whole bar is very long and thin. The center consists of thin layers of milk chocolate, separated by pockets of air. The layered centered is enrobed with a thin shell of milk chocolate.

Texture
It crumbles a lot. I had to put my hand below my mouth to keep the small pieces from falling on the floor. The scraps of chocolate do melt quicker in your mouth than a big hunk of solid chocolate would. Overall, it’s very light and delicate.

Taste
It tastes like milk chocolate. In terms of quality, I would put it a half-notch above Hershey’s. Dove (i.e. Galaxy) is marketed as a high-end chocolate, but I’m not convinced it’s all that good.

Verdict
There’s nothing particularly offensive about this bar. It’s just boring. I like plain chocolate bars, but I usually reach for something higher in quality if that’s what I’m going for. If the only distinguishing feature of the bar is that it has a unique texture, it should improve upon the regular feel of chocolate. I’m not sure that Ripple accomplishes this.

On a recent trip to London, one of my friends was nice enough to pick up some bars that I generally can’t find here in the US. The first of these bars that I’m digging into is the Kinder Bueno; but first, a few interesting facts about this product…

• “Kinder” is the German word for “children”. “Bueno” means “good” in Spanish.
• Kinder products are produced by Ferrero, the makers of Nutella.
• My mom thinks these bars are “wonderful”.

Structure
The package contains two small bars, each with four wafer pockets filled with hazelnut cream. The whole bars are enrobed in a thin layer of milk chocolate and drizzled with dark chocolate.

Texture
When you pick this product up, you’ll instantly notice how light and delicate it is. In fact, both bars came to me slightly broken from their overseas trip in a suitcase. The wafers are crispy and the cream filling is really light and smooth. I’ve tried similar products with cream centers that are dry and chalky. This is nothing like that. It’s closer to whipped cream. Kinder Bueno also get points from me for a nicely tempered chocolate coating.

Taste
I hadn’t actually paid attention to the packaging that states “Milk and Hazelnut” as the flavors and shows a tall glass of milk next to the bars. I usually think of milk as a base, not a flavor. But as I was tasting this bar, I really picked up on the milk flavor. The hazelnut was tertiary, behind both the chocolate and milk flavors. Overall, the flavors are very subtle. The wafers are mostly flavor-neutral, but the thin chocolate layer is surprisingly good.

Verdict
This is getting a big thumbs up from me. I could eat six of these in one sitting. The only knock (and its hypothetical one) is that it might be better with pieces of chopped hazelnuts in it.

When we hear “nougat” in America, we think of a fluffy, white substance like the stuff found in Snickers and Three Musketeers. But nougat means something entirely different in other parts of the world. This German candy bar is the gianduia variety of nougat, which is a combination of chocolate, hazelnut paste and almond paste. I had never seen this bar before recently finding it in a local store, so I had to check it out for myself (I’m hoping it’s worth the $3.99 I paid for it).

Structure
This is a solid, molded bar with six segments.

Texture
Nougat Praline is soft and smooth - like a thick chocolate mousse. It thoroughly coats your mouth and dissolves nicely. The texture is completely homogeneous; there are no crunchy bits.

Taste
This bar was delicious on the first bite, which was likely accentuated because I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. It tastes almost exactly like Nutella; bursting with hazelnut and chocolate flavors. The downside… it’s REALLY sweet. There’s a lot of sugar in this product. I enjoyed the first bite, but became overwhelmed after a few more. It’s an indulgence that should be split across multiple sessions or shared with a few others.

Verdict
I’m on the fence about this one. This is a high-quality candy that is certainly tasty, but it has a one-dimensional texture and is a bit too sweet. Most importantly, I don’t think this product should be made as such a large bar. It would be better to make this candy in bite-size pieces. I definitely won’t be shelling out four bucks for another one.