Candy Bar Lab

Mr. Goodbar is a classic. First sold in 1925, it’s in the same iconic league as Snickers and Baby Ruth. It was also one of my favorites growing up. Whenever I came across a bag of Hershey’s miniatures, I quickly combed through and picked out all the little Mr. Goodbars; especially leaving the Special Darks behind. Well it’s been a few years since I’ve had one of these and I was pretty devastated to learn that Mr. Goodbars no longer contain real chocolate. Apparently, in an effort to cut costs, Hershey’s has decided to downgrade one of their greatest brands. But how noticeable is it? I figured it was worth a shot to see if maybe one of my childhood favorites was still as awesomely tasty as I remembered.

Structure
A 12 segment, molded milk chocolate bar with roasted peanuts.

Texture
The bar is thin and really soft - not at all like tempered chocolate should be. Worse, the chocolate is grainy. This is characteristic of real Hershey’s milk chocolate anyway, but this is worse. The peanuts are at least crunchy, but in a molded chocolate product like this, the consistency of the chocolate is the most important part and Mr. Goodbar fails in that department.

Taste
Sugary sweet with a lot of vanilla and little real chocolate flavor. The peanuts are fine enough, but it’s interesting to me that there’s no salt in this bar. Peanuts, salt, and chocolate go so well together. I can understand not wanting to go overboard with the salt, but just a little bit would go a long way. Especially if Hershey’s is going to make such a sweet fake chocolate product, it needs something to balance it.

Verdict
It’s really sad to see a classic like this suffer in the interest of reducing production costs. Some day, I hope Hershey’s regains their senses and refocuses on quality with this product. Until then, I’m going to try to get my hands on a Ritter Sport Voll Erdnuss, which I’m confident will be of a much higher quality than Mr. Goodbar.

Whatchamacallit brings back memories of my 80’s childhood. Not because I actually ate many of them, but because I can remember those cheesy ads I used to see on TV. Back then, Hershey’s actually used real chocolate to cover this product. Sadly, today they use vegetables oils instead of cocoa butter because it’s cheaper and therefore, print “chocolately coating” on the packaging.

Structure
A peanut flavored crispy interior topped with a layer of caramel and enrobed in a milk chocolate coating.

Texture
The crispy center reminds me of Cheetos. Ok, that sounds weird, but imagine a Cheeto without any cheese on it. That’s what I thought of when biting into the center. Sadly, but expectantly, the chocolate coating is gritty. I wish I could go back and sample this Hershey’s product with real chocolate. The chewy caramel layer works nicely to provide some balance and depth to the texture of the bar.

Taste
The Whatchamacallit flavor experience is packed with sugary sweetness and vanilla. There’s really no chocolate flavor to be found, which is sad considering that I carefully taste candy bars looking for flavors. The caramel has a bit of saltiness, which cuts the sweetness a little, but it also has an artificial caramel taste that isn’t very pleasant.

Verdict
After I was done, I figured out what this candy bar reminded me of; these big tins of chocolate drizzled caramel popcorn my dad used to get for Christmas. I used to love that stuff. However, these days I’m not a fan of Whatchamacallits.

I already knew that a couple of the world’s greatest culinary delights are made near where I grew up - the New Haven, Connecticut area.

1. Modern Pizza
2. PEZ

It turns out that back in the day, Almond Joys were also made in New Haven. Back then though, they were produced by the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company. Today, they’re manufactured by Hershey’s, which means they’re not actually made in New Haven anymore. Oh well…

Structure
The package contains two small bars, each consisting of a shredded coconut core topped with two whole almonds - all enrobed in a thin shell of milk chocolate.

Texture
The center is very soft, which makes the bar really easy to bite through. The coconut filling feels wet; like it’s bound together with a light syrup (in fact, I think that’s exactly how the coconut is held together). I like the consistency of the center a lot actually. It’s not dry or crumbly at all, which a coconut product could easily be. The almonds and chocolate shell provide a nice, crunchy contrast.

Taste
The coconut and toasted almonds are the flavor stars in this bar. They work together perfectly. The milk chocolate, on the other hand, is weak. It ends up being the role player in the group. All together, the flavors work well together. Though I would have liked a more intense chocolate experience.

Verdict
The combinations of flavors and textures in Almond Joy are perfectly conceived. This is a classic bar that deserves its spot on pretty much every candy stand you’ll come across in the US.