Candy Bar Lab

I don’t often see molded candy bars that have both milk and dark chocolate. In fact, the Nidar Yade is probably the first one I’ve had. It seems most manufacturers assume that milk chocolate and dark chocolate are mutually exclusive and that consumers want one or the other, not both in the same product.

Structure
A thin, wide molded bar with a bottom layer of dark chocolate and top layer of milk chocolate. Small, caramelized bits of macadamia nuts and hazelnuts are mixed in.

Texture
Perfectly tempered with a nice snap when you break it into the smaller, triangular pieces. The hazelnut and macadamia nut pieces are really small, but add a nice contrast to the smooth chocolate.

Taste
There’s about two or more times milk chocolate than dark chocolate, but in terms of taste, the two are split evenly. The dark chocolate is more pronounced when you first bite in, but the milk chocolate becomes more noticeable on the finish. It’s difficult to taste any hazelnut or macadamia nut because the pieces are so small, but you do get some extra sweetness from their caramelized coating.

Verdict
I don’t actually finish many of the candy bars that I review on this blog myself. I try to share with others if they’re good or I sometimes toss out the rest if they’re really bad. So when I eat an entire candy bar myself, like I did with the Nidar Yade, that’s a sign that it’s a damn good candy bar. I would put the Yade easily in the top tier of the candy bars I’ve tried so far.

I learned via the internets (specifically JBox.com) that in Japan there are many odd varieties of flavored Kit Kats. So I was super excited to finally get my hands on one (Thanks Thanny) to try out for myself.

The first thing I noticed on the packaging was “Muscat of Alexandria” in large English print right below the Kit Kat logo. That seemed pretty odd, but I figured it probably had something to do with the pictures of green grapes. Sure enough, Muscat of Alexandria is an ancient vine of grape used in wine and raisin production. These are the things you find out writing (and reading) a candy bar blog I guess.

Structure
The package contains two individually wrapped bars. Each bar is two segments of grape flavored, molded white chocolate filled with wafers.

I really like that they added green coloring to the white chocolate.

Texture
The texture is exactly like a regular sized Kit Kat bar. The light crispy wafer and white chocolate coating work well together.

Taste
The grape flavor is subtle, but definitely noticeable - like weak grape bubble gum. The white chocolate helps to balance the slight citric acid flavor that immediately hits your tongue. Overall, it reminded me a little bit of the Choxie Lime Bar.

Verdict
I enjoyed the Muscat of Alexandria Kit Kat a lot. With one caveat though. I don’t think this is a candy bar I could eat all the time. It’s slightly odd and I enjoyed it because it’s unique. Green grape and white chocolate isn’t going to replace peanut butter and milk chocolate as a classic flavor combination, but it’s something you should try if you ever get a chance.

In the US, the only Cadbury candy bars I ever see are the solid, molded variety with nuts and dried fruits mixed in. These bars are actually produced by Hershey’s under a license agreement. In the rest of the world though, there’s a big variety of Cadbury enrobed products like the Cadbury Boost. I suppose the Hershey’s licensing agreement might prohibit Cadbury from exporting these candy bars to the US.

Structure
The inner core is a chocolate ganache-like filling, where the bottom half has small, round bits of biscuits (cookies) mixed in. This is surrounded by a thin layer of caramel. The whole bar is enrobed in milk chocolate.

Texture
The chocolate filling isn’t as soft as I was expecting or would have liked. It’s slightly softer than the pure chocolate coating, but not much. The biscuit pieces are perfectly crunchy, but there aren’t enough of them. I would have liked the whole center, not just the bottom half, to include biscuits pieces. The way the caramel is layered so thin, it’s not noticeable at first. But since it’s so chewy, it lasts longer than the other components, so you end up with some caramel in your mouth after everything else is gone.

Taste
The milk chocolate, both the coating and the filling, taste good. The caramel is slightly salty, which complements the overall sweetness of the product.

Verdict
The Cadbury Boost is a reconstructed Twix bar, though it’s not quite as good. Twix has a higher proportion of caramel and it’s solid cookie bar provides more crunch than Boost’s small, round bits of cookie. That said, it’s still pretty darn good and Cadbury chocolate is tasty.