I found this bar at a store called Kearn’s on Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. I’ve passed by this little convenience store for 13 years without ever stopping in. Because it’s in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, I thought they might have an interesting selection (and perhaps some leftover Passover Coke). They carried a good line of candies, with a strong focus on jelly based ones (Sunkist Fruit Gems, anyone?). They also had some imported items, especially ones from Israel in the Paskesz brand.

I’ve had a few Paskesz candies and find them decent middle of the road fare, rather like Hershey’s or Mars but with a good wholesome twist on the ordinary crunch.

Looking at the Milk Munch bar it was pretty obvious that it’s a Milky Way knock-off (Mars knock-off for your European readers).

The milk chocolate is unremarkable. It’s sweet and creamy, but lacks any real chocolate flavor contribution here. The main flavor here is the rather cereal tasting nougat. Salty and perhaps a little malty, it tastes a bit like cookie dough. The caramel is nice and soft, but again, not very flavorful.

I was hoping for a Milky Way Bar here, but I got something a little more toned down but far saltier ... and Milky Ways are pretty sedate as it is. But there was something more dense about the nougat portion that just didn’t please me. And at more than the price of a regular Milky Way, it just wasn’t worth it.

I tried the Paskesz Klik before and really liked them, read about it here.

Note from wrapper: made under the supervision of Rabbi O.Y. Westheim, Manchester

There are two things that are great about tasting international candies (well, more than two, but two that I’m going to point out here). The first one is finding new and exciting candy with combinations or ingredients I’ve never had before. The second one is finding the same thing that we have available here in the States. And you wonder why I find the latter a great thing? It’s because it’s a confirmation of the universality of candy. Whether it’s the same megaglobalcorp making it elsewhere or a spontaneous expression of convergent evolution, it’s all a reminder to me that candy is the Great Uniter. 

I’m still plowing through the huge box of goodies from Israel, so expect weekly groupings of goodies for at least through February.

These fun little popables are kind of like those Pirouline cookie sticks. They’re a little wafer cookie tube covered with chocolate. There are little holes in either end (most of the time) that makes them look like chocolate macaroni that you could string up and wear (and eat!). This is one of those rare instances where the candy shown on the package looked exactly like what was inside. They were glossy milk chocolate that smelled like sweet, milky chocolate. They’re also very light since they’re crunchy, hollow cookies. That amount of air in there is actually, I think, a good thing as it makes you feel like you’re eating more and also allows the flavors and aroma to mix. The chocolate is very sweet but really smooth and a little sticky with a hint of the European style of milk chocolate. The crispy cookie center is airy and with a hint ofcaramelized sugar to give it a little contrast to the vanilla sweetness of the chocolate.

It’s easy to just keep eating these. It’s such a simple idea, it makes me wonder why we don’t have something like this in the States. There’s a huge variety in theKlik line, including chocolate corn flakes, which reminds me of the Ritter Sport Knusperflakes.

This sounds like an unlikely bar: Extrafine Milk Chocolate with Cookies and Crunchy Wheat Germ. Let’s face it, most of us grow up thinking things like wheat germ are yucky. But think of it like Grape Nuts. In fact, why isn’t there a chocolate bar with Grape Nuts? These cookie and wheat germ aren’t as big as Grape Nuts but they’re very tasty and add more than texture to the bar. The wheat germ has a wonderful malty quality that gives the bar a nutty punch and moderates some of the sweetness. The chocolate here is also the same very sweet but exceptionally smooth milk chocolate.

It’s also a really pretty bar. When I opened it up I was pleased to see that it’s molded in the shape of a bunch of bubbles. It makes it easy to break off pieces, but they’re not little squares, instead they’re nice little domes which means more room for crunch.

Even though I don’t read/speak Hebrew, I was easily able to pick out the Klik items from the box from Michal. I credit this to the vibrant design and packaging. I know I’m not going to run across these again, but I know I’ll recognize them if it does happen.

Note: Israeli Kliks are nothing like the American Kliks which are a candy dispenser similar to Pez but they dispense Smarties ... the American Smarties, not the UK ones ... sigh, it’s tough being global.