World of Snacks is heading to the country that is home to two ground breaking snack items, Pez candy and Red Bull energy drink. This is our first post on our Global Snack Blog from Austria, and hopefully it’s not the last. Today we are reviewing Manner Lemon Cream Filled Wafers. Don’t worry, though we’ll get to Red Bull and Pez down the road. Manner is an Austrian confectionery dynasty that was formed by Joef Manner in 1890 out of his small sweet shop in Vienna. The founder’s initial goal was to mass produce chocolate and make it high quality and more affordable, at the time chocolate was a luxury item and it would cost a typical worker two days worth of wages to enjoy. Just eight years later the Manner wafer was born. Their initial success was with producing the first Neapolitan wafer and several other tasty flavors followed. At the start they came in small boxes with a pink ribbon. In 1949 aluminum foil was first introduced to the packaging. Today the packaging is not as romantic as the original ribbon tied box but it’s still clear this is a high quality snack. Our snack for review today is the Manner Lemon Cream Filled Wafers. If you’ve been following our Global Snack Blog you’ll notice that wafer candy bars and treats seem to be pretty common across the world. With that being said we were not over the top excited to be sampling another wafer product. However, our hesitation and low expectations quickly disappeared once we sampled these wafers by Manner. Upon opening this treat from Austria you get a mild whiff of the citrus lemon flavor. At first bite the lemon is subdued and the wafer is crisp but nothing out of the ordinarily. The second and third bite intensify the lemon flavor and then a sweet, delicious rush of flavor erupts across your pallet. These conservative looking wafers are really powerful and over the top. All of the testers on our panel agree that these are hands down the best wafers in the world, or at least from what we have sampled so far. Will you be able to buy Manner Lemon Creamed Filled Wafers from our US based snack store? We are hoping so. This is currently the only snack we have out of Austria and they do offer several other exciting flavors we hope to try. If we can locate enough snacks from Austria that warrant this country ‘s inclusion in our normal line up, Manner Wafers will for sure be in our inventory.
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Fresh off our US review of the finalist for Lays Do Us a Flavor competition we were ready to steer our global snack blog back out of the country and across the Atlantic Ocean. Today we are heading to the United Kingdom and to the country of Scotland. We choose to sample Tunnock’s Milk Chocolate Tea Cakes, a well loved snack created by a long standing family run business. Tunnock’s boasts they have a “tasteful past” and after starting in the business way back in 1890 they more than deserve the slogan. Originally a bakery and purveyor of confectionery items, Tunnock’s didn’t get into the full blown snack business until the 1950s. They now employee approximately 550 loyal staff members and operate out of a factory that stands only 100 yards away from their first location. Our first treat that we chose to sample is a true Scottish Icon. We ripped open a box of Tunnock’s Milk Chocolate Tea Cakes and dove right in. This snack from abroad is a cookie topped with marshmallow and covered in milk chocolate. At this time we’d like to apologize since we currently do not offer these Milk Chocolate Tea Cakes in our international snack store, how could these not taste good? We are talking about a cookie with marshmallow and chocolate! They are outrageously delicious and even though there were six in the box they did not last more than a few seconds. In fact being they are tea cakes I put a kettle on and attempted to pair it with a cup of hot tea, but once I took a bite for the photo I didn’t wait for the water to finish boiling. I did opt for glass of milk and so did our 10 year old Director of Taste. The chocolate is soft and milky, the marshmallow is creamy and smooth, and the cookie is moist and well flavored. Our taste testers unanimously agreed that Tunnock’s Milk Chocolate Tea Cakes are truly a snack worth bragging about. Although we love this Scottish snack we unsure if we will offer Tunnock’s Tea Cakes for sale on World of Snacks as a normally stocked item. We do hope to do so but we must first determine if Scotland offers enough variety of sought after snacks and unique candies to warrant a full time position. We felt sophisticated eating this treat and we know we will for sure offer it for sale in limited runs and as a special feature. The full time position will remain up in the air until the launch of our international snack store toward the end of this year. So what exactly is Mediterranean Halva with Cocoa? Even after sampling the item we are not 100% sure. Our Global Snack Blog is trekking across the world to locate the very best snacks. So far we have explored top treats from 13 countries. Tonight we move to a 14th country and explore Mediterranean Halva with Cocoa from Greece.
Our version of Halva is produced by Haitoglou Bros who have offered sesame based snacks for over 85 years. The company boasts that the snacks they offer perfectly integrate with the Mediterranean Diet. Being this is our first snack from Greece and the surrounding region we were unfamiliar with the Mediterranean Diet and had to do a little research. It appear that this diet is based off eating primarily plant based food such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. It also suggests replacing butter with healty fats such as olive and palm oils. Another key factor I noticed after sampling the Halva is that drinking red wine in moderation is a part of the diet, more on that later. So what exactly is Halva? Even after sampling the item we are not 100% sure. According to our research it is sweet desert style delicacy that is popular in the Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. Upon sampling it seemed to be a nut based product. Our version of Halva was in fact a nut-butter based product that was primarily made from ground sesame seeds. Now onto to our review and taste test of Haitoglou Bros Mediterranean Halva with Cocoa. The package did not indicate what we were getting into. We literally had no idea what to expect upon unwrapping this tiny conservatively packaged treat. Once open we still did not know quite what it was. Needless to say this is not a typical dessert from cultures and countries we are personally familiar with. The taste was interesting and unique. The texture was even more unusual. Our panel of taste testers struggled to locate the right words to describe this snack from Greece. After much thought we decided that Halva with Cocoa taste like ground up peanuts with a hint of chocolate that are molded and some how modified to have a foam texture. The snack was flakey and broke apart in your mouth but had a dry essence that seemed to hold it together in your hand. My personal immediate action was to grab a glass of red wine and see how the flavor develop and apparently I was being faithful top the products intention as a part of the Mediterranean diet! Unfortunately the flavor did not evolve how I hoped it would. We choose to sample this product tonight since we had a intimate taste panel and the product was very small. We are sorry to say that this is the first snack that we did not finish. Our testers all agreed that although the snack was overall pleasant no one really had a desire to continue eating it. At this time we are unsure if we will offer Mediterranean Halva with Cocoa in our US based international snack store set to open later this year. If you are familiar with this product please feel free to share an insight. We’d love to know what you think and if you believe we should offer it for purchase on our website. Get your taste buds ready, we are taking our Global Snack Blog to Thailand and reviewing the popular Amira Tamarind Candy. Generally we like to lead in with a little about the brand but this popular treat has very little information available online. The brand is listed as Amira which I am not able to locate any information on and the manufacture is Asia Jumbo Industry out of Thailand. The only information I can find about Asia Jumbo Industry as that do indeed make Amira Tamarind Candy and a few others top selling Thai candies. So with out further delay, lets get onto the review. Amira Tamarind Candy comes in a shinny light brown packaging with a red logo in the center that appears to read Oust, however I assume that it’s Thai writing and it’s just a coincidence. Upon opening 16 small tablets that are individually wrapped in a similar packaging spill out. I chose the word tablets since that is how they are labeled on the main package, but they are not medicinal. Now you know what they look like, let’s see how they taste.
Towards the end of the year we are planning on launching our international snack food store and we intended to have a section dedicated to Thai candy and treats. It looks like Amira Tamarind Candy will most likely be included as a part of our regular inventory
With over 1.2 billion people in India this country is home to the second highest population in the world. If we didn’t include delicious snacks from India we’d be missing a very large demographic. Today our Global Snack Blog is heading to one of the most diverse culinary cultures in the world. As we tip toe into the Indian culture and it’s culinary treats we decided to start with a snack from a Parle Products. Originally the company was established in 1929 by a British Indian who set out to offer an alternative to typical British biscuits. From what I can put together there has been a split in recent history and now three separate companies out of India are operating under the Parle brand name. The snack we are reviewing today is Parle-G Original Gluco Biscuits, one of the top selling biscuits in the world with a 35% share dominance in India. Our taste test panel for the evening was extended and that was the reason for the selection of this snack. The small package contained an abundance of cookies which made it easy to share. The packaging was simple and sort of resembled a pack of Ramen noodles in the US. The writing on the packaging included the words “Milk+Wheat” which lead me to believe there would be a cream filling. Once opened it was clear that these are simple and tradition biscuit style cookies. No filling, no frills, and an apparent lack of milk. After doing some research these biscuits are actually meant a healthy snack for tea time. But how do Parle-G Original Gluco Biscuits taste? The cookies are crisp and slightly sweet with a foreign aftertaste. One of our testers mentioned they resemble a gram cracker flavor. I personally could see how that comparison could arise but was solely focused on coming up with a description of the aftertaste. I hate to say it but the first thought that came to mind was melted plastic, which I have not sampled but remember the smell from my mother melting Tupperware in the dishwasher when I was a child. None of the other tasters noted the aftertaste and one taster with an Indian background really enjoyed the snack. The second round of tasting including a glass of cold milk. With a quick submersion the flavor transformed into something amazing. The aftertaste was gone and the cookie rapidly absorbed the milk making it ideal for dunking. I imagine paired with tea this cookie would be phenomenal. With or without milk a majority of our taste tester concurred that this snack from Indian is a delight. Will you be able to buy Parle-G Original Gluco Biscuits on World of Snacks? It looks like they will be a regularly featured item stocked in our international snack store. The launch of our snack store will be towards the end of this year. Be sure to visit the store now and submit your email for an opening announcement and an exclusive coupon valid towards your first purchase. 7/20/2016 Update: World of Snacks now offers Parle-G Biscuits for sale online!
Our international snack store is taking it’s global blog to Italy, home of the world’s best sports cars! Just like the Italian sports cars this delicious treat is small, high quality, and comes in a shinny red color. We are talking about Perugina Dark Chocolate Covered Whole Cherries. I promise this is the last sports car reference, but just like a Ferrari, this snack is sweet! Perugina is an Italian candy company based in Perguia. If English is your first language it can be a little confusing. This snack company was first established in 1907 by Giovanni Buitoni and Lisa Spangoli. Perugina was first introduced to the US market at the World’s Fair in 1939 and quickly earned a reputation for producing some of the finest chocolate on the international market. Perugina is now owned by the Nestle company but still sold and branded under the original name. Prior to doing our background research it was easy to tell this Perugina Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries are a high-quality snack. The box is understated but eludes to a valuable contents. Once opened 3 shinny red wrapped treats roll out and beg to be devoured. Although the box is made for the English speaking market the individual cherries only provide text in Italian, and I prefer it that way. But enough about history and packaging, how does this snack taste? The build up from the presentation did not oversell the product. Perugina Dark Covered Whole Cherries are fantastic! Our first initial thought was someone went through all the boxes of assorted chocolate and pulled the best out and saved them for us. In the United State chocolate covered cherries only appear on valentines day or on other special occasions. With this snack we really felt like we were treating ourselves to something amazing. The dark chocolate shell had a smooth creamy and texture with just a touch of bitterness. The cherry inside was sweet and plump and the surrounding filling eluded to a fine liquor. Our taste test panel all concurred that this snack was clearly something amazing. Our group of snack connoisseurs consisted of a variety of ages ranging from young to old and our rating was unanimous. With out a doubt you will be able to purchase Perugina Dark Chocolate Covered Whole Cherries from World of Snacks in the near future. Our only disappointment with this product is we didn’t have enough for seconds! After yesterday’s article on Nongshim Shrimp Flavored Crackers we decided to head right back into a sweet treat for today’s snack review. Our Global Snack Blog is off to Northern Europe, Sweden to be exact. It was our 10 year old Director of Taste's turn to choose the snack and he went right for a candy bar with a shinny yellow and red wrapper produced by a company called Cloetta.
Cloetta has a long history in it’s home of Sweden that dates way back to 1872 when two brothers got together to make some candy. Their first treat to the market was a licorice and many more followed after. Today they have two facilities and approximately 730 employees. They produce several top selling and well loved snacks or confectioneries as they like to call them. Today we are taking a look at one of their best sellers, Cloetta Kexchoklad. Kexchoklad was initially introduced in the 1920s and was known as “Five O’clock Biscuit Chocolate.” Luckily for everyone Cloetta changed to it’s current name in 1938, which translates simply to Chocolate Biscuit. This classic chocolate candy is known and loved by 9 out of 10 Swedes and as of this review several Americans! Since we’ve created World of Snacks we have sampled some great chocolate candy bars from many international markets and so far this is one of my personal favorites. Other than the simple look when removed from the package everything just seemed right. The bar itself wasn’t pleasing to the eye but it’s great flavor and textures more than made up for it. The chocolate coating was milky and sweet, the internal wafers were crisp and light, and the filling in between the wafers was creamy and enjoyable. The only flavor that caught me off guard was the wafer itself Although crunchy and gratifying on my first bite I took note that it tasted more like a saltine cracker than a typical wafer used in a candy bar. After the second bite I was hooked on its non-sweet crunch that was layered and covered in plenty of delicious chocolate sweetness to compensate. Every member of our test group truly enjoyed the Kexchoklad. Will our US based international snack company offer Cloetta Kexchoklad? Of course! I personally am already craving another and had to fight my son for the last piece! Recently a majority of our taste tests have been focused on sweet snacks. That may mostly be my fault because I have a strong sweet tooth and crave sugar often. One of our avid followers thought we were not going to carry salty snacks and chips. Not too worry, we have you covered. World of Snacks will stock all types of treats and we will definitely sell a variety of chips. Now on to our first sugarless product review! Today our Global Snack Blog heads to Korea! We are taking a look at Nongshim Shrimp Flavored Crackers. Nongshim is Korea’s top manufacturer of instant noodles and also produces a variety of snacks, rice products, fruit juices, and bottle water. The company has long standing roots in Korea that date back to 1965. Currently they are in 80 or so international markets but are not widely distributed by major grocers in the in United States. Nongshim Shrimp Flavored Crackers are one of the most recognizable and loved snack foods from Korea. The use of the term “cracker” is not the traditional word used state side. In the US market these would be classified as a chip. They resemble long narrow ribbed French fries and are made from flour and ground up shrimp. The texture is light and crunchy. The package is bright red, shinny, and is very noticeable. Now onto the taste test! Upon opening the Nongshim Shrimp Flavored Crackers you are immediately aware this is no normal U.S. chip. You get a whiff of the ocean immediately. Living just off the Gulf of Mexico we were familiar with the smell but I can imagine it may not be so familiar or as pleasing to others. Needless to say it had a fishy hint to it. The bag was filled fairly and the product was aesthetically pleasing. The texture in my mouth felt right but the flavor was a little off. Our panel of snack enthusiasts all thought it lacked a shrimp punch. This may be because the shrimp are ground into the batter of the treat and not simply seasoned like many others. The outer seasoning was simply a light salting. At first I personally wasn’t a fan of these shrimp flavored crackers but I continued to eat them to prepare our review and they slowly grew on me. The other tasters agreed that they are addicting and everyone else liked them from the start. Our 10 year old Director of Taste was the biggest fan and plans to take the remaining with him to school tomorrow to share with his friends. Will World of Snacks sell Nongshim Shrimp Flavored Crackers? How could we not? Being among the most recognizable and familiar brands in Korea we would be doing many snack enthusiast an injustice by not stocking them. They are also addicting, so we know our customers will be back for more! Our first sample shipment from Mexico arrived today and it was filled with a variety of exciting products. Personally spending time near the US/Mexico border I recognized many of the snacks including the Chili covered watermelon lollipops! For this taste test our 10 year old Director of Taste was not present so we decided to go with something a little less wild and sample cookies by Gamesa. Gamesa was formerly a company called Lara, and in 1921 three brothers purchased a majority of the stock and eventually changed the name to what it is today. A little under 70 years later the Pepsico company purchased the brand and is currently the owner. Needless to say they have been around awhile! Gamesa is the largest manufacture of cookies in Mexico and sells snacks through out North and South American under a variety of brands. Today we sampled Gamesa Emperador Combinado cookies. These are sandwich cream cookies that are half chocolate, half vanilla, and filled with a sweet cream. The pack we purchased contained a total of four cookies. Prior to doing our research it was easy to see that there had to be a major brand behind this product. The standardized packaging and presentation feel very similar to many US based cookie brands. The only indication that this wasn’t out of a state side vending machine was the Spanish on the packaging and the knight embossed on the cookie. The flavor and taste of the cookies were only slightly different from what could be expected. The vanilla hinted to a more lemony taste and the chocolate was dialed down to almost non-existent. The overall experience was very pleasant and I personally enjoyed the snack. Although there was no real wow factor we were all very satisfied. Will you be able to buy Emperador Combinado Cookies from our international snack store? There is a strong chance this product will be a regularly stocked item in our line up from Mexico. If there are any other Mexican snacks you’d like to see us review? Please comment below and let us know! Get ready, our international snack blog is heading down under to Australia! This unique continent is home to many equally as unique snack items and we chose to start our taste tour with a Dark Chocolate Coated Ginger Fudge Bar by Darrell Lea.
Darrell Lea is a family owned Fine Chocolatier and Confectionery that has been offering delightful treats to Australians since 1927. This Aussie company entered the snack world as a humble push cart outfit that sold Bulgarian Rock and eventually grew to what it is today. So what exactly is a Chocolate Ginger Fudge Bar? Here in the US ginger is not a typical flavor in many products, not alone sweet snacks. This candy bar consists of rich fudge that is blended with small pieces of Buderim ginger, then covered in dark chocolate layer. From the feel of the wrapper and it’s presentation it’s easy to see this is a higher end candy bar and consider somewhat a delicacy. Now on to the taste test! Our panel of testers all sampled the Darrell Lea Ginger Fudge Bar and each had a similar initial response. The flavor catches you off guard if you are not prepared. Never having sampled a ginger candy bar and my only real experience with ginger being a condiment of sushi, I was a little shocked by the kick. The first bite is so gingery it feels almost citrus based, like a fresh peeled lemon. Luckily with subsequent bites the flavor disperses to a mild after taste. The fudge is creamy and the dark chocolate outer is perfectly smooth. The filling is clearly a fudge blended with ginger bits. The experience reminded us of a strange and foreign Three Musketeers. A majority of our tasters agreed they would not actively seek the Darrell Lea Dark Chocolate Ginger Fudge Bar in the future. The youngest panelist seemed the most thrilled and truly enjoyed the bar while the others did not come back for seconds. Will World of Snacks offer this Australian Candy Bar? It’s to soon to tell. If the following of dedicated state-side Aussies is demanding this item then we are sure we will offer it for sale. As we approach the grand opening of our International Snack Store later this year we will revisit our research and make a decision then. |
The Snack Blog
Follow along as we explore cookies, cakes, candies, chips, crackers, and nuts from all across the world. Many of the international snacks that we highlight will be offered in our store over the course of the next year. We currently offer British Snacks, American Snacks, German Snacks, Mexican Snacks, Filipino Snacks, Japanese Kit Kats, Pakistani Snacks, Italian Snacks, & Korean Snacks. Each month this year we will add a new country and their best snacks inventory. Shop
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