At World of Snacks we are literally searching the planet for the best snacks available.  We are currently in the process of reviewing snacks from each country as we select items that we intend to offer for sale on our web based international snacks store that is set to launch later this year.  In our search for unique and delicious treats we’ve discovered the rare and collectable snack market.   These snacks are highly sought after for more than just their delicious flavor, in fact a majority of collectable snacks are not edible. These rare candy bars and snacks include sports memorabilia, celebrities, movie props, and treats commemorating events.  

Our first rare candy bar that we’ve acquired is collectable on many levels.  Unlike our typical snack review we will not be sampling these treats but instead sharing information about the items and later offering them for sale in our store.  So let’s take a look at our 1989 Ken Griffey Jr Autographed Rookie Candy Bar produced by Pacific Trading Cards.

Ken Griffey Jr was an all-star professional baseball player whose career stretched 22 years.  Not only was Griffey one of the most prolific home run hitters of all time, he also had many lucrative endorsements making him a celebrity in the United States and throughout the world.  His endorsements included Nike and Nintendo making him a household name to everyone, whether they followed baseball or not.

During Ken Griffey’s rookie year with the Seattle Mariners Pacific Trading Cards released a candy bar to be sold in the stadium.  From what we can determine it was produced in two colors, one yellow and one blue.  The only place to purchase either of these Ken Griffey Jr candy bars was at the stadium making its production numbers relatively low.   Our version of the blue candy bar is even rarer because it’s personally signed by Ken Griffey Jr during his rookie season.  His signed rookie cards command top dollar and owning an autographed rookie candy bar would allow a collector to own something more unique for a fraction of the price.

World of Snacks will offer the 1989 Ken Griffey Jr Autographed Rookie Candy Bar produced by Pacific Trading Cards up for sale and several other highly sought after and rare candy bars later this year when we officially open our international snack store.  If you have any suggestions on items we should carry feel free to reach out to us at any time!

Last time World of Snacks visited a top selling snack from Poland we took an in-depth look at the very delicious Prince Polo by Kraft.  This time we are reviewing Milka Milkinis which is also now owned by Kraft as well.  Although this chocolate bar currently is manufactured in Poland  got it start from Philippe Suchard in 1901 who is considered a Swiss chocolatier, and when it comes to chocolate that is a fine distinction.   Suchard opened his first factory in Germany and his company Milka was considered  a German confectionery producer.  After his initial success Milka became a major player in Switzerland making the categorizing of this snack product difficult.  To add to the confusion Kraft International purchased the company in the early 90s and the Milka Milkinis are it’s best selling candy bar through out Europe.  

Although we are not 100% sure where they are from we do know how they look and more importantly how they taste!  Our snack sample is a slim box containing a total of 8 chocolate bars.  A playful cartoon cow that happens to be purple, or lilac to be exact graces the box.  Each bar is individually wrapped in a crisp foil and consist of four sections with the friendly cow in place on each piece.  They are pleasant to look at and appear to be made to appeal to children, although the packaging in the US would seem more on the upscale end.

Sure they look good, but how do Milka Milkinis taste?  The bars are a sweet milk chocolate with a creamy milky filling.  They are 51% sugar so they are much sweeter than typical chocolate bars out of Germany or Switzerland.  The chocolate is soft and light colored and the milk center is bright white and moist.  They strongly resemble one of my personal favorites, the Kinder bar from Germany.  If not being so familiar with Kinder I am sure I would have been through the roof about this snack.  However, being a fan of Kinder I appreciated the Milkinis but preferred my trusted favorite.  Overall our panel all enjoyed the snack and our 10 year old Director of Taste proclaimed this is among his favorite candy bars from around the world.

Will you be able to purchased Milka Milkinis chocolate bars online from World of Snacks?  Providing we do not consider these a German snack we hope to offer Milkinis as a part of our normally stocked inventory.  A little more research is needed and if they do fall under a German favorite we may decide not to stock the snack being it is so close to Kinder.  We will make a final decision prior to the end of the year when we anticipate the launch of our international snack store. 

At last World of Snacks has located unique Doritos from Japan! Prior to creating our Global Snack Blog we’ve read articles and heard rumors about certain flavors of Doritos that are only available in Japan.  When we say only available in Japan, we mean it!  It is nearly impossible to track these chips down and acquiring them has been both time consuming and costly.  But guess what?  It’s totally worth it!

We’ve been able to locate a handful of weird and rare flavors of Doritos and over the next few weeks we will be highlighting them all.  We decided to start our review with what we thought would be the least exciting, Doritos Corn Potage.

The Corn Potage flavor from Japan is a part of the Doritos Gourmet line and appear to be a limited edition.  The packaging is crisp and attractive in a shinny black bag with the “gourmet” text in a reflective hologram foil.  The package is mostly in Japanese but has a few key words inscribed in English.  But enough about the bag,- how do they taste?

In the United States corn potage doesn’t exist.  After a little research we’ve determined it’s a corn soup with a cream base.  In Japan the dish is so popular it’s even available in vending machines.  This is why you will not see Corn Potage Doritos available for sale in the US, other than in the World of Snacks international snack store.  We were so excited to sample these Japanese Doritos that our test panel consisted of 10 people, the most we have utilized for a sample group so far.  After our test, it was a unanimous vote, these chips were delicious and must be offered on our website!  The chips are a little thicker than a US Doritos and they have a semi-sticky texture, which is unlike any chip we have previous sampled. The flavor is sweet and savory and tastes exactly like cream style corn.  Although we chose this snack to start with thinking it would be the least exciting, they are outrageously delicious.  I think our association with corn chips made the concept of Corn Potage Doritos not initially exciting.  However, these chips are not your everyday corn chip and are unlike any US chip flavor.

We are in the process of securing a supplier and hope to offer many rare and unique Doritos Flavors from Japan when our international snack store launched towards the end of the year.  Stay tuned for more daring international Doritos reviews in the very near future on worldofsnacks.com.

Today World of Snacks is heading to our neighbors to the north, the great nation of Canada.  This is our first Canadian candy and there are a wide selection of exciting snacks that we hope to review in the near future, including ketchup flavored potato chips!  We choose to start with something with a more refined flavor.  We are reviewing Golden Bonbon Soft Blueberry Nougat!

Golden Bonbon is our first attempt at a snack from Canada but we quickly found out that this company is not native to the Great White North.  Golden Bonbon has a reach lineage that originated from Northern Italy. The founder was Giuseppe Mazzucco and got his start as a pastry chef in Asti, Italy.  Eventually the company opened a nougat manufacturing business in Western Australia.  It wasn't until 1992 that the family run enterprise moved to Canada.  The origin of the brand is critical because we are reviewing a treat that dates back to ancient Rome.

Our fist treat of several to come from the Golden Bonbon company is Soft Blueberry Nougat.  To be honest the only familiarity with nougat prior to this taste test was the core of an American treat, the Milkway Candy Bar.  This snack however, is not in remotely similar to a Milkyway.  Our sample comes from an assorted pack of flavors and after much debate we selected the blueberry flavor hoping for a mildly sweet and powerfully fruity experience.   This snack has more of a subdued flavor and the fruit just adds a tinge of sweetness.  The texture is spongy, almost plasticy and it consists mostly of almonds.  One reviewer mentioned that the snack hints to a hardened, yet still soft, meringue.  The packaging boasts this candy is all natural and gluten free and combined with the massive amounts of nuts it almost seemed more of a health snack.  Overall it was pleasant but at first all of the tasters in our test panel were unsure what to think.  All reviewers eventually came around and decided it was a positive flavor and an enjoyable snack but not one they would actively choose.

Will you be able to purchase Golden Bonbon Soft Blueberry Nougat from our international snack store set to launch at the end of year?   We are not 100% sure but imagine it will make the cut.  As we sample the other flavors of nougat and get a better understanding of the product we will make our decision then.  Be sure to visit our last blog post of the week this Friday as we review a rare Doritos flavor from Japan!

World of Snacks is back in Mexico for this week's update to our Global Snack Blog.  Last time we reviewed a Mexican snack we chose a cookie called Emperador Combinado.  The cookie we sampled had an embossed knight on it and sticking with the regal theme this time we are  sampling a chocolate bar with a King on it.  Our snack today is the Carlos V.

Carlos V is candy bar that was released in Mexico in the 1970s by a company called La Azteca.  The bar is named after Carlos V, a Roman Emperor who introduced chocolate in the European Courts.  Today the candy bar is owned by the Nestle company and is known for it's catchy slogan, "The King of Chocolates."

The packaging is polished but a little plain and our expectations for the bar were low.  The branding portrayed a quality snack but we figured it would just be a typical chocolate candy bar.  To our surprise upon sampling we realized that this is a unique snack and it's actually pretty good.  The Carlos V is a milk chocolate bar but the milk is provided in the powdered format.  Generally that may not sound too appealing to chocolate enthusiast but the powdered ingredient changes the taste and texture of the bar.  The bar is crisp and slightly chalky with a smooth flavor that has a little twang at the end.  The chalkiness is pleasant being it's a rare quality in a candy bar from any country.  Overall we were please with this sweet Mexican treat.

With the launch of our international snack store toward the end of the year you will be able to purchase Carlos V and try it for yourself.  Once you do or if you have already tried this tasty snack be sure to return and share your thoughts!