Cadbury Picnic

Product name: Cadbury Picnic
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of three bars (Poundland)
Calories: 230 per 48.4g bar
Country of origin: Europe

The Picnic seems to be one of Cadbury’s lesser known products – it’s not a bar I see around all that often and it must have been over a decade since my last one so I could barely remember what they were like!

The purple wrapper boasted ‘a feast-full’ of caramel (32%), peanuts (12%) and raisins (7%) and these three ingredients were each represented around the brand name – I particularly liked the way the caramel was used as a border. However, beneath the chocolate that contained a minimum of 14% milk solids, lurked another significant ingredient: ‘crispy’ rice cereal (10%).

This particular multipack had been produced by Kraft Foods and I couldn’t believe how huge each bar felt on removal from the main packaging. However, on opening the individual wrappers, I realised that, whilst the bars were very long, there were also relatively thin. That said, they had a very rugged appearance, and the caramel was clearly holding the individual elements together. Despite not being mentioned in the main product description, the cereal was definitely a big feature, whilst the raisins were a lot less visible and nowhere near as big as the Nestlé Yorkie: Raisin & biscuit.

The Picnic mainly smelt of sweet chocolate but the aroma did hint at the fact there was more going on beneath the surface and I was pleased to find that each ingredient made its own significant contribution to the whole. The peanuts provided flavour (although not lots) and a bit of a crunch within the crispy chewiness provided by the cereal and caramel. (For the record, this overall texture was perfectly balanced so that the bar wasn’t hard work to eat.) As for the raisins, I found there were more of these further down the bar than first appeared, and they produced an extra chew and an occasional additional sweetness.

Thinking of the Picnic as a whole, I realised that it was essentially a cereal bar in reverse, with a proper chocolate coating rather than the silly drizzles some brands include in an attempt to make a seemingly healthy product a bit more exciting. In this case, though, the overall flavour was a general sweetness that came from the individual components, and the thicker-than-normal chocolate layer provided an alternative method of consumption since the bar was also enjoyable to let melt, and it added a nice juiciness to combine with the raisins and caramel.

This was certainly a decent product but, although individual elements were noticeable, the main flavour wasn’t particularly exciting and, I guess, it felt a bit too healthy for my liking, bearing in mind it was an unhealthy snack!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Nestlé Yorkie: Peanut

Product name: Nestlé Yorkie: Peanut
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 43g bar or three for £1.20 (Tesco)
Calories: 248 per bar
Country of origin: UK

Well this is one exciting, new and limited edition product that nearly passed me by! I hadn’t (and still haven’t) heard a thing about the Nestlé Yorkie: Peanut but saw them mixed in with a stand of other Yorkie bars in Tesco. Once I’d convinced myself that the unusual jet black wrapper wasn’t an indication of Hallowe’en or dark chocolate, it went straight into my basket!

Choosing to ignore the typically sexist slogan of ‘man fuel for man stuff’, this bar was described as ‘chunky milk chocolate with peanuts (25%)’ which were roasted. The chocolate consisted of a minimum of 25% cocoa solids and 14% milk solids and was part of Nestlé’s Cocoa Plan.

The bar was the same in style as the Raisin & biscuit and was divided into five pieces that were full of dark-centred peanuts (the fact the chocolate splintered when I cut into it demonstrates how full each piece was!). These produced a really strong nutty scent that actually smelt a lot like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

The Yorkie’s chocolate itself was unchanged from the usual kind and it tasted nice and sweet against the nuts – I particularly loved the roasted aspect of these. It had a nice yet chunky melt but the bar was also really satisfying to chew as the nuts were really crunchy. To my amazement, the flavour was very similar to peanut butter, and the overall product reminded me of a simpler Reese's Nutrageous.

I genuinely didn’t expect this bar to be as good as it was but it was such a delight to eat. I’m gutted it’s only a limited edition...please don’t take it away from me!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.38/10

Snickers Bar: More choc

Product name: Snickers Bar: More choc
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of four bars (Poundworld)
Calories: 240 for a 48g bar

  

I wasn’t intending to bother with this limited edition Snickers Bar from Mars, but the lure of the blue wrapper eventually won me over, and the ‘chocolatey nougat and chocolatey caramel’ did sound nice, even though I knew I’d probably find it too similar to the standard bars.

The image on the packaging looked really good but I somehow didn’t expect the reality of the caramel (27%) and nougat (15%) to look so much darker than the original. Unlike with the miniature Snickers found in Celebrations, the peanuts (23%) weren’t chopped, suggesting its texture would be on the chunky rather than bitty spectrum. Unfortunately for me, though, this wasn’t the case and I found the texture too gritty for my liking – the same issue I have with full-sized Snickers Bars.

The Bar had a salty peanut scent, as well as a strong peanut flavour, with an occasional toasted aspect still coming through as it had done with the Celebrations. I can’t say this UK and Ireland offering sounded quite as exciting as America’s Rockin' nut road, but the additional chocolate did seem to make a bit of a difference. The outer milk chocolate coating (containing a minimum of 14% milk solids) contributed to 35% of the product, so it was already pretty chocolatey, but I think this More choc variety was a bit less sweet and had a slightly stronger chocolate flavour than a standard Snickers – it certainly seemed to burn the throat more! What I’m not convinced about, though, is that I would have been able to identify what the difference was if I didn’t already know.

Whilst I did enjoy the flavour, I did miss the squidginess of the Rockin' nut road – the More choc was more chewy and quite stiff in places. As a result, it was the texture that stopped me liking this more than I did, but then that was an outcome that I’d expected due to my existing opinion of the Snickers Bar.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10

Wafel Teatralny Classic

Product name: Wafel Teatralny Classic
Purchase details: £0.69 for a 46g bar (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 243 per bar
Country of origin: Poland

The gold, brown and red wrapper of this Wafel Teatralny Classic bar didn’t give much away about what was within but, on examining the blurb when I found it in-store, I found it was actually quite an exciting concept of ‘peanuts cream wafer in chocolate’.

The  wide and slim bar was made by Kopernik Torun and, according to their website, was a ‘theatrical wafer’ with ‘real nuts’ (can you get fake ones?!) and ‘natural chocolate’. Apparently, the thinness of their wafers was something they were particularly proud of.

As with a lot of wafer bars, the chocolate coating on this was relatively thin, despite being 30% of the overall product. It had the appearance and aroma of dark chocolate but it had been spread particularly thinly on the base and it had also suffered some blooming around the edges. The inside looked a lot more promising, though, with regimented layers of wafer and chocolate-coloured cream that emitted a slight peanut scent that blended with that of the outer cocoa.

The first thing I noticed on taking a bite was how fantastically crispy the wafers were – they were extremely satisfying. However, they were also nice if left to soften in the mouth, and they produced a surprisingly strong flavour, either way, that provided a lovely sweetness.

Based on the dark colour and rich aroma, I’d expected quite a bitter chocolate flavour from the coating but, in reality, it was pretty mild. The cocoa was much more evident than it had been in the Mrs. Freshley's Buddy Bars: Peanut butter wafers, and it did taste more of dark chocolate than milk, but it was a perfect balance with the sweet wafers rather than an overpowering taste.

Somewhat disappointingly, the peanuts (3.5%) were completely lost in this bar. I couldn’t taste them at all which resulted in an experience that was very tasty, but not unique. All in all, it wasn’t much different from eating a Nestlé Blue Riband, although the large size was a bonus!

Appearance: 6.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10