Wish They Still Made It - Part 3 - Xploder

This bar is one that keeps coming back every once in a while, that or I keep finding old boxes of these in various candy shops around the world.  Today you would say that this bar isn't really that original, as lots of bars now contain Pop Rock like candy, but when it came out it was cutting edge.  In fact when I first tasted this bar, I was convinced that I wouldn't like it at all.  It seemed really strange to add Pop Rocks to any kind of chocolate bar, but it worked.  Best of all the quality of the chocolate in this bar was pretty good as well.  It was like the candy industry saying that it was OK to mix novelty candy with fine milk chocolate.

Today that's become a bit of the norm, and it's all thanks to this legendary bar.  So this is more about giving this bar a bit of respect, and credit.  Next time you eat a bar that fizzes in your mouth, remember that at one point the folks at Wonka tried it first.

Here's my poem about this fizzy bar:

Of all of the companies in the candy bizz,
Wonka was the first to make chocolate with fizz.
While most chocolates were playing it cool,
Xploder bar came about making a fool.
When chocolate bar companies would make it plain,
The Xploder bar would blow up your brain.

Click here to read the Candy Critic review.

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Canadian Candy List - Part 6 - Best Discontinued Treat

Over the last few years I've been living away from my home country, Canada.  I've been traveling the world exploring all kinds of snack foods, junk foods, and sweets, but my heart is still in Canada.  I'm going to be back home for an extended period, and I've decided to compile various lists on the theme of Canadian candy and snacks.  Each week, for the next several weeks, I'll be posting a different list of Canadian candies I've reviewed in various categories.  Some of these treats may be available in other parts of the world, some are exclusive to the Great White North, but in my mind all of them are Canadian.

Much like any candy market, some snacks just don't make it.  Sometimes due to bad marketing, bad management, or any other corporate problems, great treats don't survive.  Here in Canada it's no exception, there have been some great Canadian snacks that unfortunately aren't with us anymore.

 I'm not 100% certain that the Caravan no longer exists.  It used to be fairly popular, than it disapeared, I had assumed that it was gone forever, but I found it again.  It's been a while since I've seen another, so it might be discontinued, or it might be still around, just hard to find.

Click here to read the Caravan review.

Of all of the discontinued Canadian treats that I've ever writen a review about, Choclairs is probably the most in demand to return candy.  Every so often I get an e-mail from a Choclairs fan asking me if they're still around, and where they can get one.  Sadly I have to respond with the cold truth, they've stopped making them a long time ago.

Click here to read the Choclairs review.

 Mackintosh's Toffee is not really discontinued.  Similar to the Caravan bar, it's come and gone several times.  Right now I still see it in the small bite sized format, but the large bar format seems to be a little harder to find.  I've heard rumours that they've discontinued it, but then other people tell me they've seen them on the shelves.  So have you seen a Mackintosh Toffee flat pack lately?

Click here to read the Mackintosh's Toffee review.

Pure Fun was a company out of Toronto that made all kinds of great candies.  Of all the candies they made, my favorite, and the most Canadian, was their maple candy floss.  I became friends with the folks at Pure Fun, and I was really sad when they decided to call it quits.

Click here to read the Organic Candy Floss "Canadian Maple" review.

This was the first bar that I ever tried featuring Pop Rocks.  Before I experienced the Xploder I would have never thought about the texture combination of smooth chocolate and exploding candy.  Today we see this combination much more often, but I'm sure we can think the folks at Wonka for doing it first.

Click here to read the Xploder review.

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