Review: La Vaquita Milk Toffees

We’re south of the border for today’s sweet review! Sampling the dangerously rich and moreish ‘La Vaquita‘ natillas flavoured milk toffees by Canel’s, Mexico.

Canel’s have been producing confectionery in Mexico for almost a century. The business began in 1925 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, as a confectioners and producers of high quality gum and chewy candies. Canel’s has since developed into a giant all-Mexican corporation that also has dealings in hotels, has its own fleet of airplanes and are sponsors to numerous sporting events and disciplines such as basketball, cycling and motorsports.

Canel’s ‘La Vaquita‘ (‘Little Cow’ in Spanish) soft candies come in a small range of flavours and formats, including lollypops. These particular sweets are ‘natillas‘ and pecan flavoured – natillas being a type of ‘Spanish custard’ which is made with milk and eggs.

Canel’s ‘La Vaquita’ milk toffees

They smell, and taste, like a rich combination of heavy condensed milk and buttery toffee. The taste grows ever sweeter as you chew your way through the semi-soft tanned rolls. And since they give quite a long chew, just a couple of sweets is about enough for me before they turn a little sickly.

‘Little Cow’ toffees with lots of caramel, nuts and natillas flavour

There is an ever so slight, nutty undertone, but equally, if you had told me that they didn’t contain a ‘rica nuez’ (or ‘rich nuts‘) pecan flavour, then I would have believed you. The predominant taste is that of a creamy, full bodied milky toffee chew…and that’s alright by me!

If you’re the type of person to chew on a lump of toffee all afternoon, or sip sweetened condensed milk from the tin, or take your custard warm over a toffee pudding, this sweet might just be right up your alley!

Wrapper Wednesday: Wunderbar

It’s Wrapper Wednesday! And this one is for ‘The Maple Tooth’ – a fellow confectionery aficionado following a recent post on the Canadian classic chocolate bar, the ‘Wunderbar‘.

This Cadbury concoction includes peanut butter, surrounded by caramel and Cadbury milk chocolate and has been produced in Canada since the mid 1970’s.

Following The Maple Tooth’s post of one of their own wrappers (having not really researched this bar before) I have since learnt that one of the bar’s most memorable adverts involved a gang of Vikings finding a stash of these ‘wonderful‘ chocolate bars on the beach.

90’s Viking-themed advert for Cadbury’s ‘Wunderbar

Exclaiming ‘Wunderbar‘ at their findings, we can see references to these 90’s Viking snackers on this first wrapper with a Viking horned helmet. Although historically inaccurate, the image of long-haired, horn-wearing invaders has blurred the realms of history into popular culture – wrong or not – it’s just a little fun!

A wonderful confection!

Even the ‘W’ has developed prongs in reference to the Norse/European imagery of this chocolate bar!

With the very dark text and thick outlines, the combination of the typography and little horned-hat token reminds me of a varsity sports team…go Wunderbar!

A Viking-less version of a 2000’s ‘Wunderbar’

You can enjoy The Maple Tooth’s collection and confectionery history finds here; https://www.instagram.com/themapletooth/?hl=en

Fact Friday: Snickers the Horse

Did you know that the American chocolate bar ‘Snickers’ is named after a horse?

Invented in 1930 by Frank Mars, the founder of the Mars empire, the peanut, caramel and nougat confection was only the second chocolate bar to be produced by Mars Inc, following their debut with the ‘Milky Way’ in 1924. Before the company was able to invest in machinery, the countline Snickers was made by pouring, layering, dipping and cutting the shaped ingredients by hand.

1930’s/1940’s Snickers box

The bar was given the name ‘Snickers’ in the United States after one of the family’s favourite racehorses. Snickers, along with several other stable mates, lived on Fred and Ethel Mars’ Tennessee farm…called the ‘Milky Way Farm‘! Sadly Snickers the horse died two months before the chocolate bar’s launch, and was so named in his memory.

In Britain however the candy was marketed as ‘Marathon’ until 1990. Like many chocolate bars invented in the early 20th century, Snickers was advertised as a healthy and energising food stuff, and supposedly this is where the name ‘Marathon’ came from…urban rumors also say that the name ‘Snickers’ sounded too similar to the word ‘knickers‘, and the gentile men and women of the United Kingdom simply couldn’t tolerate such an idea…that all sounds a bit daft!

Twins – Marathon and Snickers

In recent years Mars has released a ‘retro edition’ of the Snickers, temporarily bringing us back a taste of nostalgia as the ‘Marathon’ once again can be bought in supermarkets (the recipe is all the same, it’s a marketing ploy first released to celebrate the bar’s 85th birthday).

Wrapper Wednesday: Take 5

To kick off the first Wrapper Wednesday of 2021, here are a couple of wrappers of one of my favourite American mainstream chocolate bars, the crunchy, salty, chocolaty ‘Take 5’.

So called because it contains five elements to the bar; milk chocolate, pretzels, peanut butter, caramel and peanuts, the Take 5 was released by the Hershey Company in 2004 and comes in two square pieces.

Both of these wrappers predate the recent re-branding undertaken in June 2019, when it was re-christened the ‘Reeses Take 5’ and the colour scheme changed to the Reese’s family colours of orange and black.

This change in marketing suddenly lead to buyers asking the question, was the peanut butter always made with the Reese’s recipe, or is this a new addition? I certainly asked myself this when I was in the states during the new launch! Turns out the Take 5 had always been made with Reese’s peanut butter, but now it was a real selling point. Why I don’t have a wrapper of this new update I do not know!

For me a Take 5 is an all-in-one chocolate bar – in just one bite you get a hit of salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy and creamy tastes and textures! Aside from the fact that it is Hershey chocolate, it sure makes a tasty mouthful.

Fact Friday: Cadbury Caramel Bunny

Did you know that BAFTA award winning actor Miriam Margolyes was the voice of the Cadbury Caramel Bunny?

Compilation of the Cadbury Caramel Bunny adverts

During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Miriam Margolyes (Blackadder, Doc Martin, Merlin, Dickens in America and Professor Sprout in Harry Potter) voiced the sultry west-county Cadbury chocolate mascot in a series of animated commercials. Her dulcet tones, big eyes and sensual patter encouraged other woodland animals to ‘take it easy’ and to enjoy the smooth and indulgent confectionery treat.

Bunny and her voice actor Margolyes

Bunny became the pin-up for Cadbury Caramel chocolate, and made a brief return into its marketing campaign in 2009 sporting made-up lips and sometimes a dress with the sensual tag line ‘Still Got It x’.

Bunny was certainly a confusing and alluring anthropomorphic chocolate sex symbol back in her day…