Candy Girls: Lees' Jaffa Bar

By Liz Kellermeyer Thu., Jun. 18 2009 at 12:59 PM

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Liz Kellermeyer

It was only a matter of time before the pull of Tony's Market and its selection of imported candies drew us in. We spied the bright blue bar from a checkout lane and snagged the dense treat as an impulse buy.

The wrapper told us the Jaffa Bar is from Scotland and that we could expect a "Jaffa orange flavored fondant coated in dark chocolate." Perhaps naively, that's exactly what we expected.

The Lees company website claims that all its bars are now coated in Belgian chocolate, though there's no indication of that on the wrapper. "Fondant" is perhaps the most misleading part of the description, since any American candy consumer would imagine something close to a nougat. Even if your only frame of reference is a wedding cake that has been draped in the stuff to achieve a smooth look, you would probably expect something with a little chewy give.

Instead, the orange-scented middle is thick and crumbly with a mouthfeel similar to maple candy. It's not entirely unpleasant, but the orange flavoring is slightly off-putting. Not orange in the typical artificially flavored way, the Jaffa bar utilizes orange oil, which is strong and slightly bitter. It hits your nose before your mouth, and creates an unfortunate association with Pledge wood oil. The bar is heavy and sweet, packing 47 grams of sugar into one serving.

We would be hard-pressed to finish this bar, and can't help but think this somewhat odd treat would be better packaged in tiny, bite-sized pieces. A chocolate-covered, orange-scented sugar bomb is a unique palate teaser, but too much for an entire candy bar.

Would we finish the bar? No; too heavy for us.

Would we buy again? Probably not.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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