One of the new candies unveiled at this year’s All Candy Expo was this new twist on a classic candy: the Abba-Zaba Chocolate Cream center. When Brian told me about his find on the showroom floor I couldn’t help but respond by asking a gazillion questions about it. For me, a new addition to the Abba-Zaba family was big, big news.
The original Abba-Zaba is a sweet taffy with a stripe of peanut butter running down the center. There’s also a Sour Apple variety with the taffy carrying the flavor and the peanut butter center remaining intact. What I found most exciting about this new Abba-Zaba was the replacement of the peanut butter with “chocolate cream” (ok, so it’s really mockolate), which sort of takes away the consistent component of the candy. I was curious to see if this hurt the formula of the bar at all.
Opening up the package, the taffy is a bright pale white, and appears the same as the original Abba-Zaba. So at the very least half of the original is still present in this new flavor. The taffy has a sweet, light vanilla-like flavor and I’m immediately reminded of vanilla salt water taffy that I’d get as a kid from the relatives visiting Long Beach Island, Cape Cod or some other coastal New England vacation spot.
The chew is very substantial. Some places it was so hard I had to crack it off with my teeth, but most of the bar stretched and cleaved easily with less work. It softens quickly in the mouth and gives a great chew.
After a few very tough bites in, you reach the chocolate cream which has a wonderful rich color and is very smooth. The chocolaty center is like a melted ganache and the flavor reminds me of Smucker’s fudge sauce. It’s got a sweet, thick, throat-burning cocoa taste and although it lacks the complexity of real chocolate, it still delivers a reliable flavor.
Overall I liked it, as I’m big on chocolate and this is great option with the summer heat in full swing. I only wonder why the taste geniuses at Annabelle’s didn’t think of keeping the peanut butter center and making the taffy chocolate-flavored. Maybe for next year, right?
Buy Annabelle’s online:
- at Candy Crate
- at Candy Direct
- at Old Time Candy
- at Amazon.com
The rumor is that many people wanted to enjoy an AbbaZabba but either did not like peanut butter or are allergic to peanuts (or nuts in general). Supposedly they came up with the chocolate flavoring to include others in the abaa zabba fanbase so everyone could enjoy the taffy. :)
September 20th, 2008 at 8:40 pmI just had one of these chocolate Abba Zabba bars. I have always loved the original peanut butter version, but I found this chocolate version lacking. I didn’t like the texture of the chocolate cream – it was too liquid. It squirted out the ends every time I took a bite! I like breaking it into chunks to eat, and it was way too messy. I’ll stick to the original in this case!
October 17th, 2008 at 7:08 pmwhere did Sera go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(:(:(:(:
October 12th, 2009 at 7:25 am