Today’s chocoholics are more demanding than ever before. There was a time, perhaps half a century ago, when “chocolate” meant “chocolate.” As our parents and/or grandparents skipped home from school, they contented themselves with plain Hershey or Snickers Bars. They didn’t give any thought to the quality of their chocolate, its regional origin, or its physical attractiveness. They didn’t care about cacao percentages or exotic flavorings. Unless they happened to be in the culinary field, neither did their parents. In that simpler era, all that most people considered was whether or not their chocolate tasted sweet, good, and at least slightly chocolaty.

It doesn’t take a cocoa connoisseur to see those days are far behind us. With dark chocolate now labeled a “health food,” it seems like new purveyors of handcrafted artisan chocolate materialize every day. In an effort to keep up with trends, retain old customers and attract new ones, old-standby chocolate makers such as Hershey have released lines of upmarket chocolates, often quite successfully.

On a recent trip to CVS, I noticed that old standby chocolatiers Whitman’s/Russell Stover, best known for their holiday chocolate collections, have gotten in on the act. While perusing the already center stage Valentine’s Day candies, I picked up Whitman’s “Soho” collection. I’d seen a similar collection the year before. I’d passed it by, less than eager to spend $5.00 on a 6-piece selection of drugstore chocolates, but my curiosity won out this time.

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The after-Christmas candy sale is currently at its zenith for bargains. Everything is 50, 75, even 90 percent off the original price.

Often, there are candies that catch my eye, but for which I don’t feel like shelling out a few bucks. Brach’s Cherry Cordial Nougats are one such confection. But after Walgreens had them on sale for thirty-three cents, it seemed ridiculous not to buy them.

I was taken slightly aback by what these were made of. A cordial, by definition, is a chocolate shell with a fruit filling. The only thing these had even remotely in common with a cordial was that they used cocoa. Well, Brach’s, I hate to break it to you, but you can make a cookie with cocoa powder; that doesn’t mean it’s a cordial cookie!

Aside from my cocoa issues, I wasn’t exactly sure how nougat would fare in the presence of both cherry and cocoa. Reading the ingredients list, I also discovered there are no nuts in this, which is actually a component of a real nougat (if you’re going to get technical).

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Butterfinger and Crunch are the stars of Nestle’s confectionery lineup. They get more advertisements on TV and have each undergone various spin-offs over the years. Whenever I hear those candy brands, I think of a grouping of candy rather than an individual piece of candy. Their ubiquitous nature has rendered them undefined and associative.

In contrast, there is a Nestle product, easily my favorite Nestle product, which exists as the unacknowledged sibling to these candy bars. I am talking about the one and only Baby Ruth.

There isn’t a crisp variation, theater-sized box, or even dark chocolate counterpart to this classic. In fact, it hasn’t ever been redone (at least, not with any lingering spin-offs). You also don’t see commercials for this candy too often. But I believe I know why.

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Hey everybody, Look! It’s the second candy bar in my four-bar round-up of some oddly named candy that includes Oh Henry!, 5th Avenue, and U-No.

Look! candy bars are made by the Annabelle Candy Company, a San Francisco bay-area concern founded in 1917 by Russian immigrant Sam Altshuler, and named after his daughter (the company, not the bar. His daughter’s name was not “Look!”). (And yes, you’re right, there was a spot of bother that year in Russia.)

Annabelle candy bars are best-sellers in western states, and include the Rocky Road, Big Hunk, Abba-Zabba and U-No bars. Today’s item, Look!, was invented in the 1950’s by the Golden Nugget Candy Co., which Annabelle acquired in 1972. I doubt you’ve ever had a candy bar quite like this. And there may be a good reason.

Here’s how Annabelle describes these bars: “Thick chewy nougat sweetened with molasses,” with “roasted peanuts covered with mouth watering rich dark chocolate.”

We’ll see.

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The other day I was in Manhattan and overheard a beautiful brunette say to her husband, “Oh Henry! Look! It’s 5th Avenue. U-No I’ve always wanted to shop there and eat all four of the candy bars I just inadvertently mentioned!”

Okay, so maybe that was a dream I had. Or something. But the point is that you can’t make up snappy street dialogue with your average set of four candies. I mean, try it yourself. “Oh Reeses Cup, you and your Nerds drive me, Whatchamacallit, ohh drat, Milk Duds.” See?

So I’m going to review all four of these oddly-named candies, but we’ll start with Nestle’s Oh Henry! bar. It comes in two sections, and they’re described on the label as “2 peanutty, caramel fudge bars in milk chocolate.” I must say that sounds good.

But what’s with the name?

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