Sugar Savvy

Ah the elusive Skybar; a nostalgic bit of American candy history that is often talked about, but difficult to track down today.

According to the Necco website, the Skybar was introduced in 1938 through a dramatic skywriting campaign. Apparently it was the first, and only, molded chocolate bar of its kind to have four distinctly different centers. The bar was hugely popular (especially on the East coast) and still has many loyal fans today.

The problem is finding one! You see, I had heard all about this nostalgic candy bar, but never actually tasted one myself. Since I live in Los Angeles, and the bar seems to be distributed on the East coast, I did not have great hopes of ever finding a Skybar of my very own to try. But then, the other day, I stumbled upon one in a party and paper store of all places. They actually had a few other retro candies, so I picked a Skybar and some other goodies to try. I was quite hopeful that the Skybar would live up to its famous history.

The bar consists of a milk chocolate shell with four separate compartments that each hold a separate flavored filling. The four flavors are fudge, caramel, peanut, and vanilla. The centers are fairly liquid and tend to ooze out once bitten. Unfortunately, I was totally underwhelmed by the taste of this bar. The chocolate was not good quality, it had a bland waxy taste, and the fillings were nothing special. The fudge was slightly gritty and not very chocolaty. The caramel was decent, along the same lines as the filling of a Caramello bar. The peanut was probably my favorite of the fillings, since it departed from the standard sweet peanut butter flavor we are accustomed to finding in most candy bars in favor of a roasted peanut flavor. The vanilla was very sweet and did not have much vanilla flavor at all. In fact, it resembled the white fondant filling found in a Cadbury Crème Egg.

I am sad to say, it was a disappointing candy experience for me. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe this is just the type of candy bar that you had to have eaten as a kid to still appreciate today. Who knows?