Candy Review: Milky Way

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Creamy caramel and milk chocolate

Cons: Not remotely good for you

The Bottom Line:

Delicious candy

Milk chocolate, caramel

Wish they were healthy

Best Candy Bar in the Galaxy

I shock a lot of people when I say I am not a chocolate person. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it quite a bit. But given a choice, I will choose caramel every time. It's my favorite sundae topping for example. So, while bars of pure chocolate are good, I prefer looking for candy bars that include something more. And that's why I love the Milky Way candy bars.

The bars contain three layers, if you will. The outside is milk chocolate. The majority of the inside is nougat. Finally, there's a thin layer of creamy caramel that adds so much to the taste. For me, that makes the candy bar. The caramel is definitely there, but it compliments the other two, making the perfect bar for a caramel lover.

The ingredients of the bar really hold no surprises. You've got sugar, milk, chocolate, cocoa butter, corn syrup, palm kernel oil, salt, egg whites, soy lecithin, and that catch all, artificial flavors. The bars contain no nuts, although they do warn that the bars are processed in the same plant as peanut candy bars, so they may contain traces of peanuts. Personally, I have never noticed any, but if you have a sever allergy, you may want to stay away.

Now, I knew the bar had nougat in it, but I didn't know what that was. A little research showed that there are two kinds of nougat. The traditional is a Christmas candy that is made all around the world. But that's not what we are dealing with here. The nougat in candy bars is sugar and corn syrup fluffed with egg whites. No wonder it is so good. There's hardly anything good for you in it.

And that's the only drawback to the candy bar. Like any candy bar, they really aren't good for you. Oh, I know the argument. In moderation it is fine. I find it hard to believe that this much sugar and calories can be good for you.

Take the 2.05 oz bar as an example. This is the standard size you find in the grocery store by the check out stand. That bar contains 245 calories, 84 of them are from fat. For those counting carbs, it contains 41.6 grams. And it's 23% of the daily recommended value for saturated fat. Frankly, none of this surprises me. If you are eating a candy bar, you aren't expecting something healthy.

What is actually surprising is that there is something healthy in the bar for you. No, I'm not talking about the 1% vitamin A or C levels. But one bar does contain 8% of the daily recommended value for calcium. Heck, that makes it all worth it, right?

Frankly, when I pick up a candy bar, I'm not looking for anything healthy or worrying about calories. I want something that tastes good. And, for my money, that's a Milky Way candy bar.