Israeli Candy Bars

Today I got a great and unexpected surprise. Dan brought me some Israeli candy bars made by Strauss-Elite (שטראו עלית). Everyone knows I have a serious sweet tooth and Dan knows exactly how to put a smile on my face after a long stressful week.

Apparently, some people in his office just returned from an Israeli business trip and his coworkers brought back a variety of tasty kosher sweets. Having not had a kosher(dairy chalav yisroel) candy bar before I was unsure of what to expect.

The wrappers were entirely in Hebrew and he made me play the guessing game to figure out which US candies they are trying to emulate.  I managed to only successfully identify one before opening it. This wrapper had all the tell tale colors and the appearance of one of my favorite candy bar, a Kit-Kat.   They didn't call it a Kit-Kat bar However they didn't get very creative with the name either. They called it a Kif-Kef bar.

The second candy bar is a swiss style chocolate bar with a crispy wafer and hazelnut filling. It is called Pesek-Zman and means "Time Out" in Hebrew.  It is one of the top selling Israeli candy bars.  I can see why, it was my favorite of the three.

The third and final candy bar was a braided chocolate log called Mekupelet.  Mekupelet is a bar made of thinly folded chocolate and is similar to Cadbury Flakes in taste. The Mekupelet wrapper has the uninspired phrase written on it : “Piece of milk chocolate” (in hebrew)This was an ordinary smooth and creamy chocolate bar for me with nothing particularly special about it.

One thing I did notice about all three of the candy bars was the texture of the chocolate and how quickly it melted in my hands.  All three were very smooth and creamy.

All three candy bars are certified "Cholov Yisroel" (חלב ישראל) which means that they were made from milk  that has been produced under the supervision of a Rabbi and under Jewish law the milk is only kosher if it comes from a kosher species of animal such as cows and sheep. Milk from a non-kosher species such as horses, and camels is forbidden.