Top votes for the best candy bar

Every year, Saveur Magazine publishes the list of The Saveur 100, it’s a list of 100 things to eat of the global goodies that Saveur really likes. Five of those things caught my eye this year: number 66-70 are candy bars from around the world. MW �tell us the names of the five candy bars you narrowed your selection down to and what’s in them?� LP �the first one we fell in love with was the Silver Queen which is from Indonesia, this grand, cashew-laden milk chocolate bar. We also love the Peppermint Crisp which is popular in Australia and South Africa as well. The Big Turk from Canada filled with Turkish delight. The Goo Goo Cluster from the United States which is a classic that’s been around since 1912 actually.� MW �And what’s in it?� LP �not surprisingly that’s a peanut-based candy bar. Here in the United States we love our peanuts and our peanut butter which is you don’t find in candy bars around the rest of the world. So it’s peanuts, it’s caramel, marshmallow, it’s gooey and it’s sort of beautiful in its imperfection, it’s a bit gloppy, and so that was our stand out for America. And then also the Dame Bar from Sweden which is a dainty little toffee bar covered in milk chocolate with this beautiful pattern of chocolate over the top that’s actually made when fans in the factory blow the chocolate gently over and it drives that way. It’s much daintier than the Goo Goo Cluster for example.� MW �so describe the sensation of eating one of these candy bars and your personal favorite perhaps.� LP �Well I fell in love with the Peppermint Crisp. It’s something that I had never seen before. When you bite into this bar, it looks very plain on the outside, but when you bite into it, it’s filled with electric blue, crystalline pieces of powder, almost as if it’s sort of a lollipop which is a texture a lot of us haven’t had since we were kids. And it sort of snaps and crunches at the same time, and then it has this very bright, sharp flavor. And it’s something that’s all together, out of the hundreds of candy bars I tasted for this, it was all together unique.� MW �what kind of a window do you think opens up onto a country or a society when you understand the candy bars they like to eat?� LP �well it’s funny because it’s no secret that you learn about a culture through their food, but the thing is, maybe we all sit down and eat supper together. But when it comes to a sweet tooth, that’s a little bit more personal. So it really can speak exactly to the sensibilities of people and how they like to have that personal moment of that guilty pleasure of a candy bar.�