I was always under the impression that British candies, at least, were distinctively sweeter than American counterparts. This site agrees.
There’s an Irish market in town (used to be Irish, anyways) that sells a lot of imported British candy, so I’ve had a chance to compare.
I haven’t noticed much of a difference in sweetness for most of the similar bars (some of the Nestle stuff is almost identical - the Drifter[sup]*[/sup] is very much like a Twix). Cadbury’s chocolate seems a little sweeter (on the other hand, Hershey’s plain chocolate bars taste more sugary and less chocolatey), though I haven’t compared a lot as I don’t much care for it.
Generally, American candy has more chewy stuff (nougat, lots of caramel, etc.) and the British stuff has more crispy things (wafers, caramel in layers). For example, compare a Lion (wafer, thin caramel layer, and puffed rice) to a 100 Grand bar ( all puffed rice and caramel).
There is one thing I found that seems hard to believe is popular anywhere. I don’t recall what its name is but I call it “Bizarro Lik-a-Stik” : It’s a piece of licorice (much more of a molasses flavor[sup]**[/sup] than American ‘licorice’) that you dip into a powder. The powder is mostly sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, and (maybe) sugar. So when you lick it, you get a tart fizziness followed by salty-alkaline-sweetness (and a hint of licorice).
[sup]*[/sup]The cashier made jokes when I was buying this (in the US, a drifter is someone who wanders from town to town, usually unemployed/homeless/down-on-their-luck)
[sup]**[/sup]I will admit ‘treacly’ is more concise, but molasses-ey sounds silly.
That sounds vaguely like"Lik M Aid". It’s basically a stick of sugar (with a vague flavor - but mostly sugar). And pouches of semi-sweetened koolaid. You lick the stick, stick it into the powder (so now it’s sugar and artificial cherry flavor) and then eat it. Lovely stuff when you’re 9.
I don’t know if that’s what panamajack was referring to. What he refers to sounds somewhat similar to Double Zout which is a Dutch candy (although I think that’s likely not exactly what it is). What you’ve described is closer to Pixy Stix which most of us only ate around Halloween (I always got at least a couple in my trick-or-treat bag).
But candy is just a small subset of junk food. No nation can match America’s capacity to deploy lard and sugar using industrial injection techniques. And by God, no nation ever will.
What sweets and treats do you eat in Ireland, irishgirl?
Well I don’t know about every type of candy, but to me a lot of the European stuff is not a sweet as American stuff. Cakes and pastries are not as sweet in Europe as I can’t eat the stuff here any more, but when I’m in Europe I do like to eat the pastries and stuff. I was happy to find a place in DC that made pastries a lot less sweet then normal. As much as I like cookies and such I can’t eat them from the stores any more.
“Lik M Aid” was what I was referring to by “bizarro Lik A Stik” (turns out it’s properly “Lik a Stix”, which is the name for the stick, and since I was remembering from childhood I never knew exactly what the name was). This stuff looks like that - but the ‘stick’ is black licorice and the powder is more like this. It might taste a bit like saoirse’s salted licorice drops, but those aren’t it.
Thank you! My boyfriend says it like it’s Italian, you know, “Flah-vohr-EE-che”.
Otter Pops are the kind with the cartoon characters on them - wasn’t one of them, like, a Kaiser Wilhelm otter?
And I’d kill for some solid sugar Lik-M-Aid right now. Actually I went in search of it a few weeks ago when I had to get stuff for a little get-together entirely at a gas station - can you believe a gas station had no Fun Dip?
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the line of Mars candy bars. The simplest is the Three Musketeers, which is a block of nougat covered in chocolate (“nougat”, here, is some sort of spongy sugarry caramelly mass, the composition of which it is probably best not to ask). Next step more complicated is the Milky Way bar, which has a stripe of caramel on top of the nougat before it’s covered in chocolate. Then there’s the Snickers, which is like a Milky Way, but also has peanuts. These are all made by the M&M/Mars company (I assume you know what M&Ms are). There’s also a candy bar made by the same company called simply the “Mars bar”, but it’s not very common, and I’m not sure exactly what it is (though I’ve heard that it’s different from the British sweet of the same name). Also from M&M/Mars comes the Twix bar, which is a stick of crispy cookie (similar to what you would call a biscuit), with a stripe of caramel on top of it, and covered in chocolate (there’s also a peanut butter Twix, with PB instead of the caramel, but it’s not as good). “Candy bar”, in general, in the US almost universally implies chocolate to some degree.
There’s also chocolates made by Hershey’s and Nestle; these are mostly a block of chocolate, perhaps with something in them, rather than something covered with chocolate. Pure milk chocolate is common; this is just a “Hershey’s bar”, or “Nestle bar”. Hershey’s also makes the Hershey Kiss, which is a small individually-wrapped lump of chocolate shaped like an oversized chocolate chip. Chocolate bars may also commonly contain crisped rice (Nestle Crisp or Hershey’s Krackle), peanuts, or almonds (there are a few variations of the Hershey kiss, as well, but they’re not nearly as popular as the pure chocolate kind).
Chronos, dunno if you know this, but Mars USA is an offshoot of Mars UK. I believe it was the original confectioner’s son who left England, then returned and bought out his old man.
Mars in the UK and Ireland makes:
Twix - same as the US kind (but not as sweet, IMO) but no varieties. I believe this actually started in the UK in the 1970s or 80s.
Snickers - used to be called ‘Marathon’ in the UK, but has been homogenized into the US form.
Milky Way - same as a Three Musketeers
Mars Bar - like a Milky Way but with heavier nougat, and caramel on top. Horribly sweet.
M&Ms - same as the US, with the same chocolate that tastes of balloon rubber (IMO) - brought in to compete with Nestle/Rowntree Smarties which are very similar.
My second-favourite US candy are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which are now available in Ireland (well, some convenience stores in Dublin at least). They’re made by Hershey’s, which also have a few chocolate bar varieties in Dublin. I think irishgirl would be disappointed by the chocolate, which tastes horrible to me, with a gritty texture - but YMMV. However, the glory of the peanut butter in Peanut Butter Cups outshines the Hershey’s chocolate.
My favourite US candy though, which is quite difficult to find even in the US, is the PayDay bar, which is a stick of fudge covered in salted peanuts. Absolutely amazing.
Aha, Wikipedia reveals that, highly confusingly, the UK Mars Bar is very similar to the US Milky Way.
Sheesh, talk about your silly questions!
Yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers, and pink hearts, of course.
Oh, and toffee-coated leprechaun testicles.
Blasphemer!
That’s odd. There’s is something being sold here under the “Snickers” label that touts itself as an “energy bar”, but really it’s just a really thin and less tasty Snickers bar. Wonder if those are the same thing.
Can some Brit Doper explain what the deal is with Yorkies and why they’re not for girls?
Which I neglected to mention is called a “Snickers Marathon”
I came in here to ask about Yorkie bars! Cluricaun beat me to it.
My favorite obscure candy is the Mallo-Cup, basically the same as a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup only with marshmallow cream instead of peanut butter. The little cardboard insert was printed with a picture of a coin, with denominations from, I think, 10 cents to a quarter. You could collect them and send them in for coupons or something. I hardly ever see them around any more, I sure hope Boyer hasn’t gone out of business.
You sure about that?
The company’s current headquarters are in McLean, Virginia.
Jeepers, is there no one here willing to mention Moon Pies?
Washed down with an RC Cola, of course.
Of course, this is a pretty regional American sweet, and subject to jeers and jokes by those who just do not know better. 
It is hard for an American to understand what life would be like Twinkie-less.
A friend of ours over in Essex loves Twinkies. I use to hit the Hostess Store and buy a gajillion for her every once in awhile to ship over. They have a shelf life of like two hundred trillion years…mmmmmmmm preservatives.
Personally, i’ve always been a fan of ho-ho’s. Crack in a wrapper, they are.
PayDays are actually a caramel, nougat, and salted peanuts concoction, I think. I’m not certain about the nougat. I love them because of the salt.
My other favorites are also a little hard to find. That makes them safe as favorites!
Sugar Daddy: A hard milk-caramel sucker that will pull your teeth out if given the opportunity.
Toffifay: A hazelnut in a chocolate and caramel cup. Comes in a weird little plastic tray.