I’ve joined the Canadian-American candy exchange, and am looking for inspiration. I remember reading a thread a while ago about foods only available in Canada, but can’t find it for the life of me. Can anyone point me to it? I don’t want to send stuff that my recipient can get in the US. Also, what candies/snack foods are available only in Canada that you miss or love?
Here are a couple I miss, with descriptions for those who can’t get them. I’ll be checking back here for a link to the thread.
Zero bars - Chocolate truffle filling covered in luscious dark chocolate, milk chocolate (if you must), or white chocolate-like stuff. There’s a US bar under the same name, but it sucks.
Cheezies - Much better than the Cheesie-Poof sort of twists, these are gnarly and hard, with enough cheese powder to stain all your clothing with only a single bag. I’ve seen something similar in the US, but haven’t tried them.
Coffee Crisp
Smarties (Canadian ones, not American “Sweet Tarts” kind)
Oh! Henry
Mr. Big
Joe Louis
Flakies
Pretty well any Cadbury products
That’s off the top of my head in about 30 seconds (gad, I getta get back up North). I’ll start a little list to add to later.
I understand they don’t have chocolate Smarties down there.
Aero
Cherry Blossom
Any Ganong product (Hey, I’m from near St. Stephen, and I desperately miss my holiday Chicken Bones!!)
I miss everything that everyone else has mentioned so far, especially the Cadbury products. Easter isn’t Easter without a Cadbury Great Bunny… sniffle.
Zero bars were to die for. All flavours, milk chocolate was the best, but dark chocolate and white chocolate were awesome, too. Sometimes we’d find them 3 for a dollar at a dollar store, buy 'em up, and put some in the freezer. Mmmmmmmmmmmm…
~homesick~ 
I went on a trip to Nova Scotia in the late 60s and i distinctly remember seeing orange and grape flavored potato chips. I think they were Hostess brand.
Which reminds me…
Hostess potato chips (over here Hostess only makes things like Twinkies, and those other snack cake things… whaaa?)
And Humpty Dumpty brand potato chips.
Flavours like Ketchup and All Dressed are rare around here.
Here you go prices are in Canadian dollars…
How about mars bars, I hear those are rare in the US, and I know the US has coke (the pop), but it tastes different here (less sweet)
Skor Bites. Somehow far better than Skor Bars.
Kinder Eggs http://www.kinder-eggs.com/
Do Canadians get the standard American fare of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers and Almond Joys candy bars?
Our (US) Smarties are small hard discs stacked up in small rolls. They do not come in chocolate. They look like this: http://www.candydirect.com/bulk/Smarties.html?PHPSESSID=4288a7158e21aedb26accee18f4fd0e1
Yes, yes, and yes.
I dearly missed my Crispy Crunches when I was living in the States for a time.
We get some American chocolate bars (Butterfingers, too), but, no offense, they’re kinda crappy compared to the Canadian stuff. I would choose a Crispy Crunch over a Butterfingers every time. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, however, are pretty good. Hershey’s chocolate is crap though.
These are avalible in (some parts of) the US. I can get them in a grocery store in the city where I work. They’re in the “international foods” isle, which amuses me for some reason, since nothing else in that isle says Canada to me.
We call those “Rockets”
The Aero bars (and Crunchies) I’ve seen here are British. Not quite the same taste.
I miss everything listed here! Occasionally, my brother in Vancouver will send me an assortment of Canadian chocolate bars. The closest I can come here is to go to Disney in Orlando, and at the England exhibit, you can get British candies, among them Crunchie chocolate bars - but they’re made in England. I don’t remember seeing a similar display at the Canada exhibit.
I miss Caramilk and Crispy Crunch and Oh! Henry.
I can remember eating O! Henry bars as a child, so maybe they were once available in parts of the US? rjk what you described sounds similar to one kind of Cheetos snacks, but I don’t know if they’d taste as good to you. Horrifying Howler Monkey describe the “Mars bars” you mean? There used to be a candy bar by that name with nougat, milk chocolate, caramel and almonds. The closest thing to it that can be found more often than not now is Almond Snickers though. They are almost exactly the same though. IIRC though, the British Mars Bar is different from the same candy bar with that name in the US.
The first two yes (I especially like Reese’s). Almond Joy? In my experience you’ll spot one once in a great while but they are really not common, at least nowhere I’ve lived. Like Mike & Ike’s (which I love) – there’s one depanneur I know of that sells them.