{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Short description|Candy in the shape of a bar}} {{About|candy in bar form}}
[[File:Planters-Peanut-Bar.jpg|thumb|A Planters Peanut Bar. Some candy bars do not contain any chocolate.]] A '''candy bar''' is a type of portable candy that is in the shape of a bar.
Many varieties of candy bars exist,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Norris |first=Susie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LngJwxjVOfkC |title=Hand-Crafted Candy Bars: From-Scratch, All-Natural, Gloriously Grown-Up Confections |last2=Heeger |first2=Susan |date=2013-03-19 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-1-4521-0965-7 |pages=13 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Insel |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jtNQqfNz80C&pg=RA1-PA18 |title=Paul Insel, Don Ross, Kimberley McMahon, Melissa Bernstein |last2=Ross |first2=Don |last3=McMahon |first3=Kimberley |last4=Bernstein |first4=Melissa |date=2010-04-07 |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers |isbn=978-0-7637-9376-0 |language=en}}</ref> and many are mass-produced.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mf4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 |title=Kiplinger's Personal Finance |date=December 1947 |publisher=Kiplinger Washington Editors |pages=20 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aaseng |first=Nathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXBPiDJ5R8YC&pg=PA28 |title=Business Builders In Sweets and Treats |date=2005-05-31 |publisher=The Oliver Press |isbn=978-1-881508-84-7 |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref> Between World War I and the middle of the 20th century, approximately 40,000 brands of candy bars were introduced.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jtNQqfNz80C|title=Nutrition|last=Insel|first=Paul|last2=Ross|first2=Don|last3=McMahon|first3=Kimberley|last4=Bernstein|first4=Melissa|date=2010-04-07|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|isbn=9780763793760|language=en}}</ref>
==Chocolate bars== {{Main article|Chocolate bar}}
A chocolate bar is a bar-shaped piece of chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures of other ingredients. A wide variety of chocolate bar brands are sold. A popular example is a Snickers bar, which consists of nougat mixed with caramel and peanuts.
The first chocolate tablets were produced in the early 19th century.<ref name=Barel>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2k9DEAAAQBAJ | title=Du cacao au chocolat: L'épopée d'une gourmandise | publisher=Éditions Quæ | author=Barel, Michel | year=2021 | pages=102 | isbn=9782759233793 |quote=Le premier est François-Louis Cailler, l'inventeur de la tablette de chocolat telle que nous la connaissons aujourd'hui.|trans-quote=The first is François-Louis Cailler, the inventor of the chocolate tablet as we know it today.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/la-fleche-72200/menier-une-dynastie-pour-le-chocolat-3091047 | title=Menier, une dynastie pour le chocolat | work=Ouest-France | date=29 December 2014 | access-date=22 May 2022 | author=Petit, Élisabeth | quote=Les premières formes de tablettes, enveloppées de papier blanc, voient le jour. En 1836, Menier lance une tablette à six divisions semi-cylindriques. Le succès est au rendez-vous. | trans-quote=The first chocolate tablets, wrapped in white paper, are created. In 1836, Menier launched a tablet with six semi-cylindrical divisions. Success is on the way. | archive-date=22 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522145133/https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/la-fleche-72200/menier-une-dynastie-pour-le-chocolat-3091047 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 1830, Kohler started producing hazelnut chocolate.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=di-3DwAAQBAJ | title=Le Larousse du chocolat | publisher=Editions Larousse | author=Hermé, Pierre | year=2019 |page=44 | isbn=9782035981820 |quote=Les noisettes furent les premiers fruits à être ajoutés dans le chocolat solide, une innovation suisse due à Kohler en 1830. |trans-quote=Hazelnuts were the first fruits to be added to solid chocolate, a Swiss innovation due to Kohler in 1830.}}</ref> In 1866, Fry's Chocolate Cream became the first mass-produced combination chocolate bar.<ref name="Chocolates">{{cite book|last=Mintz|first=Sidney|title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=157}}</ref> The Goo Goo Cluster was the first mass-produced combination bar in the United States, including marshmallow, nougat, caramel, and roasted peanuts.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure|last=Kawash|first=Samira|publisher=Faber and Faber|year=2013|isbn=9780374711108|pages=152–153, 156–157, 163}}</ref> In some varieties of English and food labeling standards, the term ''chocolate bar'' is reserved for bars of solid chocolate, with ''candy bar'' used for products with additional ingredients.
<gallery mode="packed" widths="200" heights="120" caption="Chocolate candy bars"> File:Goo-Goo-Cluster-Split.jpg|Goo Goo Clusters, a combination chocolate bar.<ref name=":0" /><!-- Note that sources call the Goo Goo Cluster a candy bar even though it is not rectangular --> File:Cadbury-Dairy-Milk-Caramel-Bar.jpg|Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel bar in its foil wrapper File:Snickers-broken.JPG|Snickers bar, a combination chocolate bar File:Milka Alpine Milk Chocolate bar 100g with chunks broken off.jpg|Milka brand solid milk chocolate bar </gallery>
==Non-chocolate candy bars== thumb|The Big Hunk Bar is a flat bar of nougat with peanuts.
Candy bars containing no chocolate include:
* Abba-Zaba: taffy with a peanut butter center * AirHeads: a taffy based candy that comes in multiple flavours * Big Hunk: nougat center covered with peanuts * thumb|Almond- and honey-flavored Bit-O-Honey-BarBit-O-Honey: honey-flavored taffy with almond bits * Cajeta Elegancita: caramel center covered with goat's milk * Carambar: caramel-based candy * [[File:Caramac bar (cropped).jpg|thumb|A caramel-flavored Caramac candy bar]]Caramac: caramel-based candy * Chick-O-Stick: peanut butter center covered with coconut * Choo Choo Bar: liquorice-based candy * Hershey's Cookies 'n' Mint: mint-flavored Hershey candy bar with mint-flavored cookie bits * Hershey's Gold: caramel-flavored Hershey candy bar with peanuts and pretzels * Kendal Mint Cake: peppermint-based candy * Laffy Taffy: a taffy based candy that comes in multiple flavours * Mantecol: a peanut butter nougat bar * Mr. Tom: peanuts and caramel * Munch: peanut brittle-like candy * thumb|The PayDay candy bar has peanuts and caramel.PayDay: peanuts and caramel * Pecan log roll: cherry-laced nougat center covered with caramel and pecans * Planters Peanut Bar: peanut brittle-like candy * Salted Nut Roll: nougat center covered with caramel and peanuts * Turkish Taffy: taffy-based candy * Wazoo: taffy center covered with sprinkles * Yeot-gangjeong: ''hangwa'' center covered in toasted seeds, nuts, beans or puffed grains mixed with ''mullyeot'' (rice syrup) * Zagnut: peanut brittle wrapped in toasted coconut
==See also== {{portal|Food}} * Candy making * Bar (food), overview of bars * Dessert bar – dessert similar to a bar cookie (traybake) * Energy bar – snack food * Granola bar – snack food similar to granola (muesli) cereal in a bar shape * List of candies * List of chocolate bar brands
==References== <references />
==Further reading== * Cadbury, Deborah, ''Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers'' (PublicAffairs, 2011) * Mazze, Edward M. and Michman, Ronald D., ''The Food Industry Wars: Marketing Triumphs and Blunders'' (Praeger, 1998)
==External links== * {{commonscat-inline|Candy bars}}
Category:Candy bars Category:Candy Category:Confectionery Category:Bars (food)