Edit: Just a couple of months ago, I became aware of these – they could be a marketing trial balloon, but I hope they last – they’re pretty close, even though the hazelnuts are finely ground.

On other days, I might be talking about my friends; today, it’s this:

I first encountered this candy bar in Austria, where I lived from 1975 to 1976. It’s basically a Mars bar with hazelnuts instead of almonds, and I loved them. Nuts Bars were first manufactured in the Netherlands beginning in 1950. When Mars started its own company in 1961, the Nuts Chocolate Factory was born. Subsequently production moved to the Nuts Factory Elst (Gelderland) in 1966. The company was then acquired in 1979 by the British Rowntree Mackintosh, and in 1988 by the Swiss company Nestlé. Today, the Nuts bars are manufactured in the Czech Republic.

At the time, you could walk into Hofer’s and score 3 for öS 8.90, or about 18¢ each. Not distributed in the US, you have to get them from importers who charge $19.00 for a pack of six (shipping included) and screw whole bunches of that. What’s more, I’ve found two blogs thus far that have savaged them, saying they are blah, bland and boring. I wonder if Nestlé has changed the formula in the name of the bottom line?

If nothing else, I still have the memories.

The Old Wolf has spoken.