ION Derby

As you may have guessed, this is another Greek curiosity from Chocablog reader George Loumakis. This one’s definitely more of a “candy bar” than the ION with Chios Mastiha I reviewed previously.

George notes that it has some historical value as some claim Derby was the first chocolate bar ever produced in Greece, and the ION web site claims it to be one of the country’s most popular candy bars. The name doesn’t sound very Greek to me though!

So what exactly is it?

Well starting on the outside, we have milk chocolate of unknown cocoa content, with a good helping of crisped rice. Nice enough, but nothing special – and certainly not the most appetising looking chocolate creation I’ve seen.

Inside, things get a bit weirder. The filling is best described as “chewy coconut marshmallowy stuff”. I couldn’t make out the Greek translation, but I bet that’s the official description!

While there’s definitely pieces of desiccated coconut in there, it’s much more chewy than a Bounty bar, and has more flavour too. I imagine you would get a very similar experience if you grated a coconut into a jar of Fluff, then added half a bag of extra sugar – this stuff is really sweet.

Luckily though, it’s also very light and quite small, so it’s quite easy to get through in one go without sharing (sharing!? boo!!), and I found myself really quite enjoying it. Not posh, but the perfect antidote to a mid-afternoon sugar craving.

So far ION are two-for-two… I wonder what the Greeks have in store next…

Posted by Dom on 12 Sep 2009 at 09:09 AM | 5 Comments
Filed in Reviews under coconut, greece, ion, milk, rice