October 10th: Cadbury Astros

Kcal 183 Fat 8.2 Fat(sats) 5.0g Carbs 26.6g (per pack)

I wont be surprised if many your initial reactions follow along the same lines of my own - 'I remember these!'. Indeed I remember having Cadbury Astros when I was younger but they are long gone from UK nowadays. Luckily for me though ChocolateMission reader Eric was kind enough to send me a load of goodies he tracked down on a trip into London recently. He said he found these in a Australian themed shop in Covent Garden - I will fill you in with the name of the shop when we finally pin it down. If you have never come across Cadbury Astros before they are described as 'candy and chocolate biscuit bites' - ahhh I could feel the nostalgia building up inside already!

These came in 38.0g box that contained several pea sized pieces inside. On the whole I thought that the presentation was really pretty good. Despite the outer cardboard being marked by an unfortunate permanent marker 'X' I still thought it looked rather cool and I liked the way the product was a nice size to carry around on the go. Inside the pieces were colourful in appearance and when bitten into had distinct layering between each of the three different layers of the sugar candy, chocolate and biscuit. Whereas I was impressed by the packaging I was little less enamoured by the sweet, sugary aroma of the product which wasn't particularly strong due to the lacking of an inner packet.

From the very first 'Astro' I placed in my mouth I had a huge sense of nostalgia sweep over me and they tasted exactly how I remembered them all those years ago. The outer candy shell provided a nice crisp texture to bite into though was nicely implemented quite thinly so it avoided the taste ever becoming too sugar based. Inside the chocolate was surprisingly strong in flavour and provided a sound set of milky, cocoa flavours to each and every piece. The inner biscuit was also nicely crunchy in texture and released a tasty malty influence into the taste when bitten into - think Maltesers but with slightly less of a honeycomb influence. What I liked so much about these was that they were a real joy to eat and I really enjoyed sucking away the outer shells and chocolate and then crunching on the exposed biscuit centre after. A whole packet certainly wasn't the most fulfilling snack I have ever had but at the end of the day they did a job tieing my hunger over until later that afternoon and were relatively satisfying.

Overall in a way I can understand why these aren't available here in the UK anymore but I that still doesn't make them a bad product - far from it in fact. Nowadays retailers are very pushed for shelf space to give to confectionery so there isn't always an argument to give room for unremarkable products like these. Personally I actually really like them and I loved reminiscing with the familiar candy, chocolate and biscuit centre combination that I used to love as I child. Whilst I very much enjoyed tasting these 'Astros' again. I am not entirely sure I would be reaching back for another packet all that soon, and that is where I think the main problem with these Astros lie. Looking at the packaging it says these are produced in South Africa so if you are UK based and what to get hold of some of these yourselves your best chance is probably trying the Internet. These were a nice little trip down memory lane but not one that left me really hoping that these would make a dead certain comeback.

7.9 out of 10