The Oldest Candy Bars Still Sold Today

Some candy bars never get old. At least, that’s what we can say about treats that have stayed on store shelves for more than a century. Somehow they still manage to attract chocolate lovers all the time. 

Yes, candy bars disappear and reappear. Brands love to get the fans excited by reintroducing their favorite discontinued treats, even if it’s only for a limited time. But strangely, the candy bars on this list never needed a big comeback, as they have been available for generations and became a part of candy history along the way. 

In this article, we’ll introduce 5 oldest candy bars still sold today and the stories behind them.

1. Fry’s Chocolate Cream

If you Google what’s the world’s oldest mass-produced chocolate bar that is still sold today, you’ll probably end up seeing Fry’s Chocolate Cream at the top of the list. This classic chocolate bar was first introduced in Britain in 1866 by J. S. Fry & Sons. At first glance, it may look simple — it’s just a dark chocolate bar that has a smooth fondant center. But somehow it managed to remain on store shelves for more than 150 years without losing its basic idea.

To understand how long ago that was, people were already enjoying Fry’s Chocolate Cream before movies or radio existed. If customers from the 1860s suddenly saw modern digital entertainment on platforms like Baxterbet, they probably wouldn’t know what to do with it. But this chocolate bar itself would already feel familiar.

Nowadays, Fry’s Chocolate Cream is still available in the UK and Ireland, and this time, it’s produced by Cadbury. 

2. Cadbury Dairy Milk

Speaking of Cadbury, another classic chocolate bar that was first introduced more than a century ago is Cadbury Dairy Milk. It was created in Britain in 1905. This was the first-ever chocolate bar that contained more milk than any other bars available at that time, and that was all thanks to George Cadbury Jr.

Interestingly, the chocolate bar wasn’t supposed to be called Dairy Milk initially. Instead, the brand considered giving it names such as Highland Milk, Jersey, and Dairy Maid. But in the end, one of the customers suggested this simple name, and it somehow turned out to be the one that chocolate enthusiasts never forgot. Since its creation, the product never left the market, and it’s still produced worldwide by Mondelēz International.

3. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar

You can hardly find a chocolate lover who hasn’t tasted Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. We can’t say that its ingredients are special, but as you probably understand, timeless products rarely come with weird ingredients. 

The thing that made Hershey’s milk chocolate bar so famous is the fact that it was so affordable to ordinary Americans who were looking for a sweet treat. Milton Hershey introduced it in 1900 and, believe it or not, it only cost five cents. That was the first time when milk chocolate turned into an everyday snack, rather than being considered something luxurious.

4. Goo Goo Cluster

This one isn’t completely a candy bar, it still deserves to be on the list for one simple reason: a candy bar doesn’t actually need to look like a bar to remain fans’ favorite for decades. The Goo Goo Cluster was created in Nashville by Howell Campbell in 1912, and it was one of a kind of a treat at that time. Its ingredients included marshmallow nougat, caramel, and roasted peanuts, all under a layer of milk chocolate. 

Today, Goo Goo Cluster is known as “Nashville’s Official Candy.” It’s still made with the same original recipe, and it’s still sold in gas stations and grocery stores across the South.

5. Clark Bar

The final candy bar on our list is Clark Bar, which has survived wars, ownership changes, and even the closure of the company that once produced it. David L. Clark created the candy in Pittsburgh in 1917. The candy bar didn’t need much time to become a favorite in the nation and gain popularity. 

The recipe of the original Clark Bar was slightly different from the one we know today. In fact, the original Clark Bar featured a crispy peanut candy and had a caramel center. And, of course, this was all covered in milk chocolate. In 1965, the company added more peanut butter, while the caramel center was removed during the 1980s. That way, the product’s shelf life was extended. That was very important back then because Clark Bars were sent to American soldiers during World War I. 

Almost a century later, the candy almost disappeared when the company Necco closed in 2018. Lucky for fans, Boyer Candy bought the brand and brought the Clark Bar back in 2020.

Bottom Line

After discussing the history of these 5 oldest candy bars, now we can certainly say that the main reason why they managed to survive is that they offered something people didn’t want to forget. Sometimes this “something” is the shape, other times it’s texture or a specific ingredient. Either way, even if the packaging and marketing change all the time, the basic ideas behind these candy bars have managed to survive for decades.