Mars Limited Edition Caramel

Mars has gone back in time with their 2014 seasonal release of the classic Mars Bar, and given us 'Mars Caramel'. They didn't have to go back too far - we last saw this just two years ago in 2012. Must have been popular. Let's see how it rates on the Lolly Addict scale.

If you're a fan of the caramel in Mars bars, then this release is for you. It is caramel, chocolate and nothing else. The bar itself is a bit slimmer than the classic; it's only lost 1g in weight (down from 53g), but the caramel is a lot denser than the nougat it's replacing, so the bar is shorter and thinner. t definitely is a solid bar, though; in the hand it feels like it weighs a lot more than 52g.

The wrapper is printed plastic, featuring the bold red and black Mars logo. Half of the front is taken up by an arty swath of tan colour. At least the 'limited edition' is unmissable; it's red and white, and rather large. The bar is described as 'creamy, chewy caramel covered in thick Mars chocolate'.

The chocolate on the bar seems a touch darker than usual, but I don't have a classic here to compare. Given the viscosity of the centre, the bar has a thicker layer of chocolate than usual. It kept my bar from leaking, which is exactly its purpose. Due to the thickness, it makes up 40% of the bar, with the other 60% made up by the caramel. The chocolate smells very sweet, like Easter chocolate. Breaking open the bar takes a good amount of force, and the caramel has an excellent stringy nature. It stretches for a good few centimetres before breaking when pulled, but breaks easily when bitten. It does stick to the teeth a bit, but nothing a bit of sucking will remove. The caramel has a lovely sweet toffee sort of flavour. It's thick and yes, a touch chewy. The addition of the chocolate sweetens the bit a whole lot, taking it from lovely to a bit of overkill, and giving the caramel a chocolate flavour (like the caramel from this year's earlier limited edition, Choc Loaded).

As you can imagine, I found it difficult to finish a whole bar in one go, despite my own epic sweet tooth, and I needed a big glass of water afterwards. I much preferred eating the caramel on its own.

Score: 2.5 out of 5 jelly beans

Mars Limited Edition Caramel is made in Australia. It contains milk, wheat and soy. It may contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, egg and barley.