“It happened a long time ago in the little village of Werther: the confectioner Gustav Nebel, at the peak of his skills, created his finest sweet. He took fresh cream, real butter, white and brown sugars, a pinch of salt, and lots of time. And because the candies came out particularly well, they were called Werther’s Original.”

Ah, I love a good history even if it’s just an exaggeration of the truth or in some cases, purely fictional. It gives a product character and personality. I also love heart-warming ads, like the one featuring a loving grandpa and his angelic grandson sharing a Werther’s Originals.

True to its classic status, the candies come in an warm, but slightly oldish looking packaging. When you open the other wrapper a luscious caramel aroma hits you. Each golden brown candy is individually wrapped in clear cellophane. There’s a dent in the middle of the candy. I’m not too sure whether this is the result of the manufacturing process or an intended shape but it provides a niche for your tongue.

The candy is smooth, buttery and sweet as candies should be but what’s special about this particular sweet is its deliciousness. As far as caramel candies go, Werther’s Original is the bee’s knees. It is definitely not a run of the mill mediocre-tasting candy, no. I kid you not when I say you can almost taste the quality of the ingredients used once you pop one in your mouth. Storck website claims these are made “because you are someone very special!” and that the candies are “uncommonly good”. I don’t know about the first part but believe you me, these are indeed uncommonly good. I am not a hard candy lover but this gets a Perfect 10!

Candies are by nature, bad for you because, being nothing more than sugar, they rot your teeth and are full of empty calories. A candy without nutrition warning is worse because you’ll never know how much is too much. The lack of nutrition information seems to be a common characteristic of the few European products reviewed here so far. Am I missing something here? Do I care? Mmmm.. caramel candy…nyom nyom nyom…

Photo: Storck

As deliciously sweet as the Werther's Original boy.