All The Candies That Start With Z
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You’ve made it to the end of the line! This short list of candies are a mixed bag of common and uncommon. The Z candies feature chocolate and rich as well as sour and chewy varieties alike. Most of the candies herein are still readily available in 2022, however, one discontinued variety is worth the walk down memory lane.
Zagnut
Invented in 1930 by the D. L. Clark Company out of Pennsylvania, Zagnut is a unique and tasty candy bar. Today, Zagnut is manufactured by The Hershey Company, also in Pennsylvania. Zagnut is a creamy peanut butter-filled bar covered in toasted coconut shreds. Although it’s not a popular variety of Hershey candy bars, the company continues to manufacture it nonetheless. Zagnuts are longer and thinner than standard candy bars and they’re packaged in a red wrapper with yellow lettering.
A fun fact about the Zagnut bar is that it was featured in the wildly popular “Beetlejuice” movie. Likely as a result of its unpopularity, there are no spinoff flavors or size variations for this candy bar. Notably, Zagnut is primarily made of corn syrup, peanuts, toasted coconut, and molasses. Zagnut is certified kosher and contains 220 calories, nine grams of fat, 25 grams of sugar, three grams of protein, and one gram of dietary fiber per serving.
Zazers
Since 1999, Oppenheimer USA, Inc. has been manufacturing strictly kosher foods and candies. Zazers are kosher candy produced by this company. Zazers is a line of chewy, taffy-like candies that come in a litany of sizes, varieties, and juicy, fruit flavors. Of note, Zazers are beautifully wrapped in colorful, twist-tied foil wraps in glitzy colors of your choice; these special wrappers make Zazers perfect for a celebration.
Zazers are primarily sold in one-pound bags of solitary flavors such as lemon, raspberry, pineapple, and peach to name a few. Unfortunately, Oppenheimer is a small candy manufacturer that doesn’t make ingredient lists and nutritional information readily available. Nevertheless, the manufacturer asserts that Zazers are gluten-free in addition to kosher.
Zero Bar
The Zero Bar first hit candy aisles in 1920 and was originally manufactured by F.A. Martoccio Macaroni Company. Although it changed hands a few times over the years, today, the Zero Bar is made by The Hershey Company in Pennsylvania. A Zero Bar is a white chocolate-covered candy bar filled with a soft caramel, almond nougat, and peanut center. Zero Bars are wrapped in a silver wrapper with bold blue writing.
Besides the standard-size candy bar, the only other variety the Zero Bar comes in is a king-size bar. The main ingredients in a Zero Bar are sugar, corn syrup, vegetable oil, and soy pieces among other components. Of note, Zero Bars are certified kosher and contain 230 calories, eight grams of fat, 31 grams of sugar, and three grams of protein per serving.
Zours
Though they’ve been discontinued for some time, Zours is a retro candy that was once quite popular. Zours were invented in 1940 and made by Born, Inc. Manufactured by the same company that makes Mike & Ikes, Zours were essentially a spinoff of that fruity candy. Zours were the same size and shape as Mike & Ikes with a different flavor profile. Mike & Ikes are juicy and fruit-flavored whereas Zours, as the name suggests, were super sour. Even though they were on the candy market for many decades it seems they got lost amid all of the other many sour candies out there. Sadly, they were discontinued in 2020. If you, like many Zours fans, want their favorite sour candy back, there’s currently a petition circulating demanding their return.
Zotz
Zotz is a unique fizzing candy that was invented by Frank Landrey in 1970. Inspired by undisclosed candies he’d purchased in Italy, Zotz is a small, hard candy with a sweet and sour flavor. Zotz are similar in shape and size to a hard butterscotch candy and they’re individually wrapped in colorful cellophane wrappers. Zotz are fruity in taste and come in flavors such as apple, watermelon, strawberry, and orange to name a few. Though mostly fruity in taste, there is a subtle sourness to a Zotz. The fun of Zotz, however, is that similar to Pop Rocks, they fizz in your mouth as you suck on them.
Notably, Zotz come in shareable bags of 46 pieces as well as Fizz Candy Strings which are strings with four individually-wrapped Zotz attached. The main ingredients in Zotz are sugar, glucose syrup, malic acid, and sodium bicarbonate (this is the ingredient that makes the candy fizz). One Zotz candy contains 20 calories and three grams of sugar. Lastly, Zotz are gluten-free, peanut/treenut-free, and dairy-free.
The Final Letter
The final letter indeed. The Z candies pack powerful punches of flavor with a pinch of nostalgia. While most of these Z candies can still be found in your local candy aisle, some are a bit more accessible than others. With the exception of Zours, though, each of the Z candies can be tracked down with a little research. Which Z candy will you be on the hunt for next?
