More Peanut Butter

Yesterday, I wrote about the 5th Avenue Bar, Hershey's entrant in the chocolate-covered peanut butter crunch bar sweepstakes. Today, let's talk about the Clark Bar, which is the same basic idea as 5th Avenue and Butterfinger. It was first made by the DL Clark Candy Company in the early 20th Century (I haven't found an exact date, although the Necco website says that the bar was in existence by the time the US entered World War I in 1917), which continued to be family-owned until it was sold to Beatrice Foods in 1955. The brand was sold again to Leaf in 1983, then to the Pittsburgh Food and Beverage Company in 1995, and finally to the New England Confectionery Company (Necco) in 1999. 5th Avenue was created in 1936, and Wikipedia says that Butterfinger was created in 1923, so I guess that makes Clark the original (or at least the oldest still extant) variation on the chocolate-covered peanut butter crunch theme. When writing about 5th Avenue, I said that I disliked the heavy consistency of the peanut butter crunch in Butterfinger bars, which tends to collect in the valleys of my molars. I much prefer the lighter texture of the filling in 5th Avenue bars, and it turns out that the filling in Clark bars is similar. Very tasty.