8 Best Candies You'll Only Find On Canadian Shelves

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Some of my fondest memories as a kid are of taking the money I saved from my allowance and using it on candy at my local corner store. At the time, five dollars felt like a lot of wealth, and I intended to disperse it amongst only the finest sugary treats Canadian counters could offer. While our Canadian shelves have plenty of the same items you'll find in American stores, not all are created equal. For example, while the United States has KitKats, they're arguably not nearly as delicious as the chocolate confection we get to enjoy up north. The difference comes down to the manufacturers of the candy bar using different recipes. In the United States, it's Hershey's, while Canadian KitKats are the product of Nestlé.

Beyond the multiple flavors of KitKats, though, Canadian stores also have loads of other candies you won't find elsewhere. Sure, the U.S. has way more variety than we do –– which makes sense, given the huge gap in population sizes –– but Canada can still hold its own on the candy front. If you happen to take a trip up north or know someone who is, take it from this Canuck: These are the best candies you can find on Canadian shelves.

A staple in Halloween bags that's enjoyed by adults and kids alike, Coffee Crisp is a beloved Canadian chocolate bar. Manufactured by Nestlé, it features layers of vanilla wafer and coffee-flavored cream covered in a thin swath of milk chocolate. 

This candy bar was first introduced in 1938 as a Canadian variation of Rowntree's Wafer Crisp. Back then, the Wafer Crisp chocolate bar, which originated in the U.K., was known as Biscrisp in Canada, due to the layers of wafers. Perhaps owing to the popularity of pairing of chocolate with coffee, Coffee Crisp has since earned its icon status among Canadians. More than 153 million Coffee Crisp bars are produced every year, and it's always at the single factory that makes them, located in Toronto, Ontario.

So, is a Coffee Crisp actually tasty? Well, those numbers do not lie. While I wasn't quite a fan as a child, as an adult, Coffee Crisp has my heart, thanks to its flaky, crispy texture and subtle coffee flavor. It's not too sweet, and the chocolate coating is the right thickness, providing just enough stability to keep the wafers in check. While this OG candy bar is the GOAT for a reason, you can also try Coffee Crisp in varieties like cold brew, double double (named for coffee with two creams and two sugars), and a Mega Wafer version.

I don't want to cause any kind of drama, but I will say with my whole chest that Smarties are better than M&M's. In the United States, Smarties usually refer to those cellophane-wrapped rolls of chalky, pastel-colored tablets that masquerade as candy, and in Canada, those same sweets are called Rockets. Conversely, our Smarties are closest to the common M&M, but they differ — and are superior — in so many ways.

Smarties (the Canadian version) are made by Nestlé these days, after being first introduced in the U.K. by Rowntree's back in 1937, which was four years before Mars launched M&M's stateside. Smarties are, like M&M's, candy-coated chocolate discs. That, however, is where the similarities end, as Smarties have a noticeably thicker, crunchier candy shell, which I personally enjoy snapping between my teeth. This product also contains no artificial colors or flavors. In fairness to M&M's, Mars announced in 2025 that it was moving away from relying on artificial dyes in several types of candy, with a lineup of M&M's made with all-natural colorings debuting in August 2026. So, that's another tie point in the chocolate-coated candy category.

However, Smarties still come out on top due to the quality of the chocolate itself. They're simply better, with a greater depth of cocoa and no strange grainy texture. M&M's do have Smarties beat when it comes to variety, though. For example, while another Tasting Table writer was able to rank 11 M&M's flavors, Smarties only come in the standard chocolate variety. Although, strawberry and birthday cake flavors are available for a limited time, at the time of this writing.

Let's visit another Canadian chocolate bar, this time from the people over at Cadbury. The British chocolate brand actually has two chocolate bars under the Caramilk name, but only one is this milk chocolatey delight. The other one is sold in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and it refers to a caramelized white chocolate bar. The one available in Canada, however, is an entirely different –– and delicious –– beast.

This chocolate bar is segmented into perfectly portioned milk chocolate pillows, each filled with sweet caramel. The caramel itself has a thinner, slightly runnier consistency, versus a chewy, toffee-adjacent filling. The pre-portioned pillows (say that five times fast) mean you can enjoy just the right amount of caramel-chocolate sweetness without going overboard. Plus, it keeps said caramel nicely tucked away, which helps avoid any mess if you're noshing on the go.

For those in the know, one of the best ways to enjoy this luscious bar is by letting it chill out in the fridge, or even for a short stint in the freezer. The caramel is liquid enough that it remains soft, while the chocolate cools to offer a better bite with more textural contrast. Or, you could just grab this candy brand's ice cream bar and have the best of both worlds.

Maybe you're not a fan of chocolate (hard to believe, but those people do exist) and prefer chewier, gummier candy. While most Canadians won't turn down a peach ring if offered, we also have our own peach-flavored gummy that vegans get to enjoy, too, since these confections contain no gelatin. Fuzzy Peach was originally the product of British candymaker Maynards, as is still proudly stated on the packaging, before Maynards was acquired by Cadbury in the 1990s, which was then acquired by Mondelez International. However, Fuzzy Peach is still proudly produced in Canada, and it's a staple sweet in Halloween bags and movie theaters across the country.

Fuzzy Peach gummies have that sour candy coating many other popular candies have, but it's not aggressive, working more as a textural component versus a flavor — aka the "fuzziness" of the Fuzzy Peaches. The actual flavor is sweet, juicy peach. If you're a Canadian Costco cardholder, you can try a supersized bag of Fuzzy Peach in a trifecta of different blended flavors, as well: peach lime, peach mango, and peach raspberry.

These candies are nostalgic for me, which amps up their enjoyment. Just chewy enough, with a sweet, peachy taste and a touch of tartness, these are a must-buy for fans of the stone fruit.

Also from Maynards, Sour Cherry Blasters are the candies you'll want to get your hands on if you enjoy all things sour. While certainly not among some of the most sour candies in the world, Sour Cherry Blasters still earn some points thanks to the mouth-puckering power of citric acid sprinkled liberally across each cherry-shaped bite. 

The combination of sour and sweet a la Sour Patch Kids is unmatched, and if you like those, you'll enjoy Sour Cherry Blasters, too. Sure, after snacking on a bag, you might find yourself peeling a layer of skin off your tongue, but who hasn't been there? Like the Fuzzy Peach gummies, Sour Cherry Blasters don't contain gelatin, which gives them a less chewy texture worthy of a jaw workout, but a nice gumminess, nevertheless. 

If you don't enjoy all things sour or simply abhor the taste of cherries, stick with the Fuzzy Peaches, or find something else on this Canadian candy list to indulge in. Admittedly, I don't see these Sour Cherry Blasters enjoyed quite as often as their peach-flavored cousins, which is a shame, because these are pretty darn good.

One of my all-time favorite chocolate bars as a child has to have been Crispy Crunch. It wasn't nearly as beloved by my siblings, either, which meant I could trade some of my lesser candies for one of their Crispy Crunch bars come Halloween. Another group who aren't fans of this crunchy candy? Dentists (probably).

Crispy Crunch bars are thin, hard chocolate bars with a crispy, crunchy — hence the name— peanut butter interior. The peanut butter is so crunchy and sticky that it almost sits in peanut butter toffee territory or even a classic peanut brittle ... which means a bite of this bar sticks to your teeth like nothing else. But I don't even mind it when it means I get to enjoy a snappy taste of this sweet and slightly savory candy bar, even if I'm tasting it on my molars for hours afterwards.

Introduced in 1930 in Toronto, Ontario, Crispy Crunch was actually the invention of a William Neilson Dairy Limited employee named Harold Oswin as part of a candy bar competition. The prize was a cool $5. Clearly, the company — which was later acquired by Cadbury — knew it had a winner on its hands, because this bar has been going strong ever since.

Okay, in truth, it was a battle within my childhood self as to which chocolate bar I loved more: the previously mentioned Crispy Crunch or this one, Wunderbar. Admittedly, it was the kind of a struggle only those with no real sense of the world get to enjoy. Both bars combine chocolate and peanut butter (as, in my opinion, the best ones do), but they are very different. Alongside a few other chocolate bars on this list, Wunderbar is also made by Cadbury. While Crispy Crunch is flat in shape, Wunderbar is more oblong and raised — the better to contain its decadent filling. And take it from me, this candy bar is truly, well, wunder-ful.

Inside a Wunderbar's chocolate shell, candy fans will find thick caramel encasing a rope of peanut butter that's studded with crunchy rice crisps for a symphony of flavor and texture. The combination is exceptionally moreish, but not in a way that feels like overkill. Sure, you could conceivably have this bar as essentially a meal replacement (the peanut butter core is just that filling), but the playful textural changes keep this candy from feeling too one-note.

If you don't care for chocolate, and sugar-coated, semi-sour candies also aren't your thing, don't despair. This Canadian sweet exists just for folks like you. And as a bonus, it comes in more than one flavor.

Meet Big Foot. No, not the mythical creature who has been the subject of many a grainy photo and questionable documentary. I'm talking, of course, about the candy. Introduced under the Allan Candy brand and later acquired by The Hershey Company, the Canadian Big Foot candy is soft and chewy with a berry-adjacent flavor (said to be fresh raspberry) and just the slightest hint of waxiness. Its gumminess is pretty sticky and clings to the teeth, but not in an unpleasant way. Shaped like –– what else? –– a giant foot, there's always something enjoyable about nibbling on that extra-large toe before stuffing the entire foot in your mouth.

While the ruby-hued raspberry is the original flavor of Big Foot, this gummy candy also comes in a few more fruity options. Sour blue raspberry is the line's other core flavor, but you can also snag a bag featuring an assortment of other flavors, like sour lemon, sour cherry, and sour orange. Big Foot has also graced store shelves in limited-edition varieties, like orange cream pop and sour berry lemonade, although the availability of those is hard to discern. For the best bite, however, you can't beat the original.