What's Really In A Kit Kat?
Give me a break! Give me a break! Break me off a piece of that ... cannibalized candy bar! Wait, what?
If you're a candy enthusiast — or you've just watched your fair share of TV commercials since the 1980s — you probably were expecting a different last line there. Many of you would probably be shocked to know, however, that a chocolate bar made of other cannibalized chocolate bars is exactly what the good old Kit Kat bar is.
According to Metro, a BBC documentary revealed that the delicious chocolatey filling between the Kit Kat's iconic wafers is actually made primarily of ground-up Kit Kats. In other words, the Kit Kats that aren't quite up to snuff coming off the assembly line are set aside, crushed up, and, as explained by Today, mixed with a blend of cocoa liquor and sugar to create the delicious "chocolayer" that we all know and love.
Kit Kats have a near cult following in Japan
So if all Kit Kats are made of other Kit Kats, it does beg the question: How was the first batch of Kit Kats made? And what goes into the first batch of the bars each time the company introduces a new flavor? This is a question that Nestle, the candy bar's parent company, has yet to answer.
While Today notes that there were no Kit Kat remnants in the chocolayer of the first batch of Kit Kats in 1935, it is not known how the company creates the early batches of new flavors, like the 40-plus flavors that are made in Japan each year. The New York Times noted in a special candy issue that several elements of the Kit Kat creation process, including the company's proprietary wafer recipe, are closely guarded secrets.
However it is done, there is no denying the results. Kit Kats are one of the best-selling candy bars in the world, according to CandyBar Blog, with sales in over 100 countries and a devoted cult following in Japan.
Weird as it may sound to hear, the Kit Kat manufacturing process is an incredibly efficient and low-waste process, and the result is undoubtedly delicious. So go ahead. Take a break. And break off a piece of that Kit Kat bar, full of Kit Kat bars, made of Kit Kat bars, made of even more Kit Kat bars.