5th Avenue
Crunchy Peanut Butter in a Rich, Chocolate Coating

I always knew 5th Avenue bars have been around for quite a long time, because this was my father's favorite candy bar. 

Although I'm sure those he enjoyed as a kid were a mite different than the current ones.

Oops - but wait - my father already had his own business in Chicago when these bars were introduced in Philadelphia!  So much for the 'enjoyed as a kid' theory!

Still, even if nothing else were different, I think that in 1936 few if any foods contained TBHQ, PGPR, shea oil or even corn syrup.

Another difference between old and new - I personally am old enough to remember when one of these bars would have two almond pieces (halves, I think) on top, under the chocolate coating.

In my view it was such small details that used to set it apart from some of its competition, such as Butterfingers.

5th Avenue bar was invented in 1936 by - you would never guess this - Luden's (of cough drops fame).  Speaking of 'never guess this,' I guess this means you can add it to your list of great trivia questions.      It's now produced by Hershey's. 

Ingredients and Nutrition

The ingredients list is interesting.  There are three 'chemical factory' sort of ingredients - polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), and sulfur dioxide.  These are all FDA approved, although I try to limit my personal intake of chemicals that I can't pronounce.

One other thing on the ingredients list indicates that this bar might be described as 'highly processed.'  There is milk, but much of it has been separated into its component parts before being added back into the recipe:
    •    milk                                                    [moooo!]
    •    whey (milk)  [byproduct of cheese making]
    •    lactose (milk)                              [milk sugar]
    •    milk fat                        [also called butterfat]
    •    nonfat milk              [often in powder form]
If you subscribe to the concept that the least processing is the best processing, this might be a mildly negative factor here.

The good news is the dread "hydrogenated" appears nowhere in the ingredients list.

INGREDIENTS:

SUGAR;
PEANUTS;
CORN SYRUP;
VEGETABLE OIL (
    •    COCOA BUTTER;
    •    PALM KERNEL;
    •    PALM;
    •    SHEA;
    •    SUNFLOWER AND/OR                           SAFFLOWER OIL);
MOLASSES;
CHOCOLATE;
CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF:
    •    MILK;
    •    COCOA;
    •    WHEY (MILK);
    •    LACTOSE (MILK);
    •    MILK FAT;
    •    NONFAT MILK;
    •    SALT;
    •    SOY LECITHIN;
    •    PGPR, EMULSIFIER;
    •    ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR;
    •    TBHQ (PRESERVATIVE);
    •    SULFUR DIOXIDE,                                            TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS.

ALLERGY INFORMATION: MANUFACTURED ON THE SAME EQUIPMENT THAT PROCESSES COCONUT.

I paid $1.19 for this 1.45 ounce bar.  For comparison purposes, that's $9.52 per pound, just slightly below the average pricing for popular chocolate bars.

It has a total of 260 calories, with 100 of them (38%) from fat.

I do like 5th Avenue bars - only slightly biased perhaps because it was my dad's favorite - but I eat one only occasionally because I prefer something with a shorter and more natural ingredients list.

I'm giving this my personal score of 3.6 out of 5 stars for Overall Enjoyment, 2.4 for Nutrition, and 3.7 for Value. Keep in mind this is just my personal opinion.  Your mileage may vary, and there's no accounting for taste.


Now you know what a 5th Avenue bar is. 
Any questions?  You know where my Contact Page is!


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5th Avenue, in New York City (Manhattan), runs almost seven miles north from Washington Square Park to the Harlem River at 142nd Street.  On the way it passes ten museums, Central Park, and some of the most expensive retail real estate in the world.

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