Examination of sweets: chocolate is questionable. Examination of sweets: chocolate is questionable Candy bear clumsy history of creation

Most varieties of these sweets in the Soviet Union, despite their relatively high cost, could only be purchased in large cities, and in the provinces they were considered a shortage. However, each family tried to get to festive table or simply as a gift to the children of the famous "Clumsy Bears" or "Little Red Riding Hood".

"Clumsy" was also produced by "Einem"

Moscow confectionery factory"Red October" before the post-revolutionary nationalization was called "Einem" in honor of its founder, the German Ferdinand Einem. “Bear-toed Bear” has been produced there since 1913. According to the director of the Moscow Museum of the History of Chocolate and Cocoa (MISHK) Lyudmila Anatolyevna Numerova, the classic "clubfoot" included chocolate, waffles, almonds, sugar and cocoa butter (the last three ingredients are called pralines).
A kilo of “Bear-toed Bears” in the Soviet Union cost from 4 to 6 rubles, and in remote areas of the USSR, Soviet children were happy if such sweets were given to them in New Year's gifts along with other sweets, simpler.

"Cancer necks": the similarity with the tail of cancer is only external

Another super popular and relatively affordable candy in the Soviet Union with a pre-revolutionary history. They were also produced by the “Factory and Trade Association of A. I. Abrikosov’s sons” (after nationalization - the confectionery factory named after P. A. Babaev). The candy got its name because of the external resemblance to a crayfish tail.
As Svetlana Fomenko, the author of a study on the activities of the Abrikosov partnership, writes, the famous Russian confectioner was a big inventor in terms of candy recipes. For the production of "Cancer necks" potato molasses was used, which makes the caramel transparent, and the wine sediment (cremortartar) allowed the sweets not to be sugared. Crayfish necks were stuffed with almonds, sugar, vanilla and fruit liqueur, which gave them softness and a peculiar taste.
For 20 kopecks in the USSR, you could buy 100 grams of these sweets, and they appeared in Soviet stores more often than other popular ones. confectionery.

"Little Red Riding Hood" was made due to the absence of almonds?

In any case, this version of the origin of one of the most famous varieties of Soviet sweets is given by Maria Golovkina, co-founder of the mobile Moscow Museum of the History of Russian Chocolate. Allegedly, in the mid-50s of the last century, at Krasny Oktyabr, the senior master decided to put into production sweets, in which instead of the almonds that were absent at that time, which were used to make the “Bear-toed Bear”, there was peanuts. Peanut and entered in the Little Red Riding Hood praline, complemented by a three-layer waffle filling and chocolate bittersweet frosting.
The cost of "Little Red Riding Hood" was comparable to the price of "Bear-toed Bear", and these sweets were also in short supply. In any case, they rarely reached the periphery, but, despite the high cost, Red Riding Hood never stale on the shelves of Soviet stores.

"Mishka in the north, Masha in the south"

Such a nickname among the people was received in the USSR by these chocolates, which also had nut filling in a waffle case with chocolate icing. “Mishka in the North” at the Leningrad confectionery factory named after N.K. Krupskaya began to be produced 2 years before the start of World War II and did not stop their production even during the blockade.
In subsequent years, sweets were produced by several factories throughout the country, since the 60s the composition of "Mishka in the North" has changed several times (various nuts were used), in addition, a number of other chocolate products began to be produced under this brand in the Soviet Union.
A kilo of Bears in the North cost 5 rubles, and despite the widespread production of these sweets, they still remained in short supply for remote regions of the country.

"Squirrel" was invented by Bormann

According to M. Golovkina, the authorship of the composition of these famous Soviet sweets belongs to Grigory Nikolaevich (George) Borman, another well-known pre-revolutionary Russian confectioner. After the nationalization of the Bormann factory in St. Petersburg, it was given the name of the revolutionary Concordia Samoilova, then the company was merged into the Leningrad confectionery "holding" named after N. K. Krupskaya.
Chocolate sweets with crushed hazelnuts in the filling and with a squirrel on the wrapper had delicate taste praline and cost 5 rubles per kilo. "Squirrel" was almost always included in the composition of children's New Year's confectionery sets, and during the USSR, the Krupskaya factory produced several thousand tons of sweets of this variety.
... All these sweets were very high in calories - from 414 kcal ("Rakovye necks" to 538 kcal ("Squirrel") per 100 grams. 100g.

"Bear clubfoot" - sweets come from our childhood. But few people know how old recipe this delicacy. Now it is made at the Moscow confectionery factory "Red October". But the clumsy bears went to the Soviet food industry from the former, bourgeois owner - Theodor Ferdinand von Einem. And what is the composition of sweets now? Has it been affected by the appearance of all sorts of emulsifiers and stabilizers, dyes and flavor enhancers? We will consider this in our article.

How Shishkin got involved in the appearance of sweets

The Einem factory appeared in Russia in the nineteenth century, namely in 1867. The manufacturer wrapped the chocolate in multi-colored foil and gave simple numbers. But as for sweets, he showed creative imagination, calling them sonorous names: "Golden Label", "Mignon", "Empire". These sweets were produced in boxes. Since the buyer loves everything new, Einem began to produce serial sweets. In the boxes, he put a collectible card with a beautiful picture on one side and encyclopedic information on the back. There were various series: “Gifts from the Sea and the Earth”, “History of Hunting in Russia”, etc. And then one day Einem released a new series chocolates. It was called "Russian Artists and Their Paintings". The series consisted of twelve cards. And one of them was a reproduction of Shishkin's painting "Morning in pine forest". The series was published in 1896. So “Clumsy Bear” is a candy of a fairly respectable age. They are over a hundred and twenty years old.

old recipe for sweets

The entire series dedicated to paintings by Russian artists was the same. That is, different cards were invested in the boxes randomly. Was in this collection and "The Knight at the Crossroads" by Vasnetsov, and other famous works of domestic masters. But of all of them, only Shishkin entered the history of Russian confectionery with his Morning in a Pine Forest. Much later, the sweet was called "Clumsy Bear".

Sweets (the composition of the dessert was expensive) far from all citizens could afford these. Between the crispy thin wafers was placed praline - almonds ground into flour with sugar and cocoa butter. The whole candy was covered with chocolate icing. Praline is a favorite treat in Germany, and Einem was German. Since almonds are an expensive nut, sweets were not cheap either. Most of the population could afford them only on the bright holiday of Christmas. That is why the first candy wrappers were decorated with Bethlehem stars.

Finding a wrapper

Candies from the series "Russian Artists" were very fond of the public. However, buying a whole box was sometimes too expensive. Therefore, at the turn of the twentieth century, Einem launched the production of loose sweets. Each of them had to be packed in a separate wrapper. And from all twelve postcards, he chose the famous work of Shishkin. Of course, it was stylized under the wrapper. They removed the landscape, leaving only three cubs. At the same time, the name of the sweet appeared - “Bear clubfoot”. Candy acquired its modern design in 1913. Artist Manuil Andreev painted a bear and her three cubs against a turquoise background framed by spruce branches. The stars of Bethlehem also "migrated" to the candy wrapper. After the revolution, the Eimen factory was nationalized and renamed Red October. But sweets called "Clumsy Bear" continued to be produced according to the pre-revolutionary recipe and in the same wrappers. And they continued to enjoy the same popularity.

"Mishka clumsy" (sweets): "Red October" and Mayakovsky

As soon as the world began to trade with the Land of the Soviets, this type of sweets began to be exported. For the manufacture of confectionery, only selected products were used. A kilogram of sweets "Mishka clumsy" therefore cost four rubles - money unheard of in those days. This product, due to the high price, has become a kind of equivalent of a comfortable life. The great Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky came up with a well-aimed slogan: “If you want to eat Mishka, get yourself a passbook.” Despite the fact that this motto was intended to encourage citizens to put their savings in the bank, it was transferred to the label of an expensive candy. And it worked!

How does the modern "Clumsy Bear" differ from its predecessor

In that happy time, when mankind did not yet know emulsifiers and stabilizers, and in order to give taste to the product, the manufacturer put natural ingredients into it, sweets were made from wafers, grated almonds mixed with cocoa butter, and pure chocolate. The recipe did not change after the 1917 revolution. But now many years have passed, the age of chemistry has come into its own, and this most regrettably affected the composition of the sweets "Clumsy Bear". Krasny Oktyabr now uses non-hydrogenated sunflower oil, palm oil, as well as illipe and shea, along with canonical cocoa and sugar, for chocolate icing. Instead of the former “praline”, the label now says “filling”. What does it consist of? Grated almonds, sugar and cocoa butter are still there. But now vanilla flavoring, E-476 and soy lecithin. Chemistry penetrated even waffles. To prolong their freshness, emulsifier E322 and antioxidant E306 are added to the dough. Wafers have a vanilla flavor due to the “flavoring identical to natural”. And in the end, JSC "Red October" reluctantly admits: "The presence of peanuts, hazelnuts and dairy products is possible."

Loss of popularity

As you can see, everyone's favorite dessert in childhood is no longer the same. And the reduction in the cost of ingredients did not affect the price in any way. "Mishka clumsy" - sweets that are more than expensive - about eight hundred rubles per kilogram. Their popularity is preserved only by inertia. Many people buy the brand's confectionery products, remembering how delicious they used to be. On the wave of popularity, "Mishka" moved to other republics of the former Soviet Union. After all, the memory of the sweets of the Krasny Oktyabr confectionery factory is also alive there. In Ukraine, a product imported from Russia costs four hundred and eighty hryvnias per kilogram - about twenty dollars. Therefore, the Kharkiv biscuit factory has launched the production of sweets "Vedmedic klishonogy". Moreover, the sweet label remained identical to the Russian one. And the composition is very similar to the traditional one.

The benefits and harms of the product

The calorie content of the bear candy depends on its composition. And since a product with this name is produced not only by Krasny Oktyabr OJSC, but also by Rot Front, the recipe is changing. Some manufacturers abroad use honey in the filling, which, of course, increases beneficial features sweets. Let's explore nutritional value one hundred grams of this popular dessert among the people. Carbohydrates in it as much as 58.6 g, that is, more than half. Fats are 30 g. And proteins are only 6 g. As for energy value one hundred grams of the product, then it is 530 kcal. That's quite a lot. So, if you do not want to turn into a clumsy bear, you should limit yourself to eating this sweet. The calorie content of 1 bear candy is eighty units.

What consumers say about the product

How much nostalgia for the former charming taste sounds in the reviews! Modern candies can be eaten while they are fresh. Then the wafers, at least, do not come off the filling, and it does not crumble, while maintaining plasticity. Consumers are very disappointed with the icing. It doesn't melt in your mouth. Palm and other oils (which shouldn't be in chocolate) leave a sugary taste in your mouth. The opinion of consumers is unanimous: the manufacturer should adhere to the previous recipe.

It is difficult to find someone who has not seen a painting by Ivan Shishkin at least once. "Morning in a pine forest", whether it's a reproduction on the wall or an illustration in a school textbook. But most of us know her from the candy wrapper "Clumsy Bear". How it happened that bears appeared in the landscape painter's painting, and the recognized masterpiece began to be associated with sweets - further in the review.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was considered an eminently master when it was necessary to write out every leaf, every blade of grass, but he did not argue with the image of people or animals. That is why in the famous painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” the bear family was painted by another artist, Konstantin Savitsky.

The picture was signed by both artists, but when it was taken to the customer, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, he erased Savitsky's name with turpentine, saying that he ordered the canvas from only one painter.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin received 4,000 rubles for the painting. He gave one thousand to Savitsky. Konstantin Apollonovich was indignant that the fee was not divided in half, and in his hearts he even declared that his bears occupy a central place in the picture, and the forest is only a background. These words offended Shishkin very much. The artists no longer painted joint paintings.

Approximately at the same period when the canvas “Morning in a Pine Forest” was presented to the general public, a new kind of sweets was made at the confectionery factory of the “Einem Partnership”: chocolate-covered wafer plates with a layer of almond praline. There was a need to create wrappers for sweets, and then the eye of the owner of the enterprise, Julius Gates, accidentally fell on a reproduction of Shishkin's painting. The solution has been found.

After the October Revolution, the candy factory was nationalized and renamed "Red October", although for a few more years they added "former. "Einem" was so popular trademark. Candy "Mishka clumsy" has become a favorite sweet of Soviet citizens. Over time, Shishkin's painting became associated with the wrapper, and its name was simplified to "Three Bears", although there are four of them on the canvas.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was remembered by the descendants not only for the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest”. He, like no one else, managed to convey through his paintings the beauty of the pristine forest, the endless expanses of fields, the cold of a harsh land. so realistic that it seems that the sound of a stream or the rustle of leaves is about to be heard somewhere.

Few people know that sweets "Mishka Kosolapy" (honey roasting) are business card not only industry, but also the pride of Tsarist Russia itself. After all, this sweet masterpiece was born in the workshops of the legendary Einem steam factory, which has been producing tea biscuits and chocolate since 1851. What was the "life" of sweets with literally a century of history?

"Mishka clumsy" - sweets with the taste of art

The wrapper of these sweets is decorated with a modified plot of the well-known painting "Morning in pine forest”, written by Ivan Shishkin in 1889. But it was with the light hand of Maniul Andreev, a major industrial artist, that this became the “face” of one of the most popular varieties of sweets in Russia and abroad.

When Julius Khoys, who then ran the business of the factory, was first brought for a tasting of a candy consisting of a thick layer of walnut praline, covered with it, he liked it so much that it was necessary to start mass production of this type immediately. And, according to the legend, it was a reproduction of the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” that adorned the wall in Mr. Heuss's office. Hence the name, and later the design of new sweets.

Thus began the path of "Bear-toed Bear" from the factory confectionery shop to the tables of many generations of Russians. But not always this path was so “sweet”.

From "Einem" to "Red October"

"Mishka clumsy" - sweets with a hundred-year history. It all started at the royal factory "Einem", which in 1922, five years after the October Revolution, was renamed "Red October". Fortunately, despite the upheavals and changes in the state, the production of these sweets was not suspended. They, like many other well-known varieties of toffee and chocolate, were produced without interruption until when the assortment confectionery products was reduced to 2 items, and part production capacity transferred to the production of concentrates of cereals and signal checkers.

Only in 1960, these sweets returned to store shelves and were able to please everyone again with their unique taste.

Not just grilling

There is no doubt that this is perhaps one of the most famous and favorite varieties of sweets, but the question arises: why is the “Bear-toed Bear” so popular? There are a lot of sweets today, even there are more than a dozen types of the same roasting, but this variety always remains the leader in sales. The secret of success is simple: it is soft roasting. Not those sweets that you can break your teeth about, trying to crack them, but a delicate and tasty honey-nut delicacy. They are very often placed in children's new Year gifts. Therefore, “Clumsy Bear” is a candy familiar to most people since childhood. And now - in more detail about the essence, that is, about the composition.

Sweets "Bear clubfoot": composition

From the time of its appearance to the present day, the recipe for making this beloved delicacy has undergone many changes. To date, the composition of sweets includes the following ingredients:

• crushed peanuts;
• chocolate glaze, which consists of grated cocoa, sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter equivalent, emulsifiers E476 and E322 and vanilla flavor identical to natural;
• Sahara;
• crushed hazelnut kernel;
• molasses;
• milk fat substitute;
• fruit puree;
• natural honey;
• whole milk powder;
• "Vanilla-creamy";
• gelling agent E407;
• emulsifier E322;
• citric acid;
• sodium citrate.

Price

This roasted variety is distinguished by a pleasant price-quality ratio, which always attracts the attention of consumers. But "Mishka clumsy" - sweets, the price of which may differ depending on the place of purchase. They are available in packs different kind and weight. The most popular form of packaging is sachets of 250 grams. The average price of such a package today is 100-110 rubles.

If you buy sweets by weight, then the price per kilogram, as a rule, starts from 180 rubles, but can also vary significantly depending on the place of purchase. It is cheaper to buy them in small retail chains or wholesale markets. In supermarkets, such sweets are 30-40 rubles more expensive. This is especially true of "Bear-toed" in branded bags of 250 grams.

Unfortunately, these candies are not available in gift boxes. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this variety is not associated with something rare, it is well known, popular and sold in almost every outlet.

Benefit and harm

"Clumsy Bear" - which is equal to 528 kcal / 100 g, which is a quarter of the average daily allowance. Therefore, it is better not to abuse these sweets, as well as many others. Although some packs indicate a different calorie content - 491 or 493 kcal / 100 g.

Can everyone eat sweets "Mishka clumsy"? The composition and content of useful organic substances is distributed as follows:

• carbohydrates - 54.4 g;
• fats - 31.3 g;
• proteins - 8.7 g.

Due to the presence of sugar and a high percentage of carbohydrates, such sweets are contraindicated for people with diabetes, slow metabolism and a tendency to gain weight. They saturate well, but hunger after such a sweet snack will return very quickly.

Also, these sweets are not suitable for people with allergies to nuts and / or honey, chocolate and milk fat, children suffering from diathesis, and people with milk protein intolerance.

Candy Wars: Bear vs. Bear

On September 8, 2014, a repeated one took place between the Krasny Oktyabr and Pobeda factories. The cause of the dispute was the brand of sweets "Bears in the Forest", produced by the second. According to the plaintiff (Moscow Confectionery Factory Krasny Oktyabr OJSC), the name is too consonant with their brand Mishka Kosolapy. In addition, the wrappers of both varieties look very similar, which also became the reason for going to court.

The first attempt by Krasny Oktyabr to sue Pobeda for 1.2 million rubles in compensation was unsuccessful, as the judge rejected the claims due to the fact that, in his opinion, the defendant did not use an image on his goods that was so similar to the wrapper of the plaintiff's products. But the lawyers of "Red October" did not give up, later the results of the trial were annulled, and the application was sent for re-consideration to higher authorities.

World fame

Clumsy Bear - under this English name, it produces Red October candies on the world market. "Clumsy Bear" is loved not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. For many, this brand has become the same symbol as nesting dolls or borscht. Many tourists who come to us take home kilograms of soft grillage as gifts and souvenirs.

This delicacy can be bought in the so-called "Russian" stores around the world or even ordered via the Internet. Isn't that what is called global popularity?

And the Krasny Oktyabr factory itself is known outside of Russia for its quality and age-old confectionery traditions. It may seem to some that we cannot compete in the sweet art with European countries, in particular, with "chocolate" Belgium, but even Europeans so spoiled with sweets are crazy about our roasting. That is why “Bear-toed Bear” is a candy that will delight us with its unique taste for many decades to come.

Only the lazy one did not write about sweets "Mishka clumsy". This product has been accompanying us since childhood, everyone ate it, everyone knows, it constantly flashes on store shelves. These sweets have a truly impressive history. For me, for example, it was a discovery that the Mishka kosolapy sweets are not a product of Soviet confectioners (I thought that sweets were invented at the dawn of the construction of communism, in the 1920s and 30s), but of the Einem factory, the predecessor of " Red October. The presence of pralines in sweets immediately became clear. The founder of "Einem" was a German, and almond products, which include praline, are common sweets in Germany.

(photo found on the Internet)

But let's get down to the sweets themselves - what is now being produced under this name by the Krasny Oktyabr factory. Let's start, as always, with a study of the manufacturer's website - "Red October". The description of these sweets on the site literally looks like this: “delicate praline of roasted grated almonds with vanilla flavor between layers of wafers.” And here it is on the wrapper: "chocolate glazed sweets with filling between the layers of wafers." It would seem a trifle: here is a praline made from roasted almonds, and here it is just a “filling”, without specifying the ingredients that make it up. But I do not consider this unimportant information, so I will remember this fad and return to it when I consider the filling itself.

Sweets, at least those that I have, are produced in Moscow, on Krasnoselskaya, that is, at the new address of the factory - on the production site of the Babaevsky concern. I admit that sweets under the same name are produced for Krasny Oktyabr and at other factories that are part of the United Confectioners concern, but I have not seen such ones yet, so I can’t presume to say.

I have always liked the design of the wrapper. Still, Soviet designers (or were they called artists then?) understood a lot about beauty. The wrapper is easily recognizable, not overloaded with various unnecessary details, concise, contrasting.

I'm glad that the Krasny Oktyabr factory did not modernize the design and left it practically unchanged (there are still minimal changes: the background color and fonts). The typographic work did not disappoint either: the image does not “float”, the letters are easy to read even in a small size, excellent paper is used for the wrapper.

The icing covering the candy upset me. I did not expect that the manufacturer would save on such legendary and, frankly, not the cheapest sweets. Yes, I understand that now I'm nowhere without palm oil(and judging by the composition, not only without it alone), but even with it, some manufacturers manage to portray a more acceptable glaze. At "Red October" it is none. That is, the icing has no taste at all, except for excessive sweetness. It is not saturated, does not leave a pleasant aftertaste characteristic of high-quality chocolate. It does not melt in your mouth at all - you just need to chew it. The only thing that it gives is cloying, which you want to quickly drink water.

The icing covers the candy more or less evenly, although not without flaws.

Now the stuffing. Which is "praline". Considering that praline is a mixture of roasted grated almonds with sugar, I tried to catch at least a hint of almonds in “Mishka” - if not the taste, then at least the aroma. But no, it's useless. There is nothing - no taste, no aroma - just a sweet mass. You can “guess” about the content of almonds in the filling only by familiarizing yourself with the composition, that is, believing your eyes, and not your taste buds. Therefore, returning to that point about the difference between "praline" and "filling" in the second paragraph of this post, I still tend to use in relation to these sweets last word. It's the "stuffing".

The consistency of the filling is unacceptably hard. Wafers from such a hard filling, of course, are easily detached, dividing the candy into three parts: two of them are wafers with icing, and one part is the filling itself. The ensemble does not add up, because you have to eat the candy in these very parts, and not completely. I consider such an easy detachment of wafers from the filling as a sign of poor-quality filling. Technologists need to come up with something to provide the filling with greater plasticity.

The only thing for which there are no complaints (except for a candy wrapper) is waffles. But even then, because I did not feel their taste at all. However, it probably shouldn't be. I don’t know why they are in the recipe, but I can assume that the waffles here should play the role of some kind of hard crispy structure that creates a contrast with the plastic filling. But since the filling is far from ideal, the function of the waffles is also leveled.

I run the risk of arousing the anger of fans of Mishka kosolapy sweets, but I don’t recommend buying what Red October produces under this name.

But on the other hand, I will not support the current trend that, they say, in the Soviet years, sweets were real, but now they have deteriorated. Perhaps this is the way it is - before sweets were both tastier and better, but now even a big name cannot save them. But I will say one thing - in my Soviet childhood, I also did not understand the charm of these sweets.

Information about sweets "Bear clubfoot"

Compound: chocolate glaze (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter equivalent (vegetable non-hydrogenated oils (palm, shea, illipe, sunflower)), cocoa powder, emulsifiers: soy lecithin E476, vanilla flavoring, sugar, grated almond kernel, cocoa butter, wafers (drinking water, baking wheat flour, refined deodorized sunflower oil, salt, soy lecithin emulsifier, sodium bicarbonate baking powder), ascorbic acid antioxidant, Vanilla flavor.

The nutritional value per 100 g: proteins - 6.0 g, fats - 30.0 g, carbohydrates - 58.0 g, dietary fiber - 3.4 g.
The energy value in 100 g: 530 kcal.