BOUNTY CHOCOLATE BARS

I was never fond of chocolate but I'm a big lover of coconut so, on the rare occasion I need a candy bar, I always go for Bounty. Coconut-filled chocolate bars were invented in 1920 and launched by various companies under different names - including Mounds by Cadbury (since 1978) and The Hershey Company (from 1988 until 2007) and Bounty by Mars Inc. (since 1951).

People associate the candy bar with holidays and freedom but, in reality, HMS Bounty was the scene of rebellion and violence. Constructed in 1784 as Bethia, the ship was purchased by the British Royal Navy three years later, refitted and renamed. Among other things, it was commissioned to feed slaves in the West Indies - that's where its cargo of breadfruit was going on 28 April 1789, when lieutenant Fletcher Christian seized command with the help of the crew, allegedly because of the captain's harsh treatment. William Bligh was forced to abandon the ship in a boat and the mutineers who escaped punishment sailed on. They finally reached Pitcairn Island, bringing along some women from nearby Tahiti, where the entire crew of the Bounty had spent five months earlier on. Some of the families who live on Pitcairn Island today are descended from those couples.

The Pacific islands Bligh's men visited were thought of as paradise on earth. That was precisely the idea behind the renaming of Mounds candy bar even though 'Bounty' also reminds of the mutiny.

 

Matavai Bay in Tahiti by William Hodges, 1776

 

The original recipe for Mounds and Bounty is not available but there are several homemade versions online. Most of them use sweet condensed milk in the filling because it's sticky enough to hold coconut shreds together. However, professional candymakers at the beginning of the 20th century depended on glucose for nearly all types of candy.

Incidentally, Rigby's reliable candy teacher was published in the year Vincent Nitido invented Mounds. It featured several variations of the cocoanut bar, which is made with 3 parts sugar and 1 part glucose. Boiling those resulted in invert sugar, which is another name for syrup. For thicker syrups, ingredients were boiled at higher temperatures.

"No. 1 COCOANUT BARS.

Vanilla.

Grate six fresh cocoanuts; set them one side; now cook 6 pounds sugar, 2 pounds glucose. Water to dissolve same, cook to 238o or 240o. Set off on a barrel and flavor vanilla; now add all the cocoanut and stir it until it just starts to grain; now pour it on a nice clean and dry slab, between the iron bars, and spread it out the height of the bars, say about four inches in length."

 

Rigby's exotic candy bars were also flavored with rose extract oil, dark chocolate or strawberry. However, none was coated in melted chocolate.

 

BOUNTY CHOCOLATE BARS

Professional candy bar relies on the use of professional techniques. No matter how simple it looks, Bounty ows its success to not only its flavor but also its texture. For a result that's similar to the candy bar we loved in the 70s and 80s, it's good to know how to a) invert sugar and b) temper chocolate. In the first instance, cook two parts sugar with one part water until you reach the temperature suggested in your recipe. In the second, melt 2/3 of your chocolate in a double boiler and stir in the remaining one third at room temperature.

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

2 cups shredded coconut

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1tsp vanilla sugar

360g dark or milk chocolate

M e t h o d

1. Cook sugar and water to 115oC/240oF. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. 2. Mix with the coconut and vanilla sugar. Pour the mixture into a small rectangular baking dish lined with parchment paper. Leave to cool, then refrigerate for 12 hours. 3. Melt 240g chocolate in a double boiler. Stir in the remaining 120g chocolate, which must be at room temperature. 4. Spread less than half of this mixture on a baking dish lined with parchment paper. 5. Cut into bars, using a sharp knife. Dip each bar in the chocolate. Remove with a fork and place on a a wire rack to cool.