One of my favorite candy treats is Erfrischungsstäbchen, Orange Lemon Filled Chocolates. They aren’t as well known as many German Chocolates, but I always made it a point to bring home a few boxes when I went to Germany. Luckily, the world keeps getting smaller, and now Erfrischungsstaebchen are available in America!
ErfrischungsstäbchenGermanShop24
For those of you who’ve never tried them, Erfrischungsstäbchen are dark chocolate sticks filled with a citrus flavored liquid… supposedly Orange or Lemon, but they kind of taste similar to me. The chocolate is lined on the inside with a crunchy sugar shell… and when you bite into them, your mouth fills with that yummy flavor. (And if you aren’t careful… that sweet tart liquid filling will run down your chin!)
My aunt used to always keep a box of these on her sideboard. These aren’t like M&Ms, you don’t plow through the whole box in one sitting… these are yummy fresh tasting chocolates to savor.
(When we were kids, my cousin and I used to snitch them, and see how long we could make one of the little Stäbchen (sticks) last… lick lick… trying to get to the ultimate achievement, a sugar stick filled with liquid yum. And yes, we got messy and sticky along the way!)
Photo by K Kokolores via Wikipedia Commons
Just don’t keep them around too long…. like all liquid filled chocolates, eventually, the liquid just sort of vanishes… (Maybe that’s the Angel’s share?) All I know is that I’ve been caught, more than once, setting them aside for “good”, and then forgetting them until it’s too late!
And… so you know… the very BEST way to eat them is COLD. Store them in the refrigerator for a blast of fresh flavor when you bite into the chocolate. (Yes, I know, my Aunt keeps hers in the sideboard… but she lives in Germany, and it’s a little colder there…)
You can find Erfrischungsstabchen on Amazon!!!!
Delicious!
Debeukelaer Refreshment Sticks (Erfrischungsstaebchen) 75g (1pcs)
Erfrischungsstäbchen NOW in Cola Lemon MIX!
So… Spetzi in chocolate?
Cola Lemon ErfrischungsstäbchenGermanShop24
I’m so happy to find the orange/lemon sticks just in time for Christmas. They were my favorite candies when I lived in Germany in the 1960s. I got them from the corner store, but my favorite place was when we went to the Stadt Theater in Bremerhaven for plays, operas, and movies. I did just what you described — tried to see how long I could make one candy last, licking without spilling the juice. It’s been nearly 60 years since we moved there, but those 5 years are indelibly imprinted in my memory.