In 1912, in a copper kettle at the Standard Candy Company at Clark & First Avenue in Nashville, TN, the world’s first ever combination candy bar was invented.

At least, that’s what googoo.com purports, my daily news source.  First EVER combination candy bar?  That’s a hefty claim.  Let’s check them out:

Let’s see…marshmallow, caramel, and peanuts, drenched in chocolate.  Hmm. Thinking. OK sold, that sounds pretty great.  Why not?

My friend Lori picked these up for me, straight from Tennessee.  The other night, I finally gave in to temptation and went for it.  As you can see it looks like a big glob of deliciousness out of the wrapper (I guess the sweltering heat of Novato was a bit too much for the googoo to stay intact?):

And as you might expect, it tastes like a big blob of deliciousness once you start eating it.  The star here, believe it or not, is the marshmallow.  Yes, you can certainly taste the chocolate and caramel, and you get the crunch of the peanuts.  But the marshmallow seems to be the major player here, binding all the goodness together, while never overwhelming. I can’t say that I’m a huge marshmallow fan. Sure, they’re delish in the cocoa I drink once every 7 years, but I could take or leave S’mores (don’t hate me), and generally think of marshmallows as kid stuff.

When someone who reviews sour candy calls something “kid stuff”, you know he’s saying something. I know of what I speak. But this bar makes me actually enjoy the taste of the marsh, which is kind of neat. I feel again.

My one note on this confection is that I’d love the peanuts to perhaps be more plentiful, but certainly to have a bit more salt on them (I’m not sure if they’re salted at all, and I suspect they’re not).  This might just be me, as I’m like a horse-point me towards anything with salt and I’m good.  But because the marshmallow, caramel, and chocolate are all sweet (definitely not too sweet though, there’s not an abundance of richness with this, which is very cool), an off-setting salty note would be most def dope.

As is though, these are damn good.  And for representing as the first combination candy bar ever created in the good ‘ol US of A?  Kind of remarkable.  You can purchase these pillows of dreamy delight here.  The price is SO right, …how can you resist?  You can’t.  You’re weak.  Not spineless or sniveling weak, just weak when it comes to saying no to treats.  It’s OK.  That’s why we’re all here.

These things are good, with good Americana history.  As our country needs all the help it can get when it comes to confections, Goo Goo Clusters come as a refreshing old school treat.