Washingtonians Can No Longer Get This Candy Bar When Visiting Canada

If you grew up in a state that shares a boundary with Canada like I did, then you probably have some fond memories of shopping the grocery stores north of the border and finding some unusual products that aren't available in the United States.

I certainly recall doing this as a kid, and even as a grown up - I still enjoy at least looking at, if not buying and trying some of the food products that are entirely mundane to Canucks but insanely off-the-wall to those of us from the States.

WEIRD PRODUCTS FROM CANADA

From root beer-flavored Jell-O and bubble gum pudding to grapefruit Tang, Aero bars, and ketchup potato chips, Canadian supermarkets never failed to deliver when it came to offering a vast array of arcane grocery items that made me and my two older siblings giggle in amazement, wretch in either notional or literal disgust, and delight with tempered disappointment that the treasures we'd found weren't readily available without a 200-mile trip to British Columbia.

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Although times have definitely changed since then, many Washingtonians still savor a quick slip over that well-guarded invisible line at the 49th Parallel to check out what atypical goodies might await them in the aisles of Canada's grocery stores. Sadly, however, one of those longstanding treats of foreign origin has suddenly gone extinct.

Mondelez International, the U.S.-based corporate behemoth which comprises such well-known brands as Nabisco, Cadbury, and Toblerone has announced it is no longer manufacturing the Neilson Jersey Milk chocolate bar, thus ending its 101-year reign as one of the most iconic sweets to those in The Great White North.

THE JERSEY MILK BAR IS NO MORE, IT HAS CEASED TO BE, IT'S TOTALLY EXPIRED!

Although the Jersey Milk was nothing more than a rectangular slab of fine milk chocolate divided into several rows of single-stepped cuboids with its namesake molded into the crown of each in regal block letters, the candy was as legendary and recognizable to Canadians as the Hershey bar is to the people of the United States. And its precipitous disappearance has sent more than a ripple through the chocolate-loving community in Canada's 10 provinces and three territories.

The bar was originally developed by the Neilson Company in 1924 and remained in ownership and production under the Maple Leaf for over seven decades until 1996, when it sold to British Cadbury.

Neilson's candy brands then changed hands several times over, including in 2010 when they were acquired by Kraft, who changed its name to Mondelez two years later.

While Mondelez has remained quite silent regarding the issue of why the Jersey Milk was dropped from its product line, a spokesperson for the company did tell The Canadian Press news agency that the bar received the axe because research had found shoppers no longer preferred it to similar offerings in the Mondelez family, such as Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, which is made at the same plant the Jersey Milk was in Toronto.

CANADIANS DIG TWO GRAVES FOR BELOVED CHOCOLATE TREATS

The Jersey Milk is the second renowned Canadian candy treat to see its permanent expiration date arrive this year, as its deletion follows that of another storied product - Hershey's Cherry Blossom, which bit the dust earlier in 2025.

While I can't personally say that I will miss or can even recall ever having tried a Jersey Milk bar or a Hershey's Cherry Blossom for that matter, I can easily attest to knowing how it feels to have one of your favorite products cancelled by a heartless company whose ruthless pursuit of its bottom line requires the assassination of one of your taste buds' best friends.

So today I mourn for both groups who've lost their dear pals, the Neilson's Jersey Milk bar and the Hershey's Cherry Blossom, including those cold-hardy Canucks who grew up gladden when eating either of them, and all of the self-made emissaries from the U.S. states that border Canada who made frequent trips into foreign territory to stock up when sugary times got lean.