{"id":8394,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8394"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:14","slug":"nanaimo-bar","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/nanaimo-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanaimo Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A cocoa-colored cracker base is layered with a pale yellow cream and a thin layer of chocolate. Named after Nanaimo on Canada\u2019s west coast, the Nanaimo bar is a chilled confection cut into bars, made by preparing three layers separately and stacking them. It uses ready-made crackers and is not baked in the oven. A small sweet served at home and at church gatherings passed through local cookbooks, sales in shops, and a town contest before becoming a symbol of the place.<\/p>\n

\"Sliced<\/p>\n

Sliced Nanaimo bars, showing the dark base, pale cream, and chocolate layers. Photo: Alex Lozupone, 2011-06-29, location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the source host. Any processing at the time of original publication is unknown; no additional processing for this use.<\/p>\n

Cream and chocolate layered on a cracker base<\/h2>\n

The city\u2019s recipe (the ingredient proportions and method) melts butter, sugar, and cocoa over a water bath, then mixes in beaten egg and heats the mixture until it thickens. Off the heat, crushed graham crackers, coconut, and finely chopped almonds are mixed in, and the mixture is pressed firmly into the bottom of the pan. Rather than baking flour into a base, it binds crumbs of already-baked crackers with fat and egg.<\/p>\n

The middle layer is a lightly whipped buttercream that combines butter, cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla-flavored custard powder. Unlike a custard cooked from eggs and milk, it is a cream given its aroma and pale color by custard powder. For the top, chocolate is melted with a small amount of butter, cooled to a temperature at which it stays liquid, poured on in a thin layer, and refrigerated. Keeping the heat of the chocolate from melting the cream below makes it possible to create three layers: a base containing crumbs, a soft cream, and a thin, set layer of chocolate.<\/p>\n

A 1952 cookbook gave it other names<\/h2>\n

After the war, when sugar and butter became available again, sweets made with crackers and similar ingredients and set by chilling became widespread. Dainties, small sweets served to guests at home, were also made with these ingredients. According to research by food culture scholar Lenore Lauri Newman, the 1952 cookbook of the Nanaimo Hospital Women\u2019s Auxiliary contained three recipes close to today\u2019s three-layer sweet, and they were called chocolate squares or chocolate slices.<\/p>\n

A 1953 newspaper described a \u201cLondon Fog Bar,\u201d also known as the Nanaimo bar, and the Nanaimo name also appears in a cookbook from the same year. Newspapers from 1947\u201348 carried a no-bake chocolate sweet similar to today\u2019s base. Newman speculates that the custard-flavored cream and the chocolate on top may have been added later.<\/p>\n

A 1954 women\u2019s group cookbook from New Brunswick also includes a similar three-layer sweet as \u201cMabel\u2019s Squares.\u201d Similar three-layer sweets were called by names bearing place names or people\u2019s names. Household proportions and names traveled through submissions to newspapers and through local cookbooks.<\/p>\n

Ready-made products, but hospitality still took effort<\/h2>\n

Postwar Nanaimo was a town built on the paper industry, home to working-class families of middle-class means. Dainties served at home and at church meals also served to show one\u2019s skill at hospitality and a way of life that allowed time for such effort. Butter and sugar were used generously, crackers, custard powder, and chocolate were bought, and the three layers were made with care. Even without an oven, this sweet required the expense of gathering the ingredients and the effort of making the layers one at a time.<\/p>\n

Newman links these expectations of hospitality to a society in which women were kept away from paid work. Ready-made and brand-name products also became signs of trust in the new food industry and of prosperity. Unlike sweets that bring together local farm produce, a sweet that combined store-bought ingredients at home eventually became the town\u2019s specialty.<\/p>\n

Shop sales and the city\u2019s 1986 recipe contest<\/h2>\n

Susan Mendelson says she began selling them in 1979 at The Lazy Gourmet, which she co-owned in Vancouver, and included her shop\u2019s recipe in her 1980 book. She turned a sweet already loved in homes into a shop product. The home sweet also went on to become a staple of city shops and caterers.<\/p>\n

In 1986, the mayor and a local commercial facility held a contest for a signature recipe, collecting about 100 recipes over four weeks, and Joyce Hardcastle\u2019s was selected. The recipe the city presents today is this winning entry. Several versions also appeared in the cookbook for Vancouver\u2019s Expo 86 that same year, and it became known as a sweet bearing the name of its place.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A Nanaimo bar served with coffee at Zacks in Kamloops, Canada (February 26, 2015). Beyond the town that gave it its name, it is also enjoyed as a caf\u00e9 treat. Photo: Alan Levine (cogdogblog) \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Tasting tours and new flavors<\/h2>\n

On the Nanaimo Bar Trail, which takes visitors around shops in the city, you can taste not only the traditional three-layer version but also versions made with peanut butter or salted caramel. There are also cheesecakes and ice creams that draw on the flavors of the Nanaimo bar, carrying it into other desserts. In 2019, it was also chosen for \u201cSweet Canada,\u201d a set of stamps featuring regional sweets, and through the sweet\u2019s name, the town of Nanaimo has become widely known.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three varieties bought on Commercial Street in Nanaimo, differing in how the chocolate is applied and in shape. Photo: Simon Villeneuve, 2012-08-09, location unknown (the sweets were bought in Nanaimo, Canada). Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the source host. Any processing at the time of original publication is unknown; no additional processing for this use.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Graham cracker<\/strong>: A biscuit-like baked good used in North America, with the flavor of whole wheat.<\/p>

Custard powder<\/strong>: A powdered ingredient that combines starch, flavorings, colorings, and other ingredients to create the color and flavor of custard.<\/p>

Buttercream<\/strong>: A cream made by combining butter with sugar or other ingredients and incorporating air.<\/p>

Dainty<\/strong>: A small sweet served when entertaining at home or at gatherings.<\/p>

Lenore Lauri Newman<\/strong>: A researcher who studies Canadian food culture and geography. She researched the history of the Nanaimo bar through newspapers, local cookbooks, and interviews with people involved.<\/p>

Susan Mendelson<\/strong>: A confectioner and co-owner of the Vancouver catering business \u201cThe Lazy Gourmet,\u201d who made the Nanaimo bar more widely known through her sales of it and the recipe in her book.<\/p>

Joyce Hardcastle<\/strong>: The winner of the 1986 recipe contest held by the City of Nanaimo and others.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. Susan Mendelson interview, The Lazy Gourmet<\/a> \u2014 Her own interview testimony: sales in 1979, the recipe in her 1980 book, and her explicit statement that she is not the inventor. As a recollection, it does not establish an exclusive first year of sale.<\/li>
  2. Nanaimo Bars<\/a> \u2014 The three-layer recipe, the four-week contest in 1986, about one hundred entries and Joyce Hardcastle, the regional sweet, and the stamp.<\/li>
  3. City of Nanaimo: Nanaimo Bar Recipe<\/a> \u2014 Heating the egg after the water bath, the base with almonds, the custard-powder cream, and chocolate cooled while still liquid.<\/li>
  4. Lenore Lauri Newman, \u201cNotes from the Nanaimo bar trail,\u201d Canadian Food Studies 1(1), 2014, pp.10\u201319<\/a> \u2014 The 1947\/48 precursor, the 1952 hospital cookbook, the 1953 name, dainty culture, Expo 86, and the shift to a sweet identified with its place.<\/li>
  5. Nanaimo Bar Trail<\/a> \u2014 The traditional version and peanut butter\/salted caramel versions, and variations such as cheesecake and ice cream.<\/li>
  6. Canada Post makes sending and receiving mail even sweeter | Canada Post<\/a> \u2014 The regional sweets stamps with five designs, issued April 17, 2019; the mid-20th-century use of the \u201cNanaimo\u201d name.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Nanaimo bar is a three-layer chilled confection cut into pieces, named after the city of Nanaimo on Canada\u2019s west coast. At the bottom is a base containing cocoa and biscuit crumbs, in the middle a pale yellow cream, and on top a thin layer of chocolate. It is assembled as a single slab in a square pan, chilled, and then cut into small squares. Beyond the colors, three textures sit side by side: crumbs, softness, and a thin sheet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7370,"menu_order":165,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Nanaimo bar","subtitle":"Three layers: cocoa, pale cream, and chocolate","topics":"A base of already-baked biscuits\uff0fA middle layer scented with custard powder\uff0fThe city\u2019s recipe chosen in 1986","country":"Canada","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["chocolate","nuts","cream","butter","egg","coconut"],"texture":["smooth"],"occasion":[],"method":["chilled"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[164],"class_list":["post-8394","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t