How do you know it’s November in Israel? When Krembo is back on grocery shelves.
Like a seasonal fruit (but a whole lot less nutritious), the chocolate-coated cream treat is available for a limited time, from October to February.
Supposedly, that’s because Krembo, introduced in the 1960s, cannot survive the spring and summer heat, and because in the winter people want a creamy dessert that’s not ice cold.
We suspect it’s more of a marketing ploy, and a successful one at that. The start of “Krembo season” never fails to create a buzz.
Maybe one reason Krembo is such a favorite Israeli snack food is that we have to wait for it.
The name of the treat means “cream in it.” Krembo, made by Unilever-owned Strauss Ice Cream, is constructed of a plain round cookie topped with a huge dollop of vanilla or mocha marshmallow fluff and coated in a thin layer of chocolate.
Off-brand versions include Kefbo, Manbo and Tenbo, but everyone calls them Krembo no matter what the package says.
![Manbo, left, and Tenbo are off-brand versions of Krembo. Tenbo is covered in white chocolate. Photo by Abigail K. Leichman](https://www.israel21c.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/krembo-knockoffs-1000x541.jpg)
Once upon a time, each Krembo was hand-wrapped in foil. In 2018, Unilever/Strauss discontinued individual wrapping in the eight-unit packages to save 13 tons of aluminum foil annually.
So they’ve gotten a little greener– and a little more expensive, too, since Unilever announced a price hike effective October 2.
How to eat a Krembo
And now here’s the critical part of our story: How do you eat a Krembo?
![Some of the ways to eat a Krembo. Photo by Zivya via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.israel21c.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Krembo_1-1000x479.jpg)
According to this Wikipedia page in Hebrew, there are seven plans of attack:
- Hold the Krembo by the cookie base and eat top down, the method preferred by most.
- Twist off the cookie and eat it before the sugary fluff and chocolate shell.
- Eat the cookie and the chocolate shell together (frankly, we’re not sure how that works).
- Pick off the chocolate coating and eat it first.
- Squash the Krembo so that you can bite into the cream and the cookie together (assuming the fluff hasn’t plopped onto your shoes).
- Eat the cookie first and then spoon out the cream, finishing off with the chocolate shell.
- Puncture the shell to get at the cream, then eat the chocolate coating and finally the cookie base.
The other hot debate is at what temperature to devour a Krembo: frozen, refrigerated, or warm and gooey after briefly zapping in the microwave.
![Homemade Krembo. Photo by Jessica Halfin](https://www.israel21c.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/krembo.jpg)
You can get around the geographic and seasonal restrictions on Krembo availability by making it yourself. Lots of DIY recipes are available online, including – of course – a raw food/vegan version.