Feldman's Manbo

10 Facts about Manbo

  • 1. The most popular in Israel

    Israel is the biggest "Krembo" (chocolate coated marshmallow treat) consumer in the world, with 50 million Krembos bought every year during the six month season – an average of 10 Krembos per person.

     

  • 2. Originally not Israeli

    The great Krembo concept is two hundred years old and was conceived in the cold countries of Germany and Denmark. Commercially manufactured in Israel since the 1960's, the Krembo is locally known as Manbo.

     

  • 3. The meaning of Manbo

    'Man' comes from Manna, and 'Bo' is the Hebrew word for "in it". The founder of Feldman Ice Cream, the late Mr. Fedya Feldman coined this name in 1965, when the factory opened and the production of Manbo began.

     

  • 4. A winter treat

    Not the rain, not the low temperature and not even the little hopping wagtail say it's winter like the familiar Manbo boxes that miraculously appear on the shelves of every grocery store. Manbo is only sold in the winter; not because there is no demand for it in the spring and the summer, but because in the Israeli hot season the meringue filling dries and becomes gummy.

     

  • 5. The Manbo's ingredients

    At only 96 calories apiece, The Manbo is constructed with an especially crispy biscuit as the base, an egg (albumin) and sugar syrup meringue, flavor and aroma agents, natural food coloring and a compound-chocolate coating.

     

  • 6. Manufacturing process

    The Manbo begins in a long machine fed by two containers; one with a sugar solution and one with the egg (Albumin) solution. It is then transferred into a whipping container with pressured air, and whipped until the meringue is hard and firm. The meringue is put into another machine that injects meringue balls onto each crispy biscuit. The Manbos pass under a hot and liquid "chocolate fall" and then, immediately, to a cooling tunnel to harden the coating.

     

  • 7. Packing the Manbo

    At the end of the line, each and every Manbo is wrapped by hand, as there is no machine that can do it without squashing the delicate treats. Highly skilled wrappers wrap the Manbos at a head turning speed of 2 seconds per unit.

     

  • 8. Flavored Manbo

    The two most popular Manbo flavors are vanilla (60% of the sales), and mocha. Over the years, we have marketed Manbo in raspberry, banana, Dulce le leche, coffee and other flavors.

     

  • 9. How to eat a Manbo

    Do you start from the biscuit? Perhaps from the meringue? Do you peel off the chocolate coating? How about in a pitta? Eating a Manbo requires a special skill, much like cracking sunflower seeds with your teeth. Each Manbo enthusiast have his or her own unique method. Some peel off the coating very carefully then lick the meringue all the way down to the biscuit, which is eaten last, while others bit off the tip, noisily slurp up the filling and only then eat the chocolate. Others still eat it with a teaspoon, like a soft-boiled egg and then there are those who squash the Manbo in a pitta, to make a chocolate and meringue sandwich.

    About 70% of Israelis prefer to eat their Manbo from the top down, while about 15% begin with the biscuit. The other 30% are divided between those who eat the meringue and the biscuit together (10%) and those who just don't care which is first.

     

  • 10. How to keep a Manbo fresh?

    Thanks to their unique recipe, Feldman Ice Cream's Manbos can be frozen to guarantee freshness. On the packaging, you will find our recommendation to freeze the Manbo, and defrost it for a few minutes before eating. Freezing keeps the product fresh for longer. If freezing is not an option, we recommend that you keep it in the refrigerator at about 4°C (39.2°F).