Krembo is Israel's most beloved winter treat — 50 million sold every year, available only October to February. Discover the history, how Israelis eat it, and where to buy authentic Krembo in the USA.
The Snack That Disappears Every Spring

Imagine a candy so popular that 50 million are sold every year in a country of 9 million people — yet you can only buy it for five months out of twelve.

That's Krembo.

From October to February, it's everywhere in Israel: in supermarkets, at kiosks, in children's lunch boxes, on Shabbat tables. Then it vanishes. Completely. Until October comes again.

The reason is simple: Krembo is fragile. Its chocolate shell is thin. Its marshmallow interior is delicate. Israel's summer heat would destroy it within hours. So Strauss, the company that makes it, has made a deliberate choice for decades: no summer Krembo. Only winter Krembo.

The scarcity is the point.

Israelis don't take Krembo for granted, the way you might take a Snickers bar for granted. Every year, when the first Krembo boxes appear in stores in October, there's a genuine buzz. Krembo Season has arrived. The radio mentions it. Newspapers write about it. And Israelis buy them by the box.

This is the power of seasonal food. And nobody does it better than Krembo.

What Is Krembo, Exactly?

For the uninitiated: Krembo is a chocolate-coated marshmallow treat on a round biscuit base.

The anatomy is precise:

• The base: a thin, crisp round biscuit cookie
• The dome: a tall swirl of sweetened egg-white foam — light, airy, barely sweet on its own
• The coating: a thin shell of dark compound chocolate that shatters when you bite into it
• The wrapping: traditionally, shiny colorful aluminum foil — each piece individually wrapped

The name itself tells you what it is: Krem (קרם) means cream in Hebrew. Bo (בו) means "in it." Krembo = cream in it. A functional name for a functional pleasure.

Each Krembo weighs 25 grams and contains 115 calories. You can eat one in three bites or, if you're doing it properly, in stages.

How Do Israelis Eat a Krembo? (There Is a Right Answer. Sort Of.)

Strauss has actually studied this. According to their own consumer research:

• 69% of Israelis eat Krembo from the top down — chocolate dome first, biscuit last
• 10% start from the biscuit base and work upward
• 11% have no preference — they just eat it

Then there's the temperature debate.

Team Freezer: Put it in the freezer for 30 minutes before eating. The marshmallow firms up. The chocolate gets a satisfying snap. The whole experience becomes more solid, more intense.

Team Microwave: 10 seconds. The marshmallow goes warm and gooey. The chocolate melts into it. It becomes something closer to a warm dessert than a snack.

Team Room Temperature: You're a purist. You eat it as intended.

These are not trivial disagreements. Ask any Israeli which camp they're in and you'll get a passionate answer.

From Denmark to Ottoman Palestine: The Unlikely Journey of the Krembo

The Krembo didn't originate in Israel. Like so much of Israeli culture, it arrived with the immigrants.

The European origins: Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats have existed across Northern Europe for centuries. Similar confections exist in the UK (Tunnock's Tea Cakes), Germany, and Scandinavia. The most probable direct ancestor is a Danish treat that was popular in the early 20th century.

The Ashkenazi connection: When Ashkenazi Jews began arriving in Ottoman Palestine during the waves of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought their culinary memories with them. Homemade versions of marshmallow-on-biscuit sweets were already being made in Jewish homes in what would become Israel.

The naming problem: The original Danish name for the confection was a racial slur — a term that reflected the casual racism of 19th-century European product naming. When the Whitman Company began manufacturing the treat commercially in Israel in the 1960s, they renamed it. They chose Krembo. The racist original name was simply dropped and forgotten.

The Strauss acquisition: In 1979, Strauss acquired the Whitman Company and with it the Krembo brand. Strauss has manufactured it ever since — making it Israel's official national winter confection for nearly 50 years.

1967: The Mocha Krembo Is Born

The original Krembo has one flavor: vanilla. The marshmallow filling has a delicate vanilla sweetness. The biscuit base is plain. The chocolate coating is dark and slightly bitter, providing the contrast.

In 1967 — the same year as the Six-Day War — Whitman introduced the mocha flavor. Coffee-infused marshmallow filling, the same thin chocolate shell, the same crisp biscuit. The combination was inspired by the Israeli love of coffee culture.

For decades, these two flavors — vanilla and mocha — were the complete Krembo universe. Other manufacturers tried banana, strawberry, and other variations. None of them caught on. Israel is loyal to its Krembo classics.

The two-flavor simplicity is part of the brand's identity. Krembo doesn't need to innovate. It just needs to be Krembo.

The Foil Wrapper: An Obituary

For most of Krembo's history, each piece came wrapped in a distinctive shiny aluminum foil — colorful, crinkly, satisfying to unwrap. The foil was part of the experience. Children would flatten it, collect it, play with it.

In 2018, Unilever Israel (which distributes Krembo in certain markets) announced they were removing the aluminum foil. The reason: Strauss was using 13 tons of aluminum foil per year just to wrap Krembos. The environmental cost was significant.

The reaction in Israel was predictably emotional. The foil wasn't just packaging — it was part of the childhood memory. Every Israeli who grew up with Krembo remembered the crinkle of the foil, the shine, the small ritual of unwrapping.

Today's Krembo is wrapped in simpler packaging. But the taste is identical. And Israeli nostalgia for the foil remains very much alive.

50 Million Krembos a Year: The Numbers

• 50 million+ Krembos sold annually in Israel
• ~9 per person per year — for every Israeli, on average
• 5 months of availability: October through February only
• 25g per piece
• 115 calories per Krembo
• 2 flavors: vanilla and mocha, unchanged since 1967
• 3 textures: biscuit crunch + marshmallow softness + chocolate shell snap

These numbers explain why shortages happen every year. When Krembo season opens, demand sometimes outstrips supply in the first weeks. Israeli news sites report Krembo shortages the same way they might report fuel shortages — with genuine public concern.

The Harry Potter Connection

In the Hebrew translation of the Harry Potter series, there's a small but telling detail.

In J.K. Rowling's original English text, Albus Dumbledore's favorite candy is a lemon drop — a British hard candy.

When Israeli translator Gili Bar-Hillel translated the books into Hebrew, she made a cultural substitution. Dumbledore's favorite candy in the Hebrew edition is a Krembo.

Her reasoning: a lemon drop means nothing to Israeli children. The emotional resonance — a beloved adult with an unexpectedly childlike sweet tooth — only works if the candy is something the Israeli reader actually loves. And what do Israeli children love above all other sweets?

Krembo.

The substitution was so natural that most Israeli Harry Potter readers don't even know it's a translation choice. They assume Dumbledore has always loved Krembo. In a sense, in the Hebrew-speaking world, he does.

Krembo and Kashrut: A Surprisingly Complex Question

Here is a question that has occupied Orthodox rabbis: What blessing do you say before eating a Krembo?

In Jewish law, the blessing you recite before eating depends on what the primary component of the food is. For bread: Hamotzi. For other grain-based foods: Mezonot. For everything else: Shehakol.

Krembo presents a genuine halakhic puzzle:

• The biscuit base is grain-based → would suggest Mezonot
• The marshmallow and chocolate make up about 83% of the weight → would suggest Shehakol

Rabbis have debated whether the biscuit or the marshmallow is the ikar — the "main" component — of the Krembo. Different authorities have reached different conclusions.

This is the kind of religious-legal complexity that only a food as culturally central as Krembo could generate. When rabbis are spending time debating your product's blessing, you know you've made it.

All KosherTop Krembo products carry Badatz kosher certification — the most stringent kosher standard in Israel.

Krembo vs. Similar Treats Around the World

The closest American equivalent is Mallomars — which are also only sold in fall and winter. If you love Mallomars, Krembo is your Israeli cousin.

But Krembo devotees will tell you the comparison is imperfect. Krembo's marshmallow is lighter, more airy. The chocolate shell is thinner and snaps differently. The biscuit base is crispier. These are not small differences. They are the difference between the original and the imitation.

Krembo Season: An Annual Israeli Ritual

Every October, Israel enters Krembo Season.

The signs are unmistakable:

• The blue boxes appear in supermarket aisles
• The kiosk owners reorder their supplies
• The first "Krembo Season is here!" articles run in Israeli newspapers
• The debates begin about the best way to eat them

By February, the season is over. The boxes disappear. The wait begins again.

For Israeli expats in the United States, Krembo Season used to be painful. Friends back home would post photos of their Krembo boxes. You'd see them in Israeli-owned stores, occasionally, but they'd sell out fast. The scarcity of diaspora life compounded the seasonal scarcity.

Now you can order them online — directly from Israel — and have them at your door before the season ends.

Buy Authentic Krembo Online — Shipped from Israel to Your Doorstep

KosherTop ships both Krembo flavors directly from Israel, allowing you to enjoy Krembo Season no matter where in the United States you live.

🍫 Krembo Vanilla — Strauss (8 pieces)

The original. Vanilla-flavored marshmallow foam on a crisp biscuit base, coated in dark compound chocolate. Eight pieces per box — enough for the family, or for a single dedicated session.

Badatz kosher certified.

Shop Krembo Vanilla →

☕ Krembo Mocha — Strauss (8 pieces)

Coffee-infused marshmallow filling, introduced in 1967. The mocha flavor adds a subtle bitterness that balances the sweetness of the chocolate shell. For those who take their Krembo seriously.

Badatz kosher certified.

Shop Krembo Mocha →

Browse All Israeli Snacks at KosherTop →

How to Serve Krembo

At a Shabbat table: Bring out a box of mixed vanilla and mocha Krembos after the main course. Let guests choose. Watch the temperature-preference debate begin.

At a Hanukkah party: Krembo season and Hanukkah overlap perfectly. While the sufganiyot and latkes are being made, put out a box of Krembos for people to snack on.

As an after-school snack: The Israeli way. One Krembo, eaten top-down, with a cold glass of milk.

For a tasting: Order both vanilla and mocha. Try them cold from the refrigerator and at room temperature. Notice the difference in texture. Have opinions.

Storage tip: Keep Krembo at room temperature, away from direct sunlight. Refrigerating firms up the marshmallow slightly — which some people prefer. Do not freeze unless you are a committed member of Team Freezer who has made this lifestyle choice intentionally.

Why KosherTop for Your Krembo?

• Ships direct from Israel — the same Krembo sold in Israeli supermarkets, not a product made for export
• Badatz certified — the highest level of kosher supervision
• Both flavors available — vanilla and mocha, authentic Strauss production
• Fast US delivery — no waiting for a friend's suitcase
• Israeli-owned business — we know what authentic tastes like, because we grew up eating it

KosherTop is an Israeli kosher food store based in Hod Hasharon, Israel, shipping authentic Israeli products directly to customers across the United States.