Favorite childhood candy?

What were your favorite candies when you were growing up? Are they still available and if so, do you still eat them now?

the candy necklaces and the Pop Rings, always had a thing for jewelry!

Ohhh, how could I forget AstroPops!

Abba Zaba was always my favorite. I don't eat it anymore----my tastes have matured. I now keep a container full of sour neon worms on the end table!

I know we've done this candy thing on another thread, but I had some news about Mallo Cups that were some people's favorite candy. They have been out of production for most of the year, but now after a business rift was recently settled, they will begin appearing on store shelves in September. A Mallo Cup is like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup with a creamy marshmallow filling instead of peanut butter.

Vanilla Bun Bars - vanila cream stuff, covered in a layer of peanuts which was then covered in chocolate. Great fresh from the candy counter or frozen.They also had a maple bun bar. yhat one I din not care for.

Divinity. Like my grandmother made. It was like eating a sugar cloud. So light it had almost no weight in your hand, and just the slightest resistance (I hesitate to use the term crunch, because that would most likely insult her and the memory both)at the bite. It wasn't too sweet, just sweet enough. Man...I miss that stuff. I have made it a million times and just can't get it right. Same recipe, with the same pans ( My grandmother is a long time gone. So is the divinity I ate when I was a little boy. I wish I could have 'em both back right now. I'd give her a hug and then beg her to get in the kitchen and get busy with the sugar and the egg whites. The funny thing is, she couldn't cook for beans, but boy could she make candy.

Divinity Oh man I wish I could make that! I have tried using my moms recipe, my G-ma's, cookbooks, I just dont have the candy touch I guess.

My favorites were banana and strawberry Kits--the little square wrapped taffy, and gummi alligators with white bellies. Also liked Pez (although I couldn't always be bothered to load them into the dispenser) and Nik-L-Nips--the little wax bottles filled with sweet liquid.

And yes, if I could get my hands on any of the above at this moment I'd be very happy. I think the only thing I really lost a taste for was the fruity flavors of bubble gum I used to love in junior high---ick!

There's a website called www.oldtimecandy.com that has a lot of the old faves that are still available. I've also found it at www.vermontcountrystore.com and, of course, at Cracker Barrel.

Anybody remember ZOTZ? Hard candy with a sour powder filling inside. I was little and my older brother didn't tell me about the "surprise" at the end. Man, what a rush back then. LOL

Tootsie Rolls.

Rock candy (who remembers that?) was an occasional treat.

Tootsie Roll Pops were wonderful, but I don't remember having those as much (we were poor folks).

Halloween was great back then, because we got lots of stuff our parents wouldn't buy.

Bushie

I knew we were sympatico, the only thing I would add to your list would be Good & Plenty, Good & Plenty, Good & Plenty, Choo-choo Charlie!! Uh Oh! it's getting late again & sleep deprevation is taking over.

Sky Bars!!!!both my wife--from upatate New York--and I--an old Massachusetts Yankee-loved them but they aren't available locally--however!!!--thank you Webmaster in the sky---we can now get them on line!!

Tiki, if you have any Cracker Barrell restauarants in your area, their gift shop sells Sky Bars.

Mine was Bonomo Turkish Taffy, frozen for a couple of hours, then whacked into smaller pieces.

Jelly babies!!! My dad used to buy them for me and my little sister and mom used to hide them in the fridge a few hours before dinner. Little did she know that we were instinctive cooperators when it comes to candy--I would pull the fridge door open, push a chair to the fridge and climb on it to grab the candy. My sister would hold the chair steady while I did it.

Big Buddy bubble gum and Cherry Nibs. We would turn our allowances into quarters, walk down to the Rutter's Farm Store and buy these candies and Coke slushies and feed the Pac-Man machine they had there. I think we spent a whole summer there once...

As CheeseWit mentions, there is another recent thread around here some place covering basically the same topic and to which I posted my childhood favorite commercial candies, but the mentions here of divinity remind me of the great quantity of it which was made by everyone at Christmas when I was a kid (and it's amazing how many people around here still make it at Christmas). Though it is so popular, it was never my favorite Christmas candy. I much preferred the fudges, real sweet date & nut candies, etc. etc. Tho divinity wasn't my favorite, the best diviinity maker I ever knew was my grandmother. One Christmas, tho, due to warm & wet weather, or whatever reason, she made a batch which would never firm up. So she quickly whipped up one of her simple little "spice cakes", as she called them, and iced it with that soft divinity. That "divinity icing" was the best divinity I ever had.
Though so many people made divinity, I've never known anyone but one great aunt who made pulled taffy. Don't remember her cooking it in the kitchen so don't know how she did that - think its made of sugar and water, white karo, or some such ingredients, but I remember her sitting in her rocker in front of fireplace with big pan in her lap, the soft taffy in it, a plate of butter beside her, and her buttering her hands and somehow pulling and pulling that taffy, stretching it out and out, thinner and thinner. Know she said that pulling was good exercise for her arthritic hands. She'd then let it harden & cut or break it into pieces. She always gave me a box of it for Christmas. Remember it being white, flat, hard, could bite off a piece or crack it into smaller pieces (kinda like a peppermint stick or piece of brittle). In appearance the larger pieces always reminded me of pieces of celery, sometimes being kind of "ridged" and having in them the little "tunnels" kind of like celery sometimes has. While I wasn't that crazy about divinity I always loved the taffy. Haven't had any like that since Aunt Laura died years ago. Does anyone know how to make it? I've bought comercial taffy over the years but it was always sort of soft, totally different flavor, and totally unlike that which Aunt Laura made.

Liketoeat,
Maybe this is an Arkansas thing. Grandmother from Buena Vista, Grandfather from Camden.He worked for International Paper in every mill town in the south for 47 years. She couldn't cook, but boy could she make sweets. That icing you described is exactly what I had on every birthday cake I ever had until I was out of high school (and sadly that coincided with her alzheimers and dementia). SHe used to decorate them with soft peppermints (the kind that came in the tin eith the lion on it, mmmmmmmmm, but that's another story). They were rounds of moist, moist yellow cake, three layers, and gorgeous. I would put them up against any pastry I have ever eaten. The icing would harden, but just on the outer layer, so it kind of cracked when it was sliced. Oh yeah. Sometimes this food/memory thing is pretty tasty (not to mention mildly bittersweet-have you ever noticed how many emotions are described in terms of taste..bitter, sweet, bittersweet, etc.)

You know, you said something that jogged my memory. She really only made divinity in the winter. I guess this was because of the humidity, maybe the delta is just too steamy (they lived in Bastrop, LA when I was a kid) the rest of the year.

Mom's peanut butter fudge! She'd only make it in the winter. I remember her sitting outside in the cold air stirring and stirring until it was just the right temperature. Occasionally if I stared at her long enough through the sliding glass doors she'd let me help! Of course when she wasn't looking I'd have to stick my finger in it....

My favorite candy was the Sportsman's Bracer. It was a small bar of bittersweet chocolate. I haven't seen it in more than 50 years. My next favorite was Peter Paul Mounds.

quote:

Originally posted by Liketoeat

...but the mentions here of divinity remind me of the great quantity of it which was made by everyone at Christmas when I was a kid (and it's amazing how many people around here still make it at Christmas). Though it is so popular, it was never my favorite Christmas candy. I much preferred the fudges, real sweet date & nut candies, etc. etc. Tho divinity wasn't my favorite, the best diviinity maker I ever knew was my grandmother...

That's exactly the way it was for me. My grandmother always made a ton of different sweets for Christmas, and she always made divinity because my dad loved it. I was never crazy about it, either. I devoured her fudge, though. Thanks for the memory.

I have never had a problem finding MalloCups in Family Dollar stores. I'd check there if you want 'em! $1 a pack!

quote:

Originally posted by CheeseWit

I know we've done this candy thing on another thread, but I had some news about Mallo Cups that were some people's favorite candy. They have been out of production for most of the year, but now after a business rift was recently settled, they will begin appearing on store shelves in September. A Mallo Cup is like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup with a creamy marshmallow filling instead of peanut butter.

Mayhaw, you ain't gonna believe I know where Buena Vista is (and also Ogemaw) for this grandmother I'm describing (and all my mother's folks) lived in Stephens. When I was a kid, if my folks would have let me I would have gone to Stephens and spent every entire summer with my grandmother. And you so aptly described that divinity icing (and the "7 Minute Icing" my mother always made for use on my made-from-scratch; use a dozen egg whites from eggs laid by chickens out in the chicken yard; no mixes of any sort there, Angel Food cake for my birthday). It would always after sitting, "crust over" but then be still soft beneath. I'd forgotten all about that and also about the peppermints you describe. Sorry about your grandmother's alzheimer's. Sounds like your affection for your grandmother was about like mine; absolutely one of my most loved persons. Also you ain't gonna believe I spent most of my working career (30 years) with International Paper. Though I was in Mobile, AL, that entire time spent a lot of time traveling to all mills thruout the south. (My has that situation changed, but that is another story.) Many memories of Bastrop (world's worst water), Bastrop & Louisiana Mills, the motel there & its restaurant. Can't remember their names; not as unique names as the Holiday (not Holiday Inn but just Holiday; how they escaped trademark infringement suit, I'll never know) and its "The Axe" Restaurant at Springhill, LA. We always used to say "The Axe" was aptly named for the utensil it took to cut any meat cooked there. And Bushie, Mayhaw, Rusty, everyone, I don't know any better sources of great memories than foods and families, with grandmothers somehow being just a little special. PS - never knew of any of these candies being made other than during winter; usually at Christmas.

Rusty246, you mom's peanut butter fudge reminds me of one aunt who always made peanut butter fudge. I really liked it but she was the only person in the family, or about the only person anywhere around that I knew, who made it. Seems everyone else made chocolate fudge with a few folks making a white or cream colored fudge; guess it was vanilla fudge. I'd forgotten everything except the chocolate. All were good! Still like them but don't need them the way every bite I eat now seems to go straight to my middle.

My favorite cany were those marshmallowy circus peanuts, and I can't stand them now, but still love the smell!

My dad makes a mean assortment of candy over the holidays, and always gives each one of his girls a plate to share with co-workers.

He makes peanut brittle, divinity, and an old family recipie called Aunt Bills, which is a kind of carmel candy chock full of pecans.

Liketoeat,

If you know where Buena Vista is you know alot. I went there alot as a kid, but recently was trying to show one of my children where it was on a map and I had to go to the WPA Guide to Arkansas to find it.
My grandfather did his last few years in Mobile. I guess this would have been 70 - 74 or so. Charlie Hamaker. He ended up being kind of a bigshot in corporate, but I really don't know what he did, accounting of some sort. He spent the first two years of his retirement in the Phillipines and Mindanao, in retrospect I guess he was counting how many board feet there are in a rainforest).

We used to eat Sunday lunch at the hotel in Bastrop. Only place in town pretty much. Although...there was a classic road food spot in downtown Bastrop. Pippins Eat-a Bite. Classic diner. Served solid food for mill workers on their way to and from work. We used to eat breakfast there before going hunting in Mer Rouge (family farm) or fishing at Bussey Brake (mill lake).

My aunt and uncle lived in Springhill for a billion years. He was old Mobile and worked for Corp of Engineers (supervised building of the Bank Tunnel). She was my grandfathers sec. at the mill(also sister in law) She just died this year at 98. Great house near country club they had built in the fifties. Not to sound un nostalgic, but boy what a resale value! It is hard to find property values like that little piece of old Mobile anywhere in the South. The Garden District, River Oaks and Park City are no more expensive.

Sorry to all about the small town nostalgia, but if you knew the chances of someone having that much in common with someone else (these are little, teeny tiny places, Marvell, Stephens, Buena Vista, Camden and Bastrop probably don't have 50,000 people between em and if you whack out Bastrop, probably not 10,000)you would be amazed as well

Wow. I am stunned

Cherry Mash from Chase candies out of St Joseph, MO. I haven't seen them much outside the Midwest but I would like to know if anyone has heard of them who live in other areas of the country. The're still great and I eat them occasionally(more than any other candy bar). You can check them out at cherrymash.com.

Liketoeat,
One more thing. By the time my Dad was 16 and went to Tulane (incidentally on a scholarship that still exists provided by IP) he had gone to school in Camden, Springhill, Ark, Bastrop, Moss Point, Mobile (Old Shell Rd Elementary), and somewhere else I can't recall at the moment. Yikes, such was the life of a mill worker before they closed them all!

Yes, Mayhaw, I knew Mr. Hamaker. You are right when you say "accounting", but it was more than accounting. I can't remember exactly what he did at division office, but it was in the accounting/finance area. I knew him best when he was a Mill Agent (as the old title; long ago changed, went). Then Mill Agent was in charge of all administrative areas (non-production and non-maintenance areas) at the mill and under an unusual old organizational structure was on the same level as the Mill Manager; then in a very controversial reorganization the Mill Agent's title was changed to Administrative Dirctor, and he was placed under the Mill Manager in the organization. He was still the #2 man in the mill hierarchy, tho. Tho my work was personnel-labor relations, I worked more in that area as related to the administrative than to the production-maintenance side. Am thinking now of a bunch of your granddad's old cronies; fellow Mill Agents of his era. Somehow I unfortunately never tried Pippin's Eat-a -bite, but know all about Mer Rouge and Bussy Brake (and Lake Erling at Springhill, LA). Know also all about the Springhill area of Mobile and property values there. If I hadn't just missed out on getting a house in that section of town (taken by folks who saw it right before me) and instead buying in another section, my bank account would be in much better shape than it is now! And I well know where Old Shell Rd. School is, just down the street from the Dew Drop Inn which has been reviewed in this forum. I was just by Moss Point Mill last week (beginning to look really rundown since its closure; a disgrace on part of IP to let it get that way), and email yesterday from Mae in Mobile said she'd heard some dismantling of Mobile Mill, Division Office, and ERRL had begun. We won't get off further on other IP changes but can talk about those if we ever get to meet. Apologies to the rest of your Roadfooders to whom this discussion is a total bore, but its so unusual, just about impossible to imagine, two folks running into each other anywhere, particularly in an internet forum such as this, who know of such places as Buena Vista (wide spot in road), Stephens (800 pop.), Marvell (1,400 pop.) and other similar sized metropolises that hope you will forgive us for this discussion. Thanks, and hope we can meet sometime, Mayhaw.

BB Bats - little choc., and strawberry taffy suckers, Red hot dollars and cinnamon bears, jujubees, and O-O-O, It's Bonomo's Turkish Taffy, also red licorice, which we used to bite both ends off and use as a straw for the fountain cokes. Kits-chocolate and strawberry.

Quickly again, I do remember now something, Mayhaw, about Mr. Hamaker's going to the Phillipines after his retirement, and who were your uncle and aunt in Mobile? Thanks