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

Toferment - you can still by them in Texas, not in every store, but you do see them.

When I was really young, my favorite candy was a Babe Ruth bar As I became older, (high school) my very favorite was a Chunky bar. I used to love those things..........would stop at the nearest neighborhood grocery store by the high school and buy one and slowly eat it all the way home. I have not seen one in years but have to admit that I really do not look for them any more as my scales tell me "No candy bars for you, hon!".

My aunt and uncle were Helen and Powell Williams of Springhill. THey lived on Oakway, off the big curve on McGregor. He was old old Mobile. His grandfather, Col. James Williams, was the guy who blew up the Confederat powder magazine at Fort Powell (would be located right under the north side of the Dauphin Island Bridge) as Farragaut was coming up the bay "damning the torpedoes". He was also big in Mobile Mardi Gras (KOR). He once designed all of the floats to a theme of "Lord of the Rings"(1972 or so). Remember, this was a long time before anybody, particularly the general reading public, had read any Tolkein at all. Interesting guy.

Thanks for the brief history of my grandfathers life at the mill. It means alot, was informational, and I truly appreciate it. Good Lord, the chances of meeting someone who knew this much about a very arcane slice of Southern. mid twentieth century, papermill life and knew my grandfather are about zero. Especially given this all started over the memories of favorite candy when you were a kid. Wow!

I posted this on a similar topic, but I loved and still love Abba-Zaba Bars.

Hi, Mayhaw, the name Helen Williams is familiar but right off hand I just can't place her. Know exactly where they lived, though, and know about Fort Powell and KOR and all the other Mobile krewes. Though I never really was a Mardi Gras person, I always thought that though much fewer, Mobile's Mardi Gras floats and parades were always superior to those of New Orleans. Oh, your saying "Old Mobile", which is a much used term in those parts, reminds me of this grande dame telling my first boss' wife -they had moved there from Ohio not too many years earlier- and who said something about her youngest son being a native Mobilian, having been born there - , "My dear, he may have been born here, but he's not native Mobilian unless he's at least third generation"! And that's how lots of those folks felt. Such attitudes just always tickled me; for fear I didn't give their (or my) heritages the respect they perhaps deserved. You are right about the strangeness of our getting off on this subject. Glad I was able to share some info about the paper mill times of your grandfather. Hope sometime we might meet to talk further.

Does anyone recall watermelon slices? I remember getting them at our penny candy store. They were flat, sweet, red slices that tasted like coconut and even had the look of the rind & the seeds too.

Another favorite I just found recently at the Rag Shop, of all places, is the Planter's Peanut Block! Wow, did that taste good... Went back for another, and they were gone

I've always loved Swedish Fish, Reeses Pieces, and Twizzlers!

Nancy, I recall those watermelon slices well, and you have described them pefectly. I've sold thousands of them at a penny a piece, though I never really liked them that well myself. Too sweet. Each layer of slices lay on sheets of wax paper in the box. Haven't seen any in years but really haven't looked for them. I'm trying to think what the Planters peanut block is you mention. I remember a flat, long Planters peanut bar (as I recall, it was about all peanuts with just enough confection of some sort to keep the peanuts together - much more peanut than candy flavor). Was in a yellow wrapper with photo of the bar and believe was blue on one end with picture of Mr. Peanut. But I doubt if that is your reference here, for I'd not call it a block. I remember some other peanut candies, one square shaped one with peanuts and large flakes of coconut, I believe, and with more confection than the oblong Planter's bar. Another was round with fewer peanuts and more candy part and was red in color. (Really kinda bad.) But I'm nearly certain neither of those was by Planter's. Don't believe I know or else can't remember the Planter's Peanut Block to which you refer. Tell us more about it.

quote:

Originally posted by RubyRose

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.

Thanks--none close but i do travel!!! I'll keep my eye open

Mallo Cups
Mint Juleps
Squirel Nuts
Root Bear Barrels
Chocolate Babies
Tootsie Pops
Turkish Taffy
Bit-o-Honey

Aah, Bonomo Turkish Taffy.... You could eat it two ways.

Soft you could stretch it out and make all sorts of shapes, animals, twist it, tie it in knots, twist it with another flavor.
Or, freeze it and then "smack it and crack it" (I think that was their motto) into bite sized pieces that would break your teeth if bitten into frozen.

And Goobers....They were just the right size to eat in class. You could spill a few out of the box into the bottom of one of those open box type desks, then put the Goober into the depression at the top of your fist, then bring it to your mouth as you pretended to cough and cover it up with your closed fist. Then you could let the chocolate coating melt in your mouth and eventually chew the softened peanut.

Lets see...Necco Wafers (chocolate, orange and lemon the best; licorice inedible. Used to be able to get a whole roll of chocolate only; limited to Boston area, maybe only Cambridge, where the factory still is and where I grew up. Walleco coconut bars; crunchy with toasted coconut. Clark bars, maybe not still available. PayDay without chocolate frosting. Any really good praline. Stuckey's nut logs; kind of like a payday with pecans instead of peanuts, excellent. Lammi's Candies chocolate covered strawberries; Texas only, I think, and seasonal, but awesome. Strawberry the size of your fist covered in milk or dark chocolate. No advance orders, but I remember during the season, the Lammi's on North Congress in Austin just south of the Capitol would be packed with all manner of fans, including interns for various Texas legislators who delivered them by the dozen to constituents. Sea Foam, weird cinnamon flavored candy, but delicious. (Just went into insulin shock..talk later!)
dbear

Glad someone remembers watermelon slices - yummmmm!

As for the Planter's Peanut thing, it might've been called a bar, but for some reason "block" comes to mind. However, you captured exactly what it was like. The bar was about 5-6 inches long and maybe just short of a 1/2 inch wide & very hard. The sweet taste combined with the peanuts was perfect!

How about spearmint leaves???? Also, probably a penny apiece.

Thanks, Nancy, for further info re the Planter's Peanut bar. I'm sure we are definitely talking about the same thing. Sorry I can't help you with the spearmint leaves. I sold (and ate) lots of penny and other candy as a kid in my dad's old store (recognize so many of the candies mentioned here and in similar forums), but believe that is one that we never had and that I otherwise never came across.

Ok, Liketoeat, how about this one: red silver dollars - they were the taste of Swedish fish, but coin-shaped...

Then, there's Danish rolls - strawberry licorice in four or five break-apart rolls that were sort of ribbed. Input?

Nancy, I remember some multi-colored foil wrapped coin shaped and imprinted chocolate candies, but don't think they were your red silver dollars. These tasted just like chocolate; believe I would have remembered them had they tasted like fish! Do remember your strawberry licorice. In fact was thinking earlier about all the colors, shapes, and varieties in which licorice used to come. None of it was ever very popular around here. What about in your area? Assume it must have been.

quote:

Originally posted by Liketoeat

Nancy, I remember some multi-colored foil wrapped coin shaped and imprinted chocolate candies, but don't think they were your red silver dollars. These tasted just like chocolate; believe I would have remembered them had they tasted like fish!

liketoeat.
both the red silver dollars & the swedish fish are in the gummy bear catagory(original spelling here was gummi by the way, a Swedish import), neither one tastes like fish, closer to cherry licorice in taste.

When Red Hot Dollars first appeared, they were mfg. by Heidi Candies, who gave us JuJuBees and JuJiFruits. The dollars had "Heidi" embossed on them - found in the penny candy places. Cinnamon bears appeared before gummy bears and had a distinct cherry cinnamon flavor - also penny candy section.

I remember the chocolate coins as well as liqorice. We had lots of crossroads stores when I was a kid in North Louisiana that had candy on the counter, but rarely chocolate. I was thinking maybe this was because chocolate melts. These places mainly had screen doors (with a tin push bar on them usually advertising either snuff or bread) and the door was screen. I think maybe the lack of chocolate was due to heat nine months a year, these places were never air conditioned. I used to love the "pic" strips hanging from the ceiling. Always covered in flies and seemingly never changed. I have recently bought a "Toms" cookie jar at a garage sale. I bought it just because I remember them from when I was young. Clear glass with Tom's printed on both sides with a red tin top. Not too many of those places left anymore, but there are still a few if you look hard and have some (alot) of time to kill you can find them.

Ahhhhhhhhhh - JuJuBees - (I buy them at Target now) - extra tasty after you open the box & let the air hit them for a few days! Addictive for me.

Regarding the licorice question: I'm from the North (NJ), but I never thought of that type of candy as a regional specialty, although maybe it is!

quote:

Originally posted by Mayhaw Man

I remember the chocolate coins as well as liqorice. We had lots of crossroads stores when I was a kid in North Louisiana that had candy on the counter, but rarely chocolate. I was thinking maybe this was because chocolate melts. These places mainly had screen doors (with a tin push bar on them usually advertising either snuff or bread) and the door was screen. I think maybe the lack of chocolate was due to heat nine months a year, these places were never air conditioned.

Your probably right on that Mayhaw. Up here in Baltimore, chocolat was a seasonal candy until just recently, come April or May it would disappear from the stores until October. Again it was the weather. Even today many of the better chocolatiers won't ship in the summer, not even with an ice pack (could cause a bloom on the chocolat, not bad for you just doesn't look pretty.)

Hello, Everyone. This ain't my day. Both hot water heater and computer problems off & on all morn (and it all knocked me out of my anticipated lunch in DeWitt today) but hope all is fixed now. I don't think licorice is a regional candy, Nancy; at least I've seen it everywhere I've ever been. It was just never very popular around here tho we always had it. I do remember JuJu Fruits but can't place the JuJuBees. Definitely lost on the red dollars. I know what the gummy bears are from the present, but my real "candy days" long preceded their advent in this country. Mayhaw has given a pretty apt description of my candy selling environment, tho (1) we didn't even have the screen doors which some such stores did; double doors were wide open in summer, (2) we DID change out those fly catcher strips, (3) candy was in glass showcase & had to watch the chocolates could handle in summer but no problem in winter; problem then in this area was keeping everything from freezing in big old barn like country stores. Such stores are extremely rare any more; may occasionally find one which is in effect a grocery, but I don't know of any anywhere which are still general merchandise stores such as those were - groceries of all sorts (including meat market), dry goods of all types, sewing supplies, boots & limited shoes, hunting & fishing goods, hardware, gardening equip. & supplies, seeds, farm equipment repair parts, mule harness and livestock feeds of all kinds, batteries of all types (including radio batteries larger than the table model radios they powered), Victrola needles, all kinds of notions, patent medicines, gasoline, motor oil, kerosene, and no telling what I'm forgetting. Such stores were country versions of department stores from somewhere in the last half of the 1800's through about the 1970's or so. Think thats the time they started dying out. Most popular candies were Baby Ruth & Butterfinger (never understood how Curtis Candy Co. survived with just those two brands & their direct distribution). All other candies were sold through wholesalers. Other most popular brands were from Mars stable; Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Mars Bars, etc. Also Mounds and Almond Joy. All sorts of penny candies - orange slices, the little banana flavored soft squares, other little unwrapped soft squares each with a kid's toy ring stuck directly into the candy, marshmallow peanuts, bubble gum, peppermints, corn candy and a number of others I've seen mentioned here. There were also the hard candies and nuts at Christmas. Back to penny stuff, there were many verions of "penny cookies" in glass or plastic containers such as Mayhaw describes. Those containers also held the 5 cent bags of peanuts. I still have a few of those containers and other items from the old store, but not many. Those were some quite different days. In winter when no farming was going on they were the community gathering places with men of the community coming up and sitting around in the store most of the day doing lots more talking and playing checkers then buying, all to the store owner's chagrin. But that's just the way things were. Enough of this. Apologize for getting away from the candy theme, but it just all kinda flowed together.

You're right. It all seemed to dissappear around the early 70's. About the time everybody went from 4 row to 8 and 10 row equipment. The market in those rural communities just went away. The communities have gone away to some degree as well.

Also, when I said you could still find 'em, I meant the buildings themselves and maybe small rural groceries. Small general mercantiles (along with damn near everything else that used to be in the Delta) have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Big farms, small payrolls. Can't hardly even find a Western Auto anymore. Every kid I know got his first storebought .410 there, and probably his first bike.

Your family must have had a pretty classy place if they changed the fly strips regularly.

You are right on all counts, Mayhaw. You know whereof you speak. Not only have the country general merchandise stores disappeared, but also most stores in the small country towns (such as this one) and even in the county seat sized towns - all going back to the economic changes (largely land holding concentrations and mechanization in every sense of the words) you enumerate leading to the population disappearance. That coupled with the advent of the Delta's welfare economy for those who remained (thanks to the politicians out for the vote) and you have the Delta in all its states having been transformed from the economic power house areas to the most poverty ridden sections of those states. Enough preaching. Its the truth.
As to that store, you'd not believe the number of those fly strips I changed, but that number pales in comparison to the number of sweepings and dusting (daily) I gave that big old barn of a place. Good times, though, and lots of good candy, colas, and other eats went through there (such as bologna sandwiches, cans of sardines, or a pig foot out of a jar flopped on a cracker for instant eating or some of the best beef ever to come out of a market to take home and cook). I'll not get off on that, though.
PS - Congrats, Mayhaw, on that over the hundred level.

quote:

Originally posted by chezkatie

When I was really young, my favorite candy was a Babe Ruth bar As I became older, (high school) my very favorite was a Chunky bar. I used to love those things..........would stop at the nearest neighborhood grocery store by the high school and buy one and slowly eat it all the way home. I have not seen one in years but have to admit that I really do not look for them any more as my scales tell me "No candy bars for you, hon!".

Chunky bars. How I loved 'em! I have seen them at Walgreens and Dollar Trees, and I occasionally indulge in one. They are as good as I remember them, I have to also be careful, because I love potato chips. Does anyone remember either Crane Potato Chips or Midwest Ice Cream?

No kidding Liketoeat. We now have (Louisiana I mean) the two poorest counties in the United States. Apparently we even beat garden spots like Harlan County in Kentucky and some of those coal mining areas farther on up. Really sad.One of my least favorite things to do is to drive from Monroe to Greenvile and pass all of those old gin sites. Mississippi can't claim being the poorest anymore because their politicians weren't adept enough at stealing all the gambling money. Some of it was left over for farming communities.

I was wondering...when was the last time you had a pigs foot? I don't like those pink ones you see nowadays. I will admit, however, to an occasional can of vieeners (vienna sausages to you from northern climes). That little layer of gelatin makes them so good going down. Unfortunately it also makes my blood go straight up. Can't eat em too often. Damn nitrates.

Mother was a good cook, but mostly made cakes and pies. Candy was something made at Christmas time - everybody loved her divinity, but I didn't ever care for it much. She made bourbon balls and fudge that I liked more.

As far as store-bought candy, Boston Baked Beans was my favorite by far. Also, Red Hots and 5th Avenue bars and Bit 'o Honey to some extent. Actually, I'd eat almost any kind of candy, but those were my favorites. I went thru a thing a couple of years ago, sought out these old favorites and kept them on hand for a couple of months, but don't usually keep candy around the house much, now.

Someday I'm gonna visit Ferrara Pan in Chicago and give somebody a hug and probably cry a little.

How about hotdog and sputnik bubble gums? There was also chum gum which was 2 for a penny (so you could share it with a friend) I still liked the others better.

"Lets see...Necco Wafers (chocolate, orange and lemon the best; licorice inedible. Used to be able to get a whole roll of chocolate only; limited to Boston area, maybe only Cambridge, where the factory still is and where I grew up."

Dbear, I not only remember NECCO (New England Candy Co.) wafers, I bought a roll of all-chocolate here in Ohio just last year for my grandson.

Has anyone mentioned button candy You can still get it, but the sheet is half the size. It was 2 or 3 cents apiece thirty years ago in my penny candy shop. I just bought some for my two boys (15 & 11) & they love it! It's about a dollar now, and all you get is four small sheets. YIKES!