Sweet Memories

Blackjack is a favorite, and the little scottie-dog-shaped licorice with a thin coating of salt. I also recall Whitman's Air-Bons, a puffed confection that melted in your mouth and was explosive with the flavor of real peppermint or spearmint oil.

I was never a big candy eater, but I remember a couple of favorites from my childhood: Licorice AllSorts and Kit Kat bars. I still like licorice on occassion. And, of course, Cadbury's chocolate.

Cherry nibs, Bit-O-Honey and Laffy Taffy...

Are they still around?

I will readily admit that I pick through penny candy assortments to find the rolls of Smarties.

Heiress, all three are available. Nibs are the most easily found. They are part of the Twizzlers brand now, with the Nibs logo still on the package but minuscule compared to the Twizzlers logo. Bit-O-Honey can be found if you keep your eyes open. I swear I've seen them at Cost Plus but could be mistaken. And the jokes on the wrappers of Laffy Taffy are as groan-inducing as ever.

Chick-O-Sticks... crunchy peanut butter and toasted coconut!
And, Country Store Taffy....long and flat, it fit perfectly in the pockets of my bell-bottom jeans!

Ah Jester, thank you... I haven't seen the first two in a while; then again I'm not in the States much these days.

I used to tell people I bought Laffy Taffy just for the jokes. ;)

Well, I grew up in the Detroit area. Back then, alongside Pepsi, Coke and the other mega-brands, was an outfit called Towne-Club Pop. They would deliver soda bottles in old, thick, reusable bottles. Every flavor under the sun. That and the "Fresh Fruits and Vegetables" truck that would meander through the neighborhood.

I kinda miss the small businesses all but vanished in the Wal-Mart world of today.

As a kid, one of my favorites was Big League Chew. It was bubble gum that came in a foil pouch so kids could emulate their favorite ball players who used chewing tobacco. My dad chewed tobacco when I was a kid so this was great way to imitate him. Fortunately, I never picked up on his bad habits. I snuck a taste behind his back once...oh the burning!!! I stuck with my bubble gum.

I recall Bit O' Honey with a fondness...until I tried it again a few years ago. Oh, the ravages of time totally destroyed the nostalgia. Bleh.

THIS TOPIC LOVINGLY BRINGS TO MIND THE MOST WONDERFUL MEMORIES AS A SMALL CHILD SITTING IN THE LITTLE COUNTRY CHURCH NEXT TO MY GRANDPARENTS ON SUNDAY MORNINGS. I WAS (AND STILL ARE) QUITE A TALKER AND MY SWEET GRANDMOTHER BEING WELL APPRISED OF THIS ALWAYS HANDED ME A STICK OF CLOVE GUM AS SOON AS WE WERE SEATED. MY GRANDFATHER WAS QUITE STRICT AND FROWNED UPON THIS ACT. HE FELT I SHOULD LEARN TO BE QUIET WITHOUT A BRIBE. SO THE SMELL OF CLOVE GUM NOW GIVES ME A WARM, LOVING MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER AND A SHAMEFUL BUT GREAT FEELING OF GETTING ONE OVER ON MY POPPA!!!!

MACKDADDY1:
Clove "gum." Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. ;-)

I think I still have some remnants of molasses and peanut butter attached to internal organs from all of the Mary Jane candies I ate as a child.

To Nordo:
Your comments reminded me of the vendors of my childhood who used to push their carts through the Chicago alleys on hot summer days calling out "Strawberries" and "Rags-n-Iron" (he sold rags and sharpened knives and scissors from his cart). We would see all our Moms leaning out the apartment building windows, yelling their orders down to the alley and then running down the courtyard steps with scissors and change purses.

The strawberries, by-the-way, would favorably compare to anything sold from "Whole Foods" or "Fresh Market"

To: South-Side John,

In England in the 50's there were "Rag & Bones" vendors. You just brought back an childhood memory, long forgotten. The men sold the "rags" and the women sold flowers or mussels from the Welsh coast.

There were always Gypsies, and Irish Travellers, selling household items in the surrounding villages. Of course, my Grandfather, who was Irish, would tell me the "Travellers" would first come to the village and take the clothes pins from the lines. Then a few days later come to the village and sell them back. My grandfather took me to a "Traveller" camp on several occassions. I discovered that particular group of Travellers were cousins.

Here in L.A. we have street-vendors....it's not the same thing, but it's part of the urban landscape.

To ExPat;

Similar fond memories, from the same decade, separated only by an ocean and half a continent. Sometimes finding "common ground" isn't difficult at all.

Whistle Gum and Moxie. I think you can still get Moxie in New England.

BACK TO TONY D:

I HAVE AN ORIGINAL "MOXIE" DRINK ADVERTISEMENT SIGN WITH TED WILLIAMS. IT IS SO COOL. I DIDN'T REALIZE ANYONE ELSE WOULD EVEN KNOW WHAT "MOXIE" WAS. I AM NOT FROM NEW ENGLAND BUT I DO KNOW A LITTLE BIT OF THE HISTORY. AND YES IT CAN STILL BE PURCHASED IN A VERY LIMITED AREA.

MACKDADDY1;

They sell Moxie drinks at "Fresh Market" grocery stores here in the Midwest. I don't know the geographic spread of this particular chain.

South-Side John:

We do have Fresh Markets here in central KY. I'll go check it out. I have actually never tasted a Moxie. I only became interested after I acquired the Ted Williams sign for my bar. My husband's obsession with Ted Williams prompted the purchase. It would be fun to actually taste the product.
Thanks again.

Ahh, summer. And summer meant road trips. Sticky hands and grimy faces. Hours and hours of reading and picking on siblings. Dad was (and still is) always hungry at the stroke of noon - whether we wanted to stop or not.

Wax bottles filled with tart syrup thrown back with zest. Wax lips in place as we stared wide-eyed at passengers in other cars with our fingers up and curled in a ghoulish manner. Bottle caps. Pixy Stix. Twizzlers in our Coke cans. Candy Buttons - a visual treat first and foremost - I hated destroying the yellow, orange and pink braille on waxed paper. Frozen Capri Suns . . .

These were the catalysts that inevitably led to my father barking from the front seat, "Cool it! Am I going to have to stop the car?" Could you blame us with that much sugar running through our little bodies, lol?

One of my favorite childhood sweets was Lik-M-Aid. An unfortunate name. I guess that's why they changed it to Fun Dip. I can remember sitting with my best friend up in a tree dipping the small, yet sturdy white candy sticks and piling the powder into our mouths. So vigorously, the crystals would cut into our tongues and make them bleed a little.

Then there were the episodes with the ice cream man that came every Friday to our school. We giggled every time the ice cream man said, "You want a Nutty Buddy?" in what I now now is an Eastern European accent.

Even though ice cream products were his mainstay, Astro Pops were one of the favorite items from the ice cream truck in my circle of friends. The top of the pop got pretty malleable and we'd draw them up into the sharpest and thinnest spikes that we could. Sometimes we could wrap them up and continue to eat them after school at the playground while we waited for our parents to pick us up. {I just looked them up and now they make them with the pointed part on the stick! Spoil sports.}

At my previous job, I worked with people all over the world. I got to sample favorite candies from Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, the U.K. and the list goes on . . . sad to know that our taste buds erode as we get older . . . there are so many interesting flavors out there - and time rolls on ;)

Classic Candies I love ~ My Grandmother used to have these square hard candies wrapped in a burgundy celophane ~ I can't remember what exact flavor they were but I loved them.

I like Black Licorice but not the Twizzlers brand the Fleet Farm brand is less waxy.

I remember the wax bottles filled with Juice you bit off the tops & drank the juice that was inside them & could chew the rest of the wax as gum.

Bottlecaps, Laffy Taffy, Candy Cigarettes (can they sell that anymore?) Flying Saucers, & Sixlets all favorites when I go into the tourist area old fashioned candy stores those are the candy items I look for...

I don't think I've EVER had a Squirrell Nut Zipper but I've listened to the band....

Ok, moving on to ice cream....... When I grew up on the far south-side of Chicago, summer did not officially start until “The Original Rainbow Cone” ice cream parlor opened its doors for business.

A Rainbow cone is a work of art. It is perfection in a cone. It is a perfect balance of strawberry, chocolate, pistachio, “Palmer House” (What’s Palmer House? I’m pretty sure its cherry ice cream with chunks of cherry and walnuts in it, but it just doesn’t matter ‘cos you just close your eyes and enjoy it) ice cream, plus orange sherbet layered onto a sugar cone. On a hot summer day if you lick it too hard and the top falls on the sidewalk, the five second rule is in effect.

I can't believe you all have been enjoying all this decadent confection and I haven't been here. We had an overnight guest and my computer is in the guest room. So this is my first chance to check in. My best friend, through grade school, was probably a dream come true for a good many, but not for me. Her father was a wholesale rep. for several candy companies. None were chocolate, however. We could go over to his office and help ourselves to anything in his cabinet. But I mainly remember the Good-n-Plenty's and candy corn. I really don't like licorice and found candy corn nothing but a tasteless lump of sugar and therefore, was not really interested much in that cabinet. I do remember those wax bottles, which I would occasionally get, and there was an orange colored wax thing shaped like Pam's pipes that played music.. sort of. That was fun.

I was definitely more interested in the popsicle man. I preferred just plain ol' orange popsicles. Especially when the temp was 90+. All this sounds like a very plebeian and uninteresting set of choices, but that can I say. I was ten.

I grew up with Brach's chocolate. They're still around but you don't see them much in this part of the world. Whenever I leave town, if I encounter Brach's, I always buy chocolate stars and whatever nut clusters (usually peanut) they have. Both convections have been done better, before and since, by higher quality chocolatiers. But that's hardly the point, right?

I don't dare tread in chocolate territory --- I would go on writing late into the night . . .

SSJ - The Rainbow Cone sounds heavenly. Are they still available? I will be in Chicago in August for a wedding and would love to try one!

SSJ: Oh, it is still there! I will have to check it out.

DPR: I think you are right! I know a people from the U.S. that have lived in Belgium and Switzerland but still secretly crave Hershey's chocolate.

Brach's! DPR, you can buy it in bulk in some groceries here in KY! At one point, I gained way too much weight on the choc. covered peanuts. Don't want to ever go there. It was enough of a trauma that I can actually walk past the clear plastic bins without even a small shutter. There should be a CA, Chocololic's Anonymous.

Spinner -
I don't know if you ever saw my question about the John C. Campbell Folk School from a post a few days ago? Would love to see some pics of your fiber art sometime.

girlinthemoon:

THAT is the power of nostalgia in a... nutshell! (Ooooh, the bad pun police are going to get me!) But seriously, it is.

The quality, the artistry, even the taste of the product all pale in comparison to the feeling of nostalgia on the part of the consumer. Anyone who's had madeleines knows that they're a perfectly edible little cookie. But, if you read Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past", the immense emotion and deep rooted nostalgia that the taste of a madeleine dipped in tea evokes is monumental.

girlinthemoon;

It's still there. Here's a drive-by photo of it. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/246/515066747_2738b6ddd4.jpg?v=0

Spinner;

Thanks to you I've got the "Good-n-Plenty" jingle playing through my mind!

girlinthemoon:
I am flattered that you call my creations fiber art. I assume you saw my post about being more of a "craftsman" than an "artist". People always ask me if I sell my stuff. I haven't gotten to the point that I wanted to try because then it wouldn't be so much fun. I would have to get something done in purple by Christmas and I probably wouldn't think that would look good in purple, but that is what the person wants. Not fun. But I am running out of people that will take my things. My wonderful daughter-in-law has so many sweaters, ponchos, hats, purses, pillows, and now I am flooding my granddaughter with the same. Luckily, she is growing so I can keep doing things for her for awhile, but they live in So. CA and there is only so much they can accommodate in the way of warm wraps and matching purses. However, I keep plowing on. I have just harvested my first 1/2 lb of marigold blossoms for the season and have them in the freezer for sometime this winter when I want to dye some wool or alpaca for some sort of project. As far as the J.C. Campbell School, I know someone that occasionally teaches there, but I tend to be a loner and haven't been there myself. All in all, I am rather intimidated by those that are actually making a living doing fiber work. The article on me that I mentioned earlier was in the winter 2006 Spin-Off magazine, pg. 89-91 with the sweater pictured on pg 90.