Welcome Dear Readers! I was thinking about candy yesterday. Maybe because Halloween is coming up or maybe because some days is just for sittin’ around thinkin’ ’bout candy. (Sorry, sometimes my brain, Peanuts, gets really obnoxious.)
Here’s some of the vintage gum and candy that my brain, Peanuts, remembers.
Black Jack Gum
Black Jack Gum was a whole heck of a lot of fun. It had it’s own original flavor which tasted a little like black licorice but not quite. But the really cool thing about Black Jack Gum was that it was almost black so you could put it on your teeth and make it look like your two front teeth had been knocked out. Which is always a bonus when you’re between the ages of five and twelve 61.
Double Bubble Bubble Gum
Our local store had a box of Double Bubble Gum in the candy rack.It must have been there for many years because the Double Bubble gum was as hard as a rock, and it actually hurt to chew it. When I was a kid, I thought the funnies that came with the Double Bubble bubble gum were included to make you feel better while you were experiencing the pain of chewing.
Bazooka Bubble Gum:
And an example of the comics found therein:
Candy
I remember eating Necco Sugar Wafers as a kid. I never really cared for them much, but for some reason I would still occasionally buy them and try to eat them. These tended to be the kinds of candies that would end up in the dust bunnies under children’s beds all over America along with jelly beans, candy hearts and black licorice Saltwater taffy.
According to Wikipedia, Necco Sugar Wafers have been around since 1847. Okay, maybe in 1847, when everything kind of sucked in general, people were fine with eating candy that tasted like Tums but why do people eat them today? Could it be that “Tums” is a classic flavor that will never go out of style?
Big Hunk
They really were big too. And they were only a nickel! I have no idea what they were made out of. They did have peanuts in them, an unpleasant fact I never let deter me because the taste of the taffy-like candy would block out the taste of the peanuts or, perhaps they used peanuts that didn’t have any flavor, which was fine by me.
Then there were Jawbreakers:
The particular jawbreaker that always sticks in my mind were the ones you could buy for a while in the 1950’s called Sputniks. They were blue and had little spikes sticking out of them. They really made your mouth sore –even more sore than stale Double Bubble bubble gum did, and they didn’t even come with comics to make you feel better while you were eating them! Plus they tasted pretty horrible.
I suspect the Sputnick Jawbreaker was part of a government propaganda program to remind children how evil the Russian’s were for having launched a satellite up in space before we did.
Well Dear Readers, that’s about all the remembering my brain, Peanuts, is capable of today. But there are lots and lots vintage candy bars that are stuck between the teeth of my brain, Peanuts synapses — which might be worth prying loose one of these days.
In the meantime, my brain, Peanuts, wonders what your favorite candy was a kid . . .
Until next time . . . I love you
Linda Vernon Humor 
My favorite was Kit Kat’s. I used to use up half my spending money on trips to get Kit kats at every gas station.
Oh I love Kit Kats. They are very addictive. I always eat those out of the Halloween candy I buy for trick or treaters first thing! 😀
There is actually a science to eating them too. There should be a Youtube video out there for them.
Well if there isn’t you should make one and post it on your blog. I will follow right along and learn how with a big stack of Kit Kats!
That would be the most boring video, but fun to eat all the Kit Kats.
Anything that gives me an excuse to eat Kit Kats can never be boring! 😀
You’ve never seen me do a video. It is pretty painful. Mostly for me to watch it.
I’m sure you’re much too hard on yourself. I’d do one, but I have no idea how. 😛 (I’ll bet a video on the science of eating a Kit Kat doing really well.)
I did a few for my blog and everyone said that the person that did it with me was much better.
I bought necco wafers once and couldn’t understand why they were sold in the candy aisle, when they were clearly not edible. Same with those chalky conversation hearts.
Favorite candy as a little kid: hands down, it was Bonkers. I also bought a lot of Garbage Pail Kids when I was a tot (with money).
I’ve never even tried a Bonkers, Melissa. Okay now I’m on a Bonkers mission. I’ve got to find one and sample one. I vaguely remember my kids having Cabbage Pail Kids. I don’t remember any candy that came with them. It doesn’t sound very tasty but I’ll bet they tasted waaaay better than Necco wafers! HA! 😀
I liked Big Hunks, and Beamans gum and I have to admit I liked Neccos
You liked Neccos? Well, there must be a lot of people out there like you who like them! They don’t keep making candy for over 150 years without lots of people liking them! I loved Beamans gum too. I forgot about that Beanmans Gum. It had a very unusual flavor that I’ve never tasted before or since!
My mother always bought circus peanuts and orange slices as a treat. The peanuts weren’t bad, but the slices…YUCK! Hold it there is one more yucky candy…Christmas ribbon candy. ugh.
Oh No! Not Christmas Ribbon Candy! The worst. Well there was actually one thing worse. The kind of peppermint candy that my grandfather always had on hand. They were peppermint cylinders with creamy mint filling. Oh they were so gross! I ate them whenever I went there though because they were the only candy available! HA!
I actually loved circus peanuts and orange slices both. Your mom and I have the same taste in candy apparently. How about that? 😀
How about cany cigerettes and lick-a-maid?
Oh I forgot about Candy cigarettes! We had those and also bubble gum cigars! The candy cigarettes had some sort of power in them that looked like smoke when you blew on them. HA! I forgot all about that. I’ve never ever hear of lick-a-maid. I’ll have to google that one.
I was a rebel! ha! How about the sherbert with the black licorice stick?
I’ve never had that one but it sounds delicious. I love orange sherbet and black licorice. Mmmm . . .
oh really? it’s not orange. Its a powder that kind of bubbles when you put in your mouth. You dip the black licorice stick in it
Oh! It sound slightly dangerous. I love that! 😀
Well not dangerous but tickles the tongue and taste buds..
There’s a store in Branson called Dick’s 5 & 10 that still sells all the candy varieties from my youth including those hard to find candy cigarettes. Walking through Dick’s is like visiting 1963. It took my adult children two hours to drag me kicking and screaming from the store.
Oh I know, Aren’t stores like that fun! There’s one in San Luis Obispo where my daughter lives. She took me there on my last visit and we separated and scouted out the store and she came back with the same candy for me that I picked for myself. HA! Apparently I’ve discussed my childhood candy more than I realized. LOL!
I hate to tell you but British sweets rule. Whole shops devoted to them when I was a kid, and the store owner always hated children (Quite why they opened a sweet shop…) Everything was a penny, now there is a retro thing going on and shops opening up again but you need a mortgage to buy the produce.
I second this motion; British sweets rule!
Yeah, let’s take back America now, they may have kept their weapons in anticipation of this moment, but we have blackjacks, rhubarbs and custards and curly wurlys on our side. They’ll thank us when we have freed them from the tyranny of Hersehy’s Kisses.
Oh ha! I may have to plan a vacation to the UK just for the curly wurlys. It’s my new favorite candy and I have yet to taste it!
It’s a chocolate bar but luscious
I bet I could order some off the Internet. I may have to do that for Christmas or something. And we could all taste real chocolate. That would be pretty special.
I’m organising Red Cross to drop chocolate hampers over America. Make sure you’re under the flight path
YAY! I knew I could count on you, Joe, to come through for us Americans! If they made chocolate Mother Teresa’s, I’d eat one in your honor.
A chocolate mother theresa. I like the sound of that, she sounds badass.
ahahahah! Joe, I had to laugh out loud at your comment. My son-in- law is always saying something is badass!
😀 I think that’s the first time I used it.
Really? You must have picked it up psychically from my brain, Peanuts!
Oh Peanuts! Stop invading my mental space
I admire your zeal; but I fear that Hershey-love has become such a part of their genetic coding, that no amount of curly wurly artillery will make even a dent…and you do know that Americans live in America?
I see the flaw in my plan
Try and try again.
Oh I bet your candy was completely different from ours. We didn’t have entire stores dedicated to candy (we do now) what a dream come true for a kid — even if the store owners did hate children. (HA!) When I was a kid in the late 50’s/ early 60’s, we had penny candy too But now they have retro candy stores that package up that same candy and sell it for $14.95! It’s just sad what this world is coming to isn’t it?
And it’s the kids of yore that are now fleecing those of us with fond nostalgic memories, but we need that money to pay for all the dental work incurred from eating those sweets.
Your sweets actually look good, I just know your chocolate isn’t chocolate. Why won’t they give you real chocolate..WHY?!?!?!
Wha-wha-wha-wha- WHAT?!? We don’t have real chocoloate????
I think those new candy store owners are the spawns of their evil ancestor candy store owners.
I tried yours once, it was like sand
Oh Joe that’s so sad for us. I wonder if all our food is horrible and we just don’t know it?
haha! Nah, I watch plenty of Food Network and it leaves me drooling. It’s only your chocolate. (I know everyone will now be scorning British food which always gets a ribbing, never knew why – it’s great!
I think we think most British food is boiled. I don’t know why.
I thought Irish food was? Most veg used to be boiled, now we have discovered steaming, grilling, roasting… all the ..ings
The only Irish food I can think of is Corn beef and cabbage and that is boiled isn’t it? I do a lot of frying — stir fry actually — almost every night.
Mmm, I want to do a stir fry now. My cupboard is chock full of Asian ingredients.
Damn I’m hungry
Me too!!
I just love this blog post today mom! As an eighties child, I never got to experience the wonders of horrible 1950’s candy but it sure it fun to read about! I would include candy corn and black licorice on that list but I know you like them.
Oh I do love the candy corn! It has so much wonderful sugar in it. It’s a good thing I only eat it once a year! And black licorice is such a tasty treat!