Ask almost any kid what the lowest candy on the totem pole is and they will tell you wafer candies - assuming that they can even come up with the name of the category. These candies, which include the US Smarties (not the chocolate UK kind) and Necco Wafers, are made of pressed sugar and don't have nearly as much to recommend them as some of the chocolate, peanut butter and caramel candies that they have to compete with. That being said, however, they have been around for a long time and even if they are not the most popular candies, they always get eaten.
It's possible that the flavors have something to do with their inevitable consumption. One of the unusual things about these candies is that the coloring does not necessarily correspond to flavoring and that there are few cross-brand parallels. Lis of Riba's Ramblings put together a flavor vs. color comparison chart for four types of "popular" wafer candies - SweeTarts, Smarties, Necco Wafers and Sweethearts - so you'll know what it is that you're eating. Pink candies could be cherry or wintergreen. White wafers could be orange cream, cinnamon or mint. Green could be strawberry, lemon, lime or apple. The only color/flavor that was the same across the board was orange. Check out the rest of the table for a full breakdown.
May is National BBQ Month and National Hamburger Month
Cupcakes, not for dessert (unless beef is your idea of a treat)
Because eating French Fries in the car is so tough
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2007 @ 9:00PM
Kat said...
The Japanese have a word for any and all types and flavors of that powdery sugar "wafer" candy: "ramune" (like the drink). I think it pretty much does the job as the colors taste so much alike to me anyway.
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2-06-2007 @ 9:18PM
MJ said...
Love the necco wafers! still buy them on occassion. They even make an all chocolate pack. Love the black, orange and white ones too.
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2-07-2007 @ 12:12AM
Camille Bauman said...
How I wish for a whole pack of clove flavor...they are pretty stingy with them. The lemon tastes like Pledge furniture polish.
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2-07-2007 @ 9:32AM
faith said...
clove?
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2-07-2007 @ 9:33AM
faith said...
clove?
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2-07-2007 @ 9:36AM
Runner said...
The universal orange also applies to UK Smarties. The orange UK Smartie is orange chocolate. For the US Smarties, I eat them in order of color preference (purple is always last). With the Neccos, I eat them in color preference for the basically flavorless, but the pink, white and chocolate are saved for last. Actually, that rule applies to jelly beans for me, too, but the black ones are always saved for last.
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2-08-2007 @ 6:36AM
SuperFan said...
I guess I'll be the one person to say they aren't the bottom of my list. I am more likely to grab a roll of necco or sweettarts then a chocolate bar. Both are great for throwing in my backpack and can survive the hardest work week or deployment to the field.
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