Special to AOL from Dr. Don Kinsman
Not long ago I was in a drug store about to pay for a prescription when I spotted IT in the candy shelf: a Clark Bar. Clark Bars were my favorite of all candy bars when I was very young and I had not seen any in a long, long time so I immediately scarfed one. I rushed home, unwrapped it and bit into it. It was stale. But memories came back anyway, not only of the old Clark Bar commercials which for some reason featured kangaroos and giraffes as I recall, but of the veritable tons of candy I ate way back when.
Of course it wasn't just me. All us kids ate a lot of candy in those days. Just ask any dentist who worked on kids from the pre-fluoride days. Not a day would go by when one of the guys didn't have some sort of candy he would share; either willingly, or because other guys would yell "dibs," which for some reason gave you the right to have some of his goodies.
We munched happily on many things, some of which like Three Musketeer Bars and Milky Way Bars are still easy to find and others which you have to hunt for nowadays, or maybe even special order. My favorites included Good & Plenty - especially at movies - malted milk balls; Boston baked beans; chocolate covered raisins; orange slices; those coconut covered bars with the three colors for different flavors: black, white and red; Bun candy bars, though they were not exactly bars per se; and French burnt peanuts.
I was also very fond of Chuckles as were my friends. There was, however, no agreement on the order in which they had to be eaten. I preferred green-yellow-orange-red-black as my order, working from least favorite to most favorite. There was also the challenge among us as to whether or not we could fully lick off the outer coating of a Tootsie Pop before biting into the center; or let a Life-Saver, or cough drop fully melt in our mouth without crunching on it.
Yes, we used cough drops as candy back then. Someone always seemed to have a box of Luden's, or Smith's Brothers Wild Cherry, or Licorice. Once, my friend Terry had a bag of candy he said his mother loved as a girl and he wanted us to try it. It was horehound drops, which I later found out people also used to use for irritated throats. I don't even remember what they tasted like except that they were way down on my list.
We also shared candy cigarettes and those wax bottles with the flavored sugar water inside and I thought they were okay, but my buddies also used to offer me things which I did not like and would never buy on my own. I never got into the Pez craze and I did not like the red hots, button candy - those dots on a paper strip - NECCO Wafers and whip licorice.
We also all chewed a lot of gum. My favorite was the pink bubble gum cigars, but someone always had sticks of Juicy Fruit, Blackjack, and Dentyne, which we all believed was actually good for us.
Not really a candy, but something we would ask out mothers for - they all carried it as a breath freshener - just because it was such an amazing taste was Sen-Sen. If you have never tried one, do so. You will remember it.
There were homemade candies as well. Now and then someone's mom or sister would try to make salt water taffy, or fudge. I still remember my sister dropping bits of melted chocolate into cold water to see if it formed a ball which meant it was done.
Plus there was seasonal candy like jelly beans (I love the black ones) hard Christmas candy, and at Easter those big chocolate eggs with a gummy interior that seemed to have nuts, or fruit, or something not identifiable in it. The whole family would attack that egg, but it still lasted for weeks until Mother would just throw away the last bit left in the refrigerator.
I rarely eat candy any more and I have not had a stick of gum in 46 years. But Halloween is coming and I will be buying a bunch of bags of candy and certainly the ravenous hordes of kids won't know if a small bar, or two, or three of Snickers is gone. They are small so there can't be that many calories in them. And I can brush and floss right away. Won't hurt I guess.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-17-2007 @ 2:57PM
Jeanne said...
My mother always made candy from scratch. Christmas is her favorite baking time. The humidity is low and everything seems to settle better she says. Homemade fudge and pralines were a big favorite. If I had to choose store bought candy it would be Russel Stover. They made a Cashew Patty that was delicious. Mint Dreams, Almond Crunch Toffee and Caramels were to die for. I'm talking in the past tense but they are still around, I just don't get them as much. I think the difference is although maybe the taste of candy hasen't changed it is just not as sweet for us at an older age. When you were younger you did't have to think about the things you would have to give up in order to indulge. And you knew you would be able to enjoy it again and again without worrying. Maybe we need a day where we all indulge and vow not to worry.(But we all know we still will)
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10-17-2007 @ 6:42PM
Bonnie said...
I remember my Mom..making every single thing from scratch..best one I enjoyed making with her is...Pulling taffy..what fun that was...
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10-27-2007 @ 9:18PM
Lynnie Sue said...
The orginal Willy Wonka Scrunch Bar was my favorite, they don't make it the way they used to, but I remember completing tons of househod chores for my mother just to have ones of those bars.
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10-28-2007 @ 9:27AM
anna said...
I like this blog. I am a kid.I like candy. [ps.my dad is too mean to buy me candy]
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10-28-2007 @ 2:53PM
robert guck said...
the skybar was my favorite with the four flavors coated in chocolate with breakaway sections.the clark bar is my other favorite.
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10-28-2007 @ 2:54PM
robert guck said...
The skyway bar was my favorite with the four different flavors coated in chocolate with breakaway sections
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10-29-2007 @ 1:18AM
Sarah said...
I'm able to find "Violet Crumble" occasionally. It just reminds me of burnt marshmellows. They are so good and if it sits open for a couple of hours, they're chewy rather than crisp.
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11-03-2007 @ 4:50PM
Dolores said...
I love Peeps marshmallow candy especially when they get a bit hard. I also like to chew Blackjack gum but it's hard to find
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12-12-2007 @ 3:12PM
Bozzy said...
What a delight to reminece over the days of "yore" candy ..Any remember juju beads or juju fruits ? Pre cursors of gummy bears/etc....and even can remember when Hersheys WAS all chocalate and no wax fillers...LOL. Was just in the process of searching about for the old recepie for Hershey cocoa fudge..used to be made from recipe on the tin the cocoa came in and was delish !!! Any remember in a pinch, taking marshmellows and turning THEM into a mini taffy pull ? Few of the versions of today when found taste as good as memory holds them...perhaps the tastebuds are just a bit worn out.
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1-29-2008 @ 10:03PM
linda said...
all these candies that everyone says are hard to find arent really. Go to your local dollar store, dollar general, dollar tree ect.. they carry all the "oldies" sky bar clark bars and ju ju fruits goo goo's. i'm only 21 so i dont know if its the "origional taste" but none is ever stale to me, so go find, ENJOY!!!!
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2-04-2008 @ 9:48AM
Elyse Ashman said...
I also remember sen-sens (loved them) also a piece of red licorice that was rolled up with a tiny candy bead in the center to look like a record and Boyer candies (smoothies,and mallow cups). So many more Ihad better stop I am starting to drool.
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2-06-2008 @ 1:29PM
Jan said...
Mallo Cups by Boyer.
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2-16-2008 @ 6:24PM
Brian said...
Has anyone here commented on the BUN candy bars. They are still around, but not as easy to find as they once were. They are available here in the Chicago area, but most likely you will find them at some of what remains of independent retailers, as the large chains tend to avoid anything not made by the Big Three(Nestle, Hershey, and Mars). I have been on a crusade for nearly three years to advance their availability, and have had limited success with it. I often like to refer to myself as Johnny Bunbarseed. There was a local convenience store chain in this area called White Hen, and several of their stores had them. But they were recently bought out by 7-11 and now don't carry them.
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5-05-2008 @ 12:12AM
B. said...
Some of my favorites were: Nestle Milk Chocolate, very good milk chocolate, wrapped in very thin foil. Gold Brick Chocolate bars in gold foil, Chunky ( Chunk A Chunk Of Chocolate), Sniggles (I think that's the spelling). These were made from caramel trips alternately joined with white nougat or some kind of thick marshmallow and they were formed like a flat square piece of candy with rounnded corners. About the size of a small candy bar. Yummy! AND Clark Bars and Butterfinger Bars and Baby Ruth Bars. Anything with a nougat or carmel center, covered with peanuts and wrapped in Chocolate! YUM
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11-03-2008 @ 6:23PM
Frank said...
Does anyone remember Ju Ju beads? I mean the ones in a box that were small and fruit flavored and shaped kind of like a tooth paste cap if I remember corectly. When you bit into them your teeth uppers and lowers could stick together. You could probably do like the guy in the old crazy glue commercial and stick one on a hard hat and to a beam and hold your weight up. Great for the dentist in that I'm sure they pulled many fillings out.
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