9 Nasty Truths About Your Favorite Foods
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Charles Krupa, AP
The revamped product is now using red beet juice, purple cabbage, cocoa powder, paprika and turmeric to replace the artificial ingredients that had been flavoring and coloring the wafers for years.
But not every wafer made the cut.
Of the eight original Necco wafers, lime did not get through the makeover. While the lime flavor could be created with natural ingredients, the color green itself was too hard to duplicate, so it was scrapped. However, it may return once the color code is cracked, according to brand manager, Aimee Scott.
So there are now seven flavors and colors: chocolate, lemon, orange, clove, wintergreen, cinnamon and licorice. The chocolate wafer, however, now comes in four varieties: dark, milk, mocha and white.
"The flavor is actually a little bit stronger in the new ones because they are all natural," Jackie Hague, Necco's vice president for marketing, told Slashfood. "And when you look at them, they're pastel and not as bright as they used to be."
So if longtime Necco eaters can get past the change in color, Hague thinks they won't be disappointed in the quality of taste.
Necco, an acronym for New England Confectionery Company, is the oldest multi-line candy company in the United States -- dating back to 1847. It is also famous for timeless confections like the Valentine's Day staple Sweethearts' Conversation Hearts or the peanut butter-and-molasses chews, Mary Jane.
[Via Associated Press]
SLIDESHOW: Tattoos That Go Way Beyond Your Average Tramp Stamp
Rodents Run Amok at Upstate New York Walmart
PHOTOS: Most And Least Christian States In America
America's 10 Highest-Paid CEOs of 2011 (and How They Earned It)
What Happened When Alex Kenjeev Paid His Student Loan in Cash
VIDEO, PHOTOS: Man Who Chewed Off Victim's Face ID'd
What's a Realistic Retirement Age?
Carrie Underwood's Grunge Rock Past: 'I Was All About Pearl Jam'
America's 10 Best National Parks
I'm A Successful Entrepreneur But Might Get Deported
Farmers Hit the Jackpot in Kansas Oil Boom
Yale Student Killed In Crash Days After Graduating
Mary J. Blige, Charity Lawsuit: Singer's Foundation Sued for Failing to Repay $250K Loan
Safeway Worker Stops Man From Beating Pregnant Woman, Gets Suspended
LOOK: Inside Honduras' Deadly Prisons
Editorial: Despite shaky 48 fps Hobbit preview, high frame rates will take off
PHOTOS: Nicole Scherzinger Almost Reveals Too Much
Will You Be My Facebook Friend? No.
'Cannibal' Attack: Naked Man Shot Dead In Miami 'As He Chewed Victim's Face' (VIDEO, PICTURES)
Eight-Year-Old Upset After Teacher Gave Her The Biggest 'Catastrophe' Award
NSFW PHOTOS: A Little Too Much Of A Rear View
VIDEO: 'The Guy Was Tearing Him To Pieces With His Mouth'
Boy Locked In Filthy Coal Bunker Every Night For A Year
Blood Found In Missing Girl's Bedroom
FREE FALLING
Another Deadly Northern Italian Earthquake
MSNBC Host Says He's 'Uncomfortable' Calling Soldiers Killed In Action 'Heroes'
PHOTOS: Americans Honor Troops On Memorial Day Weekend
Police Arrest Parents Of Six Children Killed In Derby House Fire
60 Recipes For Pie Lovers
Travel + Leisure: PHOTOS: America's Worst-Dressed People
NYPD May Search Landfill For Etan Patz's Body
1-04-2010 @10:19PM Cale said... I must admit, when i heard the news i was scared. scared for myself, scared for my children, scared for all of humanity. but the other day my mother bought me a several packs and after much crunching and munching, i have found it to be a change for the better.
pros: still the best candy around, seemingly healthier
cons: i'm color blind so i lighter color makes it harder for me to distinguish between flavors
also, i fear change and necco wafers are the only thing i can count on.
black licorice, clove, and whatever the white one was are the best
i dont even know who i am anymore but one things for sure: no matter what happens to necco wafers, i will still eat them. because at the end of the day i dont care how they taste or what their made out of, only that they're around.
thankyou
Reply
1-10-2010 @2:54AM KRisten said... Please tell me people are upset about the new sweetheart flavors!!! I ran from store to store looking for the originals and all I could find were the nasty new flavors. When I read online that they had changed flavors, I will be honest, I got a little teary eyed. NECCOS ARE THE BEST CANDY IN THE WORLD, AND THAT INCLUDES CANDY HEARTS!! I agree with the other statements...
Why fix something if it isn't broken???? All they have done is alienate their lifelong fans. Sad sad sad sad days.
Reply
1-18-2010 @4:27PM Phyllis said... My husband just bought me two packs of Necco Wafers. One pack is the old recipe and the other is the new recipe. I don't think Necco Wafers are my favorite candy anymore :-(
Reply
2-01-2010 @6:33PM QueenWiz said... The hardest thing for me is that I used to search through the display to find the rolls that appeared to have the greatest number of black (licorice). Now the licorice is almost white and blends in with the others. Upside - maybe now they'll make licorice hearts! Somehow a black heart never made it on Valentines Day. Although, on occasion, it was way appropriate. ; >))
Reply
2-09-2010 @6:43PM Teresa said... It is a sad day, indeed. I was aghast that one of my favorite candies is now a disgusting conglomeration of neutral colors and tasteless flavors. Who taught your company about marketing?? This is a product that has a long time, loyal customer... NOT ANY MORE!! Bring the old NECCO back!!!
Reply
3-14-2010 @8:57PM Jim said... Just bought my first pack of the new "improved" Necco's.
Just bought my last pack of the new "improved" Necco's.
Yuck!
Reply
4-01-2010 @11:51AM Duane Delaney said... I have eaten these things since I was a kid. The new flavors are awful. There is very little differentiation between one "flavor" and the other, and the overall impression is one of sameness. All of them now have a minty flavor and not a very good minty flavor at that.
One of the worst product reformulations ever. The fomulists should hide in shame.
No reason for naturally flavored licorice to taste like nothing.
Reply
4-10-2010 @6:00AM Jean said... Just bought two of the new. The opened one is in the trash. The unopened one is about to go there too. I don't care about the colors but the taste has changed. Horrible aftertaste and some flavors actually caused a burning sensation. And they don't taste sweet anymore. I also had some Sweethearts earlier this year, but I threw them in the trash too. I didn't know they were improved, I just thought something was terribly, terribly wrong with them.
Reply
4-28-2010 @7:37PM Mr. Bill said... A lot of reactionary comments abound here, and I would have been one of them. But after only seeing the new NECCOs on the local market over the past few months here in Northern California (I guess we're either behind the curve, or there were a lot of Original NECCOs still in wholesale warehouses) and not caring for the taste, I decided to do some of my own comparisons.
I have to admit, at first I thought it was just new packaging for a familiar product, but when I couldn't get the same taste I'd had for the past 55 years I realized something was dreadfully wrong. After comparing LOTS of both versions, and doing it blind with a friend helping me, I'm going to have to join the "Goodbye, NECCO... it's been a great past life" crowd. I don't care if the natural flavors are healthier... I bought NECCOs for the taste. The new ones just taste bland and like any other candy on the market now.
It won't last long, but I've been on a mission to all the small Mom & Pop stores to buy all the old rolls I can find and have scored pretty well so far. But I'll have to ration them...
I communicated with NECCO folks twice and their general response was, "Well, we've had good response to the change." As if they would say anything else :-) My only response is:
Remember New Coke.
Goodbye, NECCO.
Reply
4-30-2010 @1:29PM Chris Wright said... I am SO disappointed. I unknowingly bought a pack of these new NECCO Wafers at a Cracker Barrel and I could not finish them. Unfortunately, I will not be buying a roll of NECCOs anymore. :(
Reply
5-06-2010 @3:20AM T. Hart said... NO!!!! What have they done? I thought I had bought a counterfeit since these were so different than the classic. The packaginf and logos are off. The colors are off. The flavors are off. Even the Necco stampings on them were off. Not until I came here did I find that this desecration was DELIBERATE. They have ruined my favorite candy. Never liked the "chocolate" ones anyway, and now there are more of those than anything else in the tube. The flavors are muddled and indistinct., especially the licorice. Nasty taste and aftertaste. I defy the formulators to taste test the old verus new and honestly conclude that this new formula is same/better. I'm sad, really. I grew up with these and there was a comfort and a nostalgia that something I had known all my 55 years was still the same. Now somebody that doesn't give a damn thought of a new way to cut corners (all natural, my butt) and ruined an all-time favorite. I will be writing to Necco and will go back to the ____ Stores to buy up all the old rolls I can find, like the writer above. Sorrry, don't want to disclose where I bought my last originals. Oh - and at Valentines Day, I opened a package of the conversation hearts and guess what? They were soft and all tasted nearly the same. Went into the garbage. Those have been ruined (along with the simple fond stampings on each of them) as well. Improved? Hardly.
Reply
8-01-2010 @4:44PM Willy said... Geez, you had to go messing around with a successful product that's been on the market for over a hundred years. Do you remember what happened to the " new Coke"!
Reply
8-08-2010 @3:55PM scmarch said... I think the new flavors are terrible! I lived the previous much, much better. I will buy the chocolate but will never buy the new again (sigh).
Reply
8-15-2010 @3:20PM ken besancenez said... coke tried changing and remember what happened, I have eaten Necco wafers since I was a kid
they look and taste blah and you got stingy with the black ones
Reply
9-16-2010 @11:59PM Just Very Sad said... You have ruined Neccos and I suspect since no store in my region carries them any longer (they told me they did not sell) that your sales have plummeted. It is "New Coke" all over again, I suspect.
PLEASE PLEASE BRING BACK THE REAL NECCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply
4-06-2011 @9:09AM Sharon Buzard said... I agree. Necco wafers are the only candy I used to buy. I am in my sixties, and am so disappointed. The new kind were in the stores, and now no one carries them--hint, hint--they are horrible. I cannot imagine that the old ones won't be brought back. I cannot imagine how the company will stay in business unless they are exporting them to countries who never experienced the real ones. Also, the old ones with the nice colors were great for doing the roofs of Gingerbread Houses at Christmas time. I also did not see my local stores carrying the candy hearts at Valentine's day from Necco--they were all from other companies. Another happy memory from the past bites the dust! What kind of a degree in marketing did the "expert" who messed up our favorite candy have? Ha!
Reply