What is your favorite “Old People Candy”?

Butterscotch

Werther's or gum drops (orange slices are essentially the same thing in a slightly different form and single flavor).

Orange slices aren’t old people’s candy

This is old people’s candy

I love Werther's Originals

My grandparents always had ribbon candy, but it was always stale.

They also had these weird banana-flavored peanut candies, also always stale.

Mmmmm....

Circus Peanuts taste stale right out of the factory

I consider chocolate covered cherries to be old people candy.

R3 it became an art installation, as all the pieces fused together and you’d need a jackhammer to pry off a piece.

My grandmother used to love ribbon candy.

It used to be delicate and thin, and recently they’ve thicken it up (probably so it ships better) and it’s just another a hard candy now.

My grandfather used to eat horehound drops. He believed they had medicinal qualities.

My great-grandma had these around a lot.

Mary Janes

I love finding (the way Bart Simpson did with an old lady neighbor in an early season) all the elaborate hard candy stuck together in a better-than-a-Chihuly sculpture of brightness and color in a single lump.

The folded, striped "peppermint," the mysterious pillows with some kind a brown sugared nastiness, the dishonest red raspberry temptations.

"Look, but don't touch" was and is the rule!

Horehound = Death

Root Beer barrel candies.

Why, R10?

Do those chocolate-covered cherries bring back bad memories of your devirgining as a bottom by your grandpa?

I was fortunate. My grandmother liked Callard & Bowser's Butterscotch, which, unfortunately, the company stopped making so they could devote production to Altoids, which I loathe.

Good-quality lemon drops.

Gilliam and Hammond are good old-style American versions, but I'll take Cavendish & Harvey over all.

An English Mars Bar still calls to me from London after all these years.

Sugar Babies candy. Good with popcorn.

Old people know what's good.

FUDGE

Those barber's pole candy sticks in jars at old-timey 'Avonlea' general stores.

Maple Nut Goodies

Slowwww pokes. Yum

Loove circus peanuts especially the texture.

Those strawberry hard candies with the filling and come that strawberry wrapper. Love 'em to bits.

Those kween! Yas! And I like peppermint too.

Lead paint chips. Delicious.

R30 came here to say that! Do you remember what they were called? I think they also came in lemon and orange?

Also loved the stick candy and root beer barrels.

My great grandmother used to keep Tums in a candy dish in her bedroom, along with those pink wintergreen candies. I used to always go in there and eat a handful when she wasn't looking.

R27 They’re my mom’s favorite!

Sen-Sen, as in that Billy Joel song, and a lot of other culture references as per Wikipedia.

"Slowwww pokes. Yum"

I got a slow poke one time from my grandpa. And then he gave me some candy!

orange slices, gumdrops, jelly beans, chocolate eggs

Every year in my Easter basket

but no yellow marshmallow baby chicks

Stop calling me old!!! Get out of my house!!!!

Buttermints, nonpareils, and Andes creme de menthe

Bridge Mix with nigger toes (chocolate-covered Brazil nuts) as they were called in the south.

Choward’s Violet Mints is something my mother always talked about.

Teaberry seems to be a flavor that exists exclusively in the past. I haven’t seen Teaberry ice cream since the 70s.

Brach's Jelly Nougats. In the fall, my grandpa would mix candy corn and salted Spanish peanuts together. It is a salty/sweet combo, rather like a Payday, which I also love.

Mint Julep

Loved the chewy candy as a kid. You could even get it as an ice cream flavor at Bailey's Ice Cream in Boston way back when.

I was mixing up the strawberry drops (loved those, too) and these:

If you’re ever in the Gettysburg, PA area, this is a good spot to find a lot of these candies.

We gave my dad chocolate covered cherries for his birthday and Christmas. My favorite old fashioned candy is Junior Mints.

Those strawberry bonbons remind me of the candy that came with a Hickory Farms gift set (along with summer sausage, cheese ball rolled in nuts, etc.). I think the Hickory Farms candy was pineapple-flavored, though.

I used to love these even though they kind of tasted like violet-scented hairspray.

R43 - you beat me to it! I love that Old Time Candy site - so many memories. Yes, I'm an Elder.

OMG I loved these. I want some right now.

Circus Peanuts are the shittiest candy on the planet.

Many of the pre-1920s candies are amazing on that Old Time Candy site.

My grandfather always had a roll of spearmint Life Savers in his pocket. He'd give us one if we asked. Grandma always had a bowl of hard candy on the coffee table. No one ever touched it.

My father liked horehound drops and licorice. I like licorice but not horehound.

My mother grew up making fudge, divinity, and taffy, and we'd make it with her, too. I remember pulling the taffy and chanting "pull the taffy, pull the taffy, pull, pull, pull." Divinity was her favorite.

Sometimes she made English toffee, which I still love.

Humbugs!

Mini York Peppermint Patties. I love them, and I offered some to a woman at work, and she said "That's old people candy...My grandmother eats those."

My dad loved burnt peanuts!

For you R44!

R47- When I would go to my grandmother's house in the 1970's she would usually have these for us kids. The wrappers were almost as fun as the candy itself.

Coffee Nips, which sounds dirty.

R39- I would go to a shop called Chez Chocolate at the Galleria in the 1980's and into the early 1990's and they sold fruit slices- not the kind in the photo that someone posted but they were flat and had a rind and came also in lemon, lime, orange, cherry plus I would buy toffee covered in milk chocolate and roasted almonds- that store was kind of expensive but their quality was EXCELLENT so it was worth it.

These are the fruit slices I was referring to.

R53 Bullseyes are great.

Brach's Milk Maid Royals flavored caramels.

Bassett allsorts are my favorite

R47- OMG! Mom loved those and I like them too. Mom really loved those little chocolate ones, forgot the name but they just scream elder candy!!! Lolol. Anyone remember Aids-yes, really, diet chocolate aids supposedly to help with weight loss? I ate them like candy even though she would hide them from me. "Honey, that isn't candy, it is medicine." No, it's delicious!

That's why old people have sugar diabeetus.

Is your family Mormon, R13?

My mother heard that term in New England, R42.

I'm afraid this thread topic is for FAT WHORES.

R69- The strange thing is that hardly anyone was overweight back then. We were skinny! Riding bikes all day, Playing baseball, hunting and attacking each other in a game of War. Lol. We were hardcore for little children. But the food wasn't made with the poison like it is now. Food tasted so much better then.

I've always loved caramel, maybe even more than chocolate. There was a comeback, for a while, with the salted caramel. I liked those caramels shaped like Tootsie Rolls. Inside, it looked like a jelly roll.

How did that grandma coffee table candy not draw ants?

R72 This is so true. Kids just lay around like slugs now.

Sour balls-that's the kind of thing that Grandma would buy at Woolworths

The first time I smoked hash with a glass, I tasted the color purple from violet mints. It was during my clove cigarette phase.

My favorite CANDY was Smith Brothers Cough Drops at my local pharmacy in the 1970's ( before CVS sprouted like weeds) it was the tastiest candy ever. It's definitely a little old lady thing to eat even though I was neither a lady nor old at the time.

R61 the wrappers were so pretty!

I never liked these things but they are definitely old fashioned Grandma sweets.

The Vermont Country Store catalogue lists many of these Old People Candy and DL faves.

r78 On a similar note, I ate Luden's Wild Cherry cough drops like candy. They were delicious.

Sucrets cherry cough drops were tasty, too. Plus, they came in an "official" looking tin case. Made you feel like you were taking drugs.

In Provincetown the last time I was there on Commercial street there's a store that sells Old Fashioned Sweets. It's fun. There's a taffy store on the same street that sells only taffy-, that stuff is VERY old fashioned.

These had fun wrappers AND were fun to eat. They had a liquid center if I remember correctly.

Ex Lax. Delish.

Malted milk balls.

Spice Drops. Keep them in the freezer and they’re nice and chewy. (Same for orange slices and spearmint leaves.)

Charms

Necco Wafers

R83 The Sucrets tin was perfect for storing loose change or safety pins.

Hungarian Classic

A cavalcade of old fashioned chocolate bars

....

Reggie candy bar

R95- I bought those ca.1979. They were really good too.

REGGIE you taste pretty good.

Brach’s Milk Maid Royals. I think you can only get them online nowadays.

Another vote for butter mints.

Yeah, I still would eat butter mints.

Remember those Brach Pic-A-Mix stands in grocery stores? How many diseases do you think were breeding in there?

[quote] My great grandmother used to keep Tums in a candy dish in her bedroom, along with those pink wintergreen candies

Bitch do you mean Pepto Bismol?

R98- I believe diners would have those at the cash register and there was a bowl of them with a small spoon so you could scoop them up with out touching them with ones grubby fingers.

I love butter mints at Chinese restaurants at the cashier.

Where my Jews at?

Canada mints; green or red?

I also used to chow Whatchamacallit candy bars. I remember I used to pay 20 cents for a candy bar in the late '70s.

R104- I love nuts.com Halvah covered in chocolate with roasted almonds.

R106- I don't know where you lived but in 1978 I was paying 25 cents for a snickers bar or milky way.

[quote]Circus Peanuts are the shittiest candy on the planet.

R54, IMO, that award goes to Necco Wafers. (Sorry, R90.)

My own favorite of 'Old Peoples' Candies' would be Atkinson's Peanut Butter Bars (pictured at link).

Shriver's salt-water taffy from Jersey and Vanilla Creme Drops.

Urine mints.

Candy (e.g., Milky Way, $100,000 bar) was amazingly cheap when I was little. I lived in a new-ish suburb. New stores would open up, compete, and I think candy was considered the loss leader. (Trying to get kids and, ultimately, parents into the stores.)

Papa Suckers before they were Sugar Daddy’s. Loved these back in the 40s when I was a teen.

That market in Grand Central Terminal sells very good halvah.

I also love Neccos and the Reggie Bar.

Anyone else remember the Chocolite bar?

Before someone chimes in by claiming Mary Jane's are like concrete, that's only if they are stale (which is common and probably because they have a shitty shelf life). They are amazing peanut butter taffy with peanut butter in the middle when fresh. If you can't bend it, don't buy it. Same for charleston chews.

R102 some diners in NJ still have those at the counter. They're so good!

R110 Jersey Shore boy??

[quote]What is your favorite “Old People Candy”?

Soylent Green. It's the only one that actually contains real old people.

I used to love Sugar Daddies. Now I could BE one.

Boiled sweets like Rhubarb Custards or Ginger Creams

Most of this stuff was old fashioned when I was a kid--decades ago. Much of it was awful then and probably more so now.

Necco Wafers were my dad's favorite.

I love Neccos - the variety of flavors is so random. I think they’re orange, lemon, chocolate, wintergreen, and clove. The clove flavor is my favorite!

Necco Wafers have been around since 1847. Somebody must be eating them.

Fuck every single last one of you talking shit about circus peanuts. I'm going to buy a bag right now.

Krackel candy bars, my favorite Halloween candy, circa 1975-1985.

My dad was old, bitter, diabetic, and demented.

I could either let him devour a bag of sugarfree candy leaving him bitchy and gassy him gassy or I could give him SIX Maryjane candies and he'd happily refold the wrappers and stack them neatly on the table. Spoiled ass brat

Mr. Goodbar gets no respect.

They didn't have so much sugar in them, in the olden days.

Now the candy is stuffed with easily digestible sugars.

R126, how are you still alive?

R130, da fuk?

r126 Krackel is the poor man's Nestlé's Crunch.

Why has you pancreas not exploded, followed quickly by your liver?

Krackel had nuts, I thought. Nestle’s Crunch had Rice Krispies.

Mr. Goodbar has nuts. Krackel has krispies.

Adults refused to buy me 3 musketeer because the bar used to have strawberry and vanilla.

I still liked the chocolate version - better than milkyway.

Those pastel valentine hearts. The ones with "I Love You" and other sweet messages printed on them.

A real OLD FASHIONED type of chocolates are a big box of Whitman's Sampler.

Butterscotch wrapped hard candy.

Love this thread!

I lost teeth eating Peanut Brittle..

Peanut brittle is pretty easy to make at home.

[quote] The Sucrets tin was perfect for storing loose change or safety pins.

Or Quaaludes

One morning many years ago I was waiting at a bus stop in Boston and realized I was in front of a NECCO factory. It was genuinely thrilling.

In the mid 1970's my parents traveled to Hershey Pennsylvania. They told me that the WHOLE town smelled like chocolate and that in their hotel they would leave two bars of chocolate on their bed every night. They did not take me on this trip , so I was

JEALOUS.

They didn't take you because you're a Fat Whore. 😢

Does anyone remember the name of the candy factory that Jeff Dalmer worked at? Never ate any of their candy ever again. Yikes 😬!

Dean Corll also worked in a candy factory!

R145- I am a FAT WHORE now but in 1975 I was a petite gayling.

I remember that Brach’s Bridge Mix. The chocolate tasted like wax. So many of the pieces were shitty. I think you’d get a peanut which was ok.

I buy Bullseyes and Bit-o-honey at the Walgreens at the end of my block. Happiness.

Gumdrops

Caramel squares

R 147- Let's not forget that Lucy and Ethel worked in a chocolate factory until that mean LESBIAN fired them.

I am still a Sweet Tart and Spree girl. I remember when you could get those soft mints, the round ones the doctors offices used to have in a jar, in the before time. Old fashion made fudge! Now it tastes like plastic, sigh.

R153- In the 1970's after I was a examined by my pediatrician I could take ONE lollipop from the wooden lollipop box at the entrance. There were those full size Charms lollipops.

I was a child and we would be at the amusement park. They was always a kiosk that sold those GIANT multicolored lollipops- they looked so beautiful to this young gay boy.

I could eat York Peppermint Patties until I die, lol. I used to work for a doctor and he kept a candy jar full of them! Oh, dear! I ate those things all day, fuck the patients getting some of them. Yes, I was a fat, selfish whore!

[quote] Does anyone remember the name of the candy factory that Jeff Dalmer worked at? Never ate any of their candy ever again. Yikes 😬!

In January 1985, Dahmer was hired as a mixer at the Milwaukee Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, where he worked from 11 p.m to 7 a.m. six nights per week, with Saturday evenings off.

Think of all the guys he didn't kill by working 6 nights a week.

OMG this is so sick.

Still made in Brooklyn....

Mayor Pete's favorite, South Bend's own Chocolate Charlie.

R157- Thank you, you sweet, wicked thing! 😘

Aww. Sweet OP.

R159- I feel guilty because I laughed. 😣 Then became nauseous.

R3, that generation is long gone.

Am I the first to say Good & Plenty?!

R1: Butterscotch. It is as addictive as crack! 😜

My favorite is caramel creams, preferably packaged thusly…

Just look at the price , 😧!

Great thread, OP!! Thank you! I love candy, the candy we grew up eating. Thanks to everyone for the links.

Life Savers FANCY FRUITS

Whitman's Sampler

Ayds

R170- OMG! Love them! Woodstock candy, from the year I was born.

Bonomo taffy

Mike& Ike!

Lindsey Graham's personal mantra:

OPEN WIDE FOR CHUNKY

Orange slices are anything but old people candy… it’s pure sweetness. They don’t eat that.

Ice cubes

My great-aunt used to have Good n Plenty in her house sometimes. It was the only candy they ever brought, so I liked to eat them for their candy coating, but would ultimately spit the licorice wad out in the trash when it became too chewy.

This thread reminds me of the play 'nIght, Mother. The character of Thelma (a chatty, rather clueless old lady) has a rather ridiculous love of candy and sweets. Gross sweets. She likes snowball cupcakes and peanut brittle...ugh. Her daughter Jessie intends to commit suicide, but before she does she intends to take care of some household tasks first. She refills the candy jars and tells Thelma about the whereabouts of some of her treats: "See where all this is? Red hots up front, sour balls and horehound mixed together in this one sack. New packages of toffee and licorice right in back there>" Red hots and sourballs and horehound and licorice? No wonder Jessie wants to commit suicide, having to live with a blabbering old lady who's always munching on dreadful confections.

I only like old people candy made of actual old people.

Liver Spots. I'm a Liver Spots junkie!

I apologize if some already mentioned the diet candy, Ayd. My mother kept them on hand to help her diet. If I was craving candy and there was none in the house I would sneak a few. They were pretty gross and faded away after AIDS happened.

Good And Fruity

Canadian here, with a British mother and grandmother. The ‘old people candy’ in our household tended to be British sweets — liquorice allsorts, caramel mints, fruit pastilles, wine gums. We kids would go on reconnaissance missions to raid my mother’s hoard of British candy. I feel a bit guilty now — it was her pleasure, her tie to her girlhood in Scotland. We were just greedy kids.

Oh well, I know she forgave us.

[quote]I remember that Brach’s Bridge Mix. The chocolate tasted like wax. So many of the pieces were shitty. I think you’d get a peanut which was ok.

See's bridge mix is delicious.

I used to love Licorice Snaps … bits of black licorice coated in pastel coating with a weird medicinal taste.

They are hard to find now.

I never knew what I always called "Diner Mints" as a kid were actually called "Buttermints" until this thread.

Pop rocks

My dad always had Starlight mints on the coffee table. I remember absentmindedly sorting them out after he died. His death was unexpected and we were all in shock.

Black licorice. Allsorts are good as is salty licorice as well.

Also found candy wrappers in Dad's shirt pocket after he died and I broke down.

Nestle bars

Horehound. The best!!!

Jujyfruits

Circus peanuts (or penis)

Starlight Mints are my "Old people candy" I love sucking on them while drinking Dt. Pepsi.

Fun Dip. Lik-a-Stix. Pure sugar. Yum!

My grandmother was serious about her candy. No cheap stuff. She had butter mints in her candy dish. Not the ones you find in cheap diners, but the creamy ones. You want to get sick real fast? Eat a candy dish full of buttermints.

Around 1986 Hershey came out with chocolate bar called Hershey's Golden Bar, it was thick with roasted almonds and wrapped in gold foil. I really liked it back then.

I liked ZOTZ as a kid in the 1970's. They were fruit flavored with a liquid filling.

I wonder if that doctor who kept Peppermint Patties for his patients was so their breath would be a bit more bearable, I’m sure many of them it wasn’t and he had to be right up in their faces.

Jesus, old people don’t eat pop rocks or mikeNIkes

R144 The Hershey bars on the pillow was a signature of the Hershey Hotel, but what your mom failed to mention were all the chocolate themed spa treatments one can enjoy.

I want to drown myself in bridge mix right now. I love it, and haven't had it in years.

Trader Joe's sells a GIANT 17.6 ounce Milk Chocolate Bar With Almonds. I bought it for MYSELF a few months ago. I haven't eaten it yet. It's in my freezer.

I forget if it was a Broadway show or movie, and I definitely think it was a musical, but they used the pallet of colors in Necco Wafers as the inspiration for the set design. Does anyone recall this, it was a period piece, maybe Hairspray? I thought that was a brilliant idea to instantly tap into nostalgia.

R205- Go right to your computer to the sees.com site and order their bridge mix. It's VERY good.

Nonpareils.

Goobers

Sugar Sluts

R207 Well I pulled that one out of my ass, and I never even saw the show, but I must have read this article.

[quote] The Sucrets tin was perfect for storing loose change or safety pins.

In the 70s, joints

Has anyone tried Hershey's Krackel lately? It tastes nothing like it used to.

[quote] Krackel had nuts, I thought. Nestle’s Crunch had Rice Krispies.

[quote] Mr Goodbar

I bought a bag of assorted chocolates with these candies in it and everything tasted the same. Corn syrup. No chocolate taste, no taste of nuts…just corn syrup bombs

Good n Plenty. I like the white ones.

GoodnPlenty GoodnPlenty GoodnPlenty…woo woo!

[quote] but they used the pallet of colors in Necco Wafers

Oh, dear.

Palette

Palate

Pallet

All of them mean different things.

I am sick today. It’s been horribly hot & humid. I go out, do some yard work, come in sweating & the only think that cools me down is ice pops. Well, I had an icepop. Came back in an hour later, had another. Still felt hot so I ate another.

I was suddenly stricken with horrible cramps and farted some disgusting smelling gas. Diarrhea. The ice pops are sugar free. I assumed they had aspartame in them. No. Sorbitol. Diarrhea all night and I’m still sick more than 24 hours later. Dizziness is pretty bad. Trying to rehydrate..

Stay away from sugar free candy

Junior Mints

Is it true that Junior Mints used to “date” Sugar Daddy?

[quote]Papa Suckers before they were Sugar Daddy’s. Loved these back in the 40s when I was a teen.

May I ask how old you are?

[quote]I was suddenly stricken with horrible cramps and farted some disgusting smelling gas. Diarrhea.

R218 I hope you didn’t have anyone rimming you that day!😳

Now and Later. Chewy candy, multiple flavors, guaranteed to get stuck in your teeth and/or ruin dental work.

I love sucking on sugar daddies

Nestor has some tasty Jujubees.

[quote] Is it true that Junior Mints used to “date” Sugar Daddy?

Possibly. But Sugar Daddy was "dating" the Sugar Babies as well.

Candy cigarettes were great, they had real brands' names on the boxes too.

I would always buy these from the candy truck that came through the neighborhood each day:

I used to smoke my gum cigarettes and pop Horlicks "pills" to relax after school.

When you look back on it, it does seem like a trick to get kids acclimated to smoking and taking drugs.

Brachs made the BEST French burnt peanuts. Crunchy, not chewy with perfect sweetness. I was devastated when they discontinued them and have never found another brand even close.

R215 You guys need to read the ingredients first.

In Mr. Goodbar, most of the cocoa butter has been replaced with various vegetable oils. That's why eating the thing is now akin to eating peanut-laced Crisco. And just as tasty.

IIRC, Krackel and Mr. Goodbar were never that good. IMO.

Werther's, Swedish Fish, Boston Baked Beans

This thread is making my teeth hurt. I can't imagine eating most of the items posted.

Jujubes

Red Hot Dollars

Bit O Honey for the win.

All the old people candy I could think of has been mentioned so I’m going to just start mentioning more retro candy from childhood. Big league Chew, bonkers gum, push pops, candy buttons, nerds, hot tamales, freshens gum, Astro pops, chicklets, chocolate coins, hubba bubba, bazooka gum, wax bottles, strawberry mentos

Sees Chocolates kick Russel Stovers ass.

Growing up the old people around me liked Jordan Almonds (or as the Italians call them "confetti") and Torrone on a regular basis. I disliked both and still do.

On holidays and special occasions, the adults liked Baci Perugina or Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Those I did like especially the baci and as I recall were hazelnut. Haven't had them in decades, I'll have to hunt some down this holiday season.

R238 I also loathe Jordan Almonds, and have bad memories of them being foisted upon me at every one of the countless big Italian weddings that I had to endure as a child.

When I was a kid ca. 1975 I loved Starburst Fruit Chews.

When I was a kid when we were dropped off at the movies, we go into the stationery store next door to get candy. We weren't going to pay theaters prices for candy. Everyone would get the usual suspects but I always got Ice Blue Mints. They came in a can with a pop top. They cleared you sinuses real good.

R241- In the winter my mother would make popcorn for my brother and I - we would sneak the popcorn in our winter jackets into the theater.

r239

Same here with the endless supply of jordan almonds party favors from every Italian wedding, baptism, communion, confirmation, graduation, shower. My nonna never ran out of them.

R243- Jordan Almonds were definitely overrated.

R243 Not unlike Candy Spelling and her wrapping room, Nonna had a secret room in her house filled to the brim with Jordan Almonds, always at the ready for any special occasion.

Cracker Jacks!

[quote] I was devastated when they discontinued them and have never found another brand even close.

MARY!

I love Jordan almonds, but I don't eat them anymore. I've broken dental work or teeth several times when chewing them.

Chocolate covered macadamia not clusyers

My grandmother would always have a bowl of these pink peppermint candies lying around.

Bit-O-Honey goes

a long, long way.

When in NYC, visit Economy Candy. It’s a small Lower East Side store crammed wall to wall with candy.

Unfortunately, all the frau tourists have found out about it and, even though it’s not convenient to get to, they haul their Honey Trap Boo Boos down there.

Those big buckets of popcorn you used to get at the cinema, and probably still do. It was known that some guys poked a whole in the bottom of the cardboard bucket to stick their hard young cock through as a surprise for their girlfriends. I have often wondered if the dirty old men who used to frequent the Saturday kids morning cinema did the same.

Wacky Packages

b.a.sweetie, a warehouse store in Cleveland is another source for nostalgic candies.

How about some Almond Roca?

Bun bars haven't been mentioned--vanilla or maple with peanuts and chocolate.

Don't forget Mallo cups, which seem to be making a comeback and entering markets like DC. The same company makes Clark bars.

[quote] Bun bars haven't been mentioned--

R257, I have to laugh that the wrapper says “Gluten Free”.

you can find all of these, especially during the holidays, at the Vermont Country store (brick and mortar and online, and catalogue). I like the catalogue - one of the owner/models is hawt.

R20: Here's the interesting, and in your case sad, story of Callard & Bowser, founded 1779 in Scotland, owned by a Guinness co in Dublin 1950-1980s, and purchased by successive American conglomerates from the 1990s. Their selection of English Toffees was discontinued 2001-2003.

R253 I don't know about you, but this one's eating my popcorn.

Remember candy necklaces and Astro pops? I loved those.

Also, I used to buy those stupid colorful tiny hard candies pasted on a roll of paper…and always ended up eating some paper.

Brach's Milk Made Royals...My grandmother always had those on hand, and I loved them.

My parents seemed to think that putting me in the hands of a babysitter was the devil's own work, so it was a rare thing indeed when my mother put me ion the charge of her "friend" one summer day about the time I had started school. The woman had a name my mother had never mentioned, was 99 or something, spry and mean, and lived in a small two-story Edwardian house, neat as a fucking pin. She was balls deep in the semi-annual process of cleaning the Venetian blinds, an absorbing process that left her no time to truck with children so I was sat on a sofa and left to watch TV, my mother whispering in my ear: "don't bother her, just stay on the sofa, read your book or watch TV, don't change the channel, and don't touch that candy — it could be as old as she is."

So I spent a morning and part of an afternoon contemplating a milk glass bowl of ancient ribbon candy, so old it wasn't even the least sticky (I touched it.) I had tried it once as a little kid and someone told me, "Yeah, it's the candy you hang on trees; it's not fit to eat."

Remember Little House oh the Prairie/ Laura and Mary would come in with a penny, and that whore Nellie refused to sell them the good candy.

[quote] one of the owner/models is hawt.

ONE?? I wouldn’t kick Cabot, Eliot or Gardner out of bed. Having all three, I would die a happy man! All three hit the gene pool lottery.

I love Dinglebearies

What about that old times candy Toot Sweets, the musical candies that whistles, the whistle you eat?

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Bit O' Honey

Milkshake Candy Bars

I got Mallo Cups at a vintage candy store a number of years ago and they just weren't (or didn't seem the same). The coconut filling was just not satisfying. I didn't remember them being dark chocolate, either.

Fizzies!!!!

R272, do you remember the kid from the Life Cereal commercial?

One time, his brother fed him an entire packet of Fizzies and a Coke, and then pushed him down a hill.

He exploded from the pressure. The company paid to cover it up.

R257, I like big buns and I cannot lie

Saltwater taffy

Laffy Taffy

I love taffy, especially banana flavored. I can’t eat bananas,

I love chocolate covered cherries and spiced gum drops, call me old

Necco Wafers

Salt Water Taffy

Life Savers

Raisinettes

Look and Big Hunk were favorites for the movies because they cost less than the more traditional candy bars (in the '50s/'60s.) I remember when Hershey bars went from a nickel to a dime.

Toasted Coconut Marshmallows

Abba Zabba. They were impossible to get off your teeth but they were so good.

My uncle loved these Christmas candies, but only the spiced ones. They became difficult to find.

Black Jack Gum

Licorice Babies

Jane Parker Spanish Bar Cake

B B Bats

These were "penny candy" back in the day.

Darfur Orphan, where the hell did *you* get old people candy or *any* candy??! From your Save the Children sponsor???!

Snow Caps

Goobers

Darfur Orphan, I hate to be the one to tell you, but those things you were told were "licorice babies" are actually dead flies.

Mallo cups come in dark and milk chocolate.

Can we chip in to send some Mallo Cups to Darfur Orphan?

🤣 I'm touched by your concern and caring.

My job as a Covid Tracer is booming, working 6-7 days per week. I've discovered the joy of online shopping, and just bought my first pair of New Balance Fresh Foam Running Shoes. I ❤️ ebay !

The Vermont Country Store is a bit pricey for my taste, but I splurged and bought some treats for myself. And I just ordered some mesh polo shirts and shorts from Lands End.

I'm doing just fine, and send my love.

Pillow mints were the other little pastel colored candies, but without the greasy feel of butter mints. My spinster aunt used to mix them with Spanish peanuts and raisins, and serve them to us in little paper cups. Salty, sweet and we thought so elegant!

Candy corn has been around since the 1880's, and was originally called chicken feed.

Mix that with salted peanuts, and it tastes like a Payday candy bar.

Candy is dandy, but it's 89°today, and I need a 5quart bucket of orange sherbet.

[quote] Candy corn has been around since the 1880's, and was originally called chicken feed. Mix that with salted peanuts, and it tastes like a Payday candy bar.

I recently tried a recipe for faux Butterfingers that consisted of melting candy corn with peanut butter and chopped peanuts, then coating the result in milk chocolate. It was truly awful.

All of the above.

Everlasting Gobstoppers

Lemon Heads

R283 Yeah, ribbon candy, I think they called it. My mother always had it in her little tabletop sleigh at Christmas. Seems like people only looked at it but never ate it.

Jaw Breakers

I loved candy corn and “Autumn Mix,” which has the brown-ended candy corn and the mallo pumpkins.

R301- I was just in my CVS today to pick up a prescription and they had TONS of Candy corn on display and HUGE bags of various types of chocolate bars - for Halloween.

Butter toffee peanuts. Sears had the best. Hard on the teeth as you get older, though.

Can anyone point to a web site where they sell "good" candy corn - made with real butter, honey, and other high quality ingredients, not corn syrup. Brachs used to be good, but they changed their recipe. I know that some smaller confectioners shops nmake it and sell it on line, but I need verification of its spongeworthyness.

Mary Janes are simply delish!

Isn't "high-quality candy corn" a contradiction? I always thought that cheap waxy taste of the stuff was part of its charm. Candy for slumming by.

[quote] I always thought that cheap waxy taste of the stuff was part of its charm.

Once you've had really good candy Corn R306, you can never go back. There was a shop in NYC on Christopher Street across from the Theatre De Lys that sold "real" candy corn at Halloween. It was expensive but absolutely delicious.

Shaking my head at people posting about Stsrbursts and Pop Rocks.

That’s merely candy you ate when you were young - not “old people candy”

PS - classic Hollywood does not mean the 1980s.

Well, it sort of evolved into “candy you loved as a kid.”

[quote]I got Mallo Cups at a vintage candy store a number of years ago and they just weren't (or didn't seem the same). The coconut filling was just not satisfying. I didn't remember them being dark chocolate, either.

That's because hardly any candy, including "vintage" brands today are not made with sugar and sorry manufacturers substituting high-fructose corn syrup does not taste the same.

R320 same with Coke. If you want the great taste you remember, buy Mexican Coke, which is still made from real sugar.

R310, I mean.

[R177] Orange slices are “old people” candy. My dad’s favorite candy and I’m going to be 62 next month.

If you enjoy this thread you'll probably also enjoy "Candyfreak," in which the author -- one appropriately named Steve Almond -- takes a roadtrip to visit small old-fashioned candy factories around the country. Published 2004, so some of those factories may have disappeared by now.

My grandparents always came with us on every vacation (road trips only back then). My grandma had a purse full of individually wrapped butterscotch and would always have one and give each of us one after we came out of the restroom. For some reason my grandpa always filmed us doing that with his 8mm camera, so our vacation tapes always included 4 or 5 rest stops with grandma handing out butterscotch as we were leaving the restroom.

[quote] One morning many years ago I was waiting at a bus stop in Boston and realized I was in front of a NECCO factory. It was genuinely thrilling.

That Moderne style NECCO building in Cambridge is now occupied by a big pharma company, and its water tower that was painted to resemble a roll of NECCO wafers is now painted in a DNA helix pattern. The main factory out in Revere is now an Amazon delivery center. NECCO was the oldest candy company in the US when it succumbed in 2018 to venture capitalists who sold off the real estate and the candy brands. NECCO wafers are now made in Mexico.

Starlight Mints were another standard favorite of old women everywhere.

My favorite candy was jelly beans. But they are not nearly as good as when I was a kid. I guess it's that high fructose corn syrup.

NECCO wafers are now made in Ohio by Spangler, a company that makes hard candies of varying kinds.

I love Jordan almonds but am always afraid they’ll bust my teeth.

Do you remember the coconut bars that were pink, white and brown? They were a family favorite.

My dear grandmother would fill a candy dish with M&Ms before we would visit and her hapless cleaning lady would spray them down with lemon Pledge when she went to dust the table. I leaned early to dig past the top layer.

We always had lemon drops in the glove compartment for long drives.

Milk Duds, loved them as a kid, but my braces on my teeth, not so much

Sour balls hard candies (individually wrapped, different colors / flavors). Those are probably the precursor to sour gum candies.

"Dutch Treats" or "Peanut Butter Pillows" - hard candy on the outside, peanut butter on the inside. Accept no substitutes! the only hard candy that isn't repulsive.

[quote] Do you remember the coconut bars that were pink, white and brown? They were a family favorite.

Yes. Loved 'em.

Haw Flakes. My neighbors were Chinese and would often bring these back (along with a ton of other candies) whenever they travelled to China to visit family. Another favorite were White Rabbit candy - they're similar to Tootsie Rolls sans the chocolate flavoring. They're white and taste like sweetened milk.

Well considering this is DL all these favorites are genuinely "old people candy."

I bought a roll of the new NECCO wafers R319. The label says "manufactured for Spangler … made in Mexico."

Jelly Belly jellybeans are awesome.

That was one thing Ronnie was right about.

Wow, how many of us sat in an old person's home just staring at the candy dish, waiting to be invited to have some. And usually only one!

Speaking of Jelly Belly, someone upthread was asking about "good" candy corn.

Jelly Belly makes candy corn and it might be worth a try.

The Jelly Belly factory/headquarters is near my hometown. Yes, you can take a tour there...with lots of free samples. 🌰

I love these -- and the tins make nice containers for paper clips and the like.

There were also Tissot candies that came in a tin.

Mfffff? I smell sex and candy...here.

[quote] Cracker Jacks

A couple of years ago, I bought a box of Cracker Jack just on a nostalgic whim. It was about $2, which I thought at the time was more expensive than when I was a kid, even accounting for inflation. I was very disappointed.

The popcorn was stale and puny. There was many be one peanut in the whole box. And, you know what the prize was? A sticker! A fucking sticker!

R336 It’s very hard to choke on a sticker, not impossible, but very hard.

R336-In the 1990's I would go to my A&P and buy Poppycock. It was such good quality back then- roasted almonds and pecans with the coated popcorn - YUM. I bought it again many years later. The company had been sold. It tasted like CRAP and it had very few nuts.

R336. maybe if more moronic children had choked on toys over the years, America wouldn't be in the shape it is today.

[quote] It’s very hard to choke on a sticker, not impossible, but very hard.

There isn't anything that somebody won't try to put in their mouth.

[quote]The company had been sold. It tasted like CRAP and it had very few nuts.

To be fair, you probably have fewer "nuts" than you used to when you were younger too.

In the 1970s, I used to eat Fiddle Faddle while watching my cartoons (Speed Buggy, Laff-A-Lympics, Underdog, Banana Splits, etc.).

R340 Now there’s a DL catch phrase if ever I heard one!

Lot of low-end candy here, but let us pay homage to something high-end and deliciously unforgettable, Lanzi's Cashew Nut and Rice Crunch. As Chicago as the Cubs.

There's been an attempt to revive the candy in recent years. Has anyone tried it?

[quote]the tins make nice containers for paper clips and the like.

A very Data Lounge sentence and concern.

I keep passing this threat by, but that picture of orange slices REALLY makes me want to eat orange slices.

318- I used to be SO impressed by Jelly Belly jelly beans but I yearn for the type of jelly beans that were common in 1978. Sees sells those larger 1970's style jelly beans. They're expensive but EXCELLENT quality. I have a bag of them in my refrigerator.

R318- I forgot to put the R in.

Charms Blow Pops

[quote] Lot of low-end candy here, but let us pay homage to something high-end and deliciously unforgettable, Lanzi's Cashew Nut and Rice Crunch. As Chicago as the Cubs.

Nothing that ever came from Chicago was high-end.

Tootsie pops- especially the cherry flavored one.

A fucking stickr.

His cock was stale and punt.

R320 Wow, that's a dumb cleaning lady!

Not sure it counts as "old people candy" but Mom and I used to love the pecan nut log. We preferred the ones with the maple fudge inside, not the ones with chocolate or vanilla cream. Looks like Russell Stover makes them.

Now and Later and some other candies like Mary Janes can be found at Five Below stores. The banana Now and Later candies are extremely sweet and banana-y. You can also find BB Bats. I have a chocolate BB Bat and a few Banana N&Ls in my drawer.

R355 Wow, $52.80 for a 1.75 oz. Russell Stover pecan roll. I thought Russell Stover made that cheapish stuff (not that I'm knocking it) you see lots of in Walgreens in the run-up to Valentine's Day, etc., but their quality must have really improved.

^^ That's $52.80 for a 40 count case, not a single roll (unit), which is $1.32 if you had read it just a little more thoroughly.

R58 Peppermint Patties are the only Hershey's chocolate worth eating. I love them. I love Junior Mints as well, nut I don't consider them "old people candy".

Karen C. @R86 Just be sure not to enjoy that Ex-Lax too often!

My mother's favorite were the raspberry hard candies, with soft centers. I love them too. But they're ALWAYS outrageously overpriced, for seemingly no reason at all.

[quote]I love Junior Mints as well, nut I don't consider them "old people candy".

Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint, it's delicious. It's very refreshing.

Brachs nougats with jellied fruit, rectangular blocks of sugar with bits of colored fruit. Beautiful candies, almost pure sugar.

The pecan roll! I had forgotten how good that was.

[quote] "Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint, it's delicious. It's very refreshing."

R359 I've known a surprising number of people who find the mint and chocolate combination repulsive. Especially where Junior Mints & Peppermint Patties are concerned, it's often compared to "chocolate with toothpaste". More for us, I guess!

Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints are also fantastic. And it doesn't look like much, but they found the perfect amount of crunch to add to every mint.

R357 Oh, you're quite right. It never occurred to me that anyone would want a case of them.

R362 Obviously doesn’t watch sitcoms.

[quote]What is your favorite “Old People Candy”?

Quit stealing my lines.

Brach's Maple Nut Goodies.

Lost a few fillings eating those, but they are so good!

My LEAST favorite old person Candy.

Sunkist Fruit Slices and Spearmint Leaves were always plentiful in our house growing up.

We also had a five pound box of Zachary's Assortment of "Premium" Chocolates on the coffee table every Christmas.

🤗 Great thread OP !

Lots of fun, and lots of good memories.

Yes, R364. I'm well aware of the reference. It's only one of the most talked about "Seinfeld" moments. That being said, it's never been one of my favorite episodes.

Red Hots

In the late 19th century on Coney Island hot dogs were called RED HOTS.

Whatever Maude had in her purse at the time.

Toffifay- It's too good for kids. Toffifay it's made for grownups only.

R372- Whatever Maude had in her purse at the time.

Not a candy but, as a kid, I loved Fruit Stripe Gum. Talk about pure sugar! They lost flavor by the time you got the gum to a chewable consistency. So you tossed that piece and got another. That pack didn't last an hour!

Since when is gum not a Candy?

I LOVED fruit flavored Chicklets as a kid.

Fruit Stripe tasted so good and the pale stripes on the gum were cool. If only the flavor could’ve lasted more than a few seconds.

R263 I remember liking them because they were just a few cents each and you got a large strip for the price. As kid it was all about quantity, not quality.

Speaking of quantity, cotton candy ruled. My eyes bulged at the size of it on a stick when I had it for the first time at a carnival. Of course, I didn't know that it was virtually all air.

[quote] My eyes bulged at the size of it

So even as a little kid, you were a size queen?

My great-grandmother used to have these Dutch coffee candies--they were the only "old lady" candy that I liked.

🎶 Yipes Stripes Beech Nuts Got 'Em

Yipes Stipes Fruit Stripe Gum

It Comes In Five Different Flavors

Yipes Stripes Fruit Strip Gum !

R373 Toffifay -- which isn't much of an old people's candy since it was first made in 1973 -- is something of a novelty in America because it's made with hazelnuts. Common as they are in European candy, I can't off-hand think of another candy sold in America with them.

Many things from childhood taste gross to me as an adult, but NOT cotton candy! I rarely have an opportunity to have it but when I do, it’s as good as I remembered.

[quote]Common as they are in European candy, I can't off-hand think of another candy sold in America with them.

***Ahem***

[quote] Common as they are in European candy, I can't off-hand think of another candy sold in America with them.

Just about every box of assorted chocolates have hazelnut fill chocolates in them.

The candy shops in Buenos Aires are fantastic. They offer a huge selection of wrapped and unwrapped treats - most of which would easily qualify as "old people candy".

Pectin jelly beans. If you're lucky, you might find them at your local candy maker's shop.

R388- Sees jelly beans are PECTIN. They are EXPENSIVE but especially tasty jelly beans.

Fuck, now I want Jelly Beans.

Fat whores, rejoice! Creme Savers are coming back!

Oh god, I’m Gummi Bears.

Chuckles, Root Beer Barrels

Because of this thread I bought orange slices, enjoyed a couple and then put them in the freezer as recommended upthread.

Well, I never! After all I've done for you people!

Goetze's Caramel Creams Bulls Eyes.

When I was in the first grade, the pastor of our church, Father Alexander, used to visit our class taught by Sister Constantine and bring these candies to us. It was always such a treat.

Regal Crown Sours long before wimpy Sour Patch Kids

R395 Will Ayds diet candy cause serious intestinal upset if one eats too much of it?

I've experienced this with other dietetic candies.

I know it's NOT candy but I'm going to mention them any way .

MALLOMARS

r398 Since they haven't been made in at least three decades, if you ate some today, they'd probably kill you.

R391 That article is 10 years old.

This thread makes me think of my Dad's mother, my Grandma Hazel. She died when I was only 4, so I have only 2 or 3 distinct memories of her. One of those is when we were in her kitchen and she was wearing one of those full aprons. She reached in the pocket and gave me one of those pink wintergreen lozenge candies. It's nice to think about her.

R14, at my dog groomer's, they have a dish of dog biscuits, and a dish of candy, not very good candy. There are many Mary Janes ignored in the dish. I give my dog Mary Janes instead of dog biscuits. He likes them and watching him chew the taffy is entertaining for all.

Old people candy: hot, young people.

Circus peanuts were the unholy cousins of Peeps.

I love the orange slides shown in OP pic at the top of this thread. I still buy them at the Dollar Store today. They're great at night when you're working and at the computer and just need a little something sweet without breaking into a dish of ice cream. But one or two orange slices are enough. The sugar content adds up.

[quote][R391] That article is 10 years old.

The article is dated August 31, 2021.

This article is spotty, because it doesn’t cover every year, but it has some interesting candy factoids. I never tried Hot Tamales, because a candy made from hot peppers sounded gross, I had no idea they were cinnamon flavored? Sweet Tarts are solid Pixie Sticks, and while I don’t remember the mystery flavor of Dum Dums, it’s a great reason why.

coffee nips, Napoleon sours

R104- I used to watch Joyva's Fun School in the afternoons after school in the 1970's.

I'm really not a candy eater...but I like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, or Hershey's Chocolate Bar....Snicker's Bar is good, too. The seasonal candy...around Halloween, I indulge in candy corn. Around Easter, I like Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Gaylede, Cuskynoles, and Tart de Bry.

We only call it "candy' when the fatty portions caramelized, and that's among ourselves.

Anyone going to try the Brach's Turkey Dinner Candy Corn?

Werther's Originals.

Whitman Chocolates.

I expect to give away a few bags of Miniture Circus Peanuts in a few weeks.

Brach's Lemon Drops

R414- It reminds me of Violet eating that three course meal before she blew up like a BLUEBERRY in Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)