I’ve had an on going debate with a friend that if you are lucky enough to find fresh Tootsie Rolls they aren’t hard. They are more like a chewy fudge candy. But 90% of the time the stores have stale ones and they are rock hard.
Same thing with Bit o honey. Aren’t they soft and chewy fresh? But the stores sell them stale and they are hard bricks.
I swear that I can remember buying these candies when they were fresh and reasonably soft. But maybe my memory is off? Are they supposed to be tooth chipping bricks?
I wouldn’t risk either candy now. I got too much dental work to protect.
They will soften after a few seconds in the microwave. But they are still very sticky and can yank out fillings.
If I recall from my childhood, both candies were soft but extremely chewy. Even then, however, the level of softness was extremely variable and always capable of ripping your fillings out.
You could break Turkish Taffy if you hit them hard against something, but a fresh one was soft. It was like Silly Putty that you could stretch or break.
Both Tootsie Roll and Bit O Honey were soft when fresh, but got hard as they sat on the shelf.
Are Bit-O-Honey supposed to take a long time to chew, though? I remember a TV commercial wherein a guy was watching Civil War reenactors. He popped in a Bit-O-Honey right when the first gun went off, and when the battle ended (Gettysburg? That was three days) he was still working on the Bit-O-Honey.
Bit-o-Honey is always rock hard until you start chewing it, IME. Tootsie Rolls are never that hard, but they do have some bite to them. And that’s how they should be. I love gnawing on some Bit-o-Honey!