# Bon Bons - Chocolates or Hard Candies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357 "2020-06-10T12:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/1 "2020-06-10T12:37:46Z")
Quick, if someone mentions bon bons, what do you picture? Chocolates or hard candies? I always thought bon bons were fancy chocolates. I only recently saw it on a tin of hard candies. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/2 "2020-06-10T12:47:02Z")
Chocolate. Like a Whitmans sampler. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/3 "2020-06-10T12:56:54Z")
Definitely chocolates. I think it’s a law or something… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/4 "2020-06-10T12:59:19Z")
Oooh! Chocolate covered cherries. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/5 "2020-06-10T13:01:28Z")
I think of those bite sized, chocolate covered balls of ice cream you used to be able to get at the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/6 "2020-06-10T13:01:51Z")
Neither- they’re a chewy sweet covered in flavoured powdered sugar this side of the pond. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/7 "2020-06-10T13:20:52Z")
Apparently what I recall as bon bons are more specifically known as [Vienna Fruit Bon bons](https://www.yeoldelollyshoppe.com.au/product-page/vienna-fruit-bon-bons) which are hard candy with a sweet syrup centre. Fruit flavours, nothing chocolatety. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/8 "2020-06-10T13:27:58Z")
For some reason, when I think of bon bons, I think of chocolate-covered balls of coconut. It’s part of the reason I’ve never been interested in them. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/9 "2020-06-10T13:38:53Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Apparently what I recall as bon bons are more specifically known as [Vienna Fruit Bon bons](https://www.yeoldelollyshoppe.com.au/product-page/vienna-fruit-bon-bons) which are hard candy with a sweet syrup centre. Fruit flavours, nothing chocolatety. Oh, man, I forgot about those. My grandfather used to always have those around his place in a candy bowl when we visited (he was from Poland, and those are or at least were popular candies in Poland.) As for me, I think of the chocolate ball as bon bons. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/10 "2020-06-10T13:51:57Z")
Bon bons are filled chocolates taken from a frilly box and savored one by one by a plumpish kept woman in a negligee, propped up in her lavish double bed, whilst reading a movie magazine. I thought “chewy sweets covered in flavoured powdered sugar” was Turkish Delight. That’s what I learned from C.S. Lewis, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/11 "2020-06-10T13:52:43Z")
A box of chocolates like Russell Stover or Whitman, although I don’t know anyone that actually calls them bonbons. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/12 "2020-06-10T13:53:42Z")
Whatever it was that Peggy Bundy was always eating. It always appeared to be chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/13 "2020-06-10T13:56:13Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I think of those bite sized, chocolate covered balls of ice cream you used to be able to get at the movies. I don’t recall them at movies but we’d sometimes have those at home when I was a kid. They were packaged in cardboard canister, like a small hat box. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/14 "2020-06-10T13:56:58Z")
To the best of my knowledge and some experience, they are chocolate covered confections. Ferrero Rocher are basically bonbons I thought. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/15 "2020-06-10T14:05:17Z")
I definitely don’t think of hard candies. The image that came up was of light-coloured chewable confections, like nougat or pralines or marzipan or something. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/16 "2020-06-10T14:10:59Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I thought “chewy sweets covered in flavoured powdered sugar” was Turkish Delight. That’s what I learned from C.S. Lewis, anyway. Turkish Delight has more of a jelly texture and are square, with a light sugar dusting, bonbons are more like a kind of fruit flavoured toffee in a ball shape, with a thick layer of brightly coloured sugar, like [this](https://www.oldestsweetshop.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1800x/d5624676985a8ebbacaf2f34c591c91a/s/t/straw_bon_bons_1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/17 "2020-06-10T14:12:42Z")
Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/18 "2020-06-10T14:21:48Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Bon bons are filled chocolates taken from a frilly box and savored one by one by a plumpish kept woman in a negligee, propped up in her lavish double bed, whilst reading a movie magazine. This. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/19 "2020-06-10T18:40:13Z")
I can envision many different sorts of bon-bons, but all of them are things that can be chewed. Hard candies are right out. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/20 "2020-06-10T19:08:12Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Bon bons are filled chocolates taken from a frilly box and savored one by one by a plumpish kept woman in a negligee, propped up in her lavish double bed, whilst reading a movie magazine. > > I thought “chewy sweets covered in flavoured powdered sugar” was Turkish Delight. That’s what I learned from C.S. Lewis, anyway. I thought they were the things women eat while sitting on the couch all day watching Oprah. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357.md?page=2)