Come to Australia. Srsly. Bounty bars aren’t mainstream where you are? You can get your fix on here…
I don’t know if this counts as “candy” but … Halva, anyone? Apparently you can get lots of different kinds, but the Halva of my childhood was the delicious flaky stuff that’s probably about 90% sesame seeds. Yummo.
I once had green tea chocolate. That was pretty nice - not very sweet, but that’s a selling point for me.
I go wild for Peppermint Crisp chocolate too. The sweet gooey stuff’s … okay I guess, but I wouldn’t cross the road for it. Sadly the authentic Crispy delight is made by the Evil Empire, so I haven’t had any in about 20 years.
Absolutely. Sixlets barely qualify as chocolate, and yet they’re amazing. I once ate an entire movie theater sized box of them, purchased from the dollar store (so they had that ‘been on the shelf for two years’ stale taste). I think I could actually feel my concept of self worth draining away, yet I could not stop.
If you’re doing Pearson’s, you have to be eating Nut Goody bars. Every now and again, mom finds a box of them in a store somewhere, and mails them to me.
I went to high school and college with the younger two of the Claeys ‘kids’ (we’re all in our late 50s-60s now). It was great to have one of the Claeys in the car pool when we were heading back downstate to college after a vacation, as they’d always bring along a big batch of fudge and Chocolate Charlie seconds for us to munch on during the ride.
My favorite of their hard candies was the Lemon Drops with the granulated sugar coating. You had to be careful with them in your mouth as the sugar granules could cut the roof of your mouth. But they were so lemony and natural with none of that artificial taste you get in so many lemon products.
It was a de rigueur field trip in grade school to take the tour of the Claeys factory. It was, and still is, a very small place with only a handful of employees, most of whom have been with the family for years and years.
Valomilk. Such wonderful gooey goodness hidden inside a chocolate cup.
I am tickled by so many people naming Necco wafers, since they’re made locally and are pretty ubiquitous here in the Boston metro area. I miss the old Necco factory that made Central Square smell like chocolate. It’s now in Revere.
Have you all read Candy Freak? I’ve spent a few years working my way through all the candies the author writes about but haven’t finished yet.
As far as hard candies go, there’s a Thai restaurant near me that keeps a little dish by the register with a delicious coffee-flavored candy called Kopiko that I’ve never seen anywhere else; and a Mexican restaurant that always has a bowl of some coconut-lime hard candy by the exit, that I would grab by the handful if I could.
Without reading any of the aforementioned candies, I’m going with Werther’s coffee flavored hard caramel things, and Ande’s chocolate mint things. (If I properly understand non-mainstream.)
Now, off to read the thread.
Exactly what I was going to say. Growing up in New England, I loved the stuff, but when I moved away, you just couldn’t find it anywhere. Maybe it’s a taste you have to acquire as a kid, because none of my friends in CA seem to care for it when I’ve offered it to them.
I’m a native Californian and I *love *maple candy. I never see it anymore, though, which may be just as well. The stuff was never cheap, but last time I saw it the price was through the roof.
Living in Berlin now over 7 years, I must have passed over these in the store nearly 1000 times. (and I always buy tons of different chocolate stuff, so I can’t really explain why these never called out to me). However, as a direct result of reading your post earlier today, I picked me up a box. Haven’t tried them yet though.
Has anyone mentioned halva yet? As a kid at some point I discovered those chocolate covered bars that are not uncommonly sold along side other mainstream candy bars. Now I live in an area with a large Turkish population so I get it in plastic containers or other forms. I haven’t had it in awhile but I go through a phase every year or 2 for a few weeks. (maybe I’m due for another? probably depends on whether the Schoko Bananen thing sticks).
Ooh, I totally forgot about windmill cookies (which Wikipedia just informed are called speculoos, which is delightful word). I think it’s 'cause the considerable Netherlands extraction which populates west Michigan that they’re fairly well known here. Such a nostalgic taste, I think they’re why I like ginger so much.
Now, if you’re talkin’ about obsolete candy, my favorite from my childhood was the Sprint Bar. Structurally, it was almost identical to a Kit Kat, but even back then I thought the flavor and texture was so much better.
Seconding or thirding “Skor” bars. And if you like those you’ll absolutely love See’s "Toffee-ettes®
Sees also excels at anything with almonds in it. They just roast them perfectly to get that warm munchy texture and flavor that go perfectly with dark chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm Oh! and their apricot delight is also, well, delightful.
Banana flavored Now-and-Laters. Only the banana ones though. Occasionally I get a big box of them from old time candy, and it lasts me a year or so. They seem to get better with age.
I like Mary Janes! But then, I also like Kits. Sadly it appears that they’ve replaced the peanut butter molasses flavor with vanilla. Yuck.
My favorite candy bar was Milkshake and my favorite hard candy is still horehound. I remember my Grandmother always kept a bag around the house for scratchy throats. I had a lot of scratchy throat as a kid.
I love BB Bats and Atomic Fireballs. The former I don’t see often, the latter I’ve been able to find everywhere I’ve lived. Within the last couple of weeks we were at the store attached to a nearby brew pub. They always have a few oddball candies. I mentioned Zero bars, and neither my wife or kids had heard of them. I looked down, and there they were. It was the first one I’d had since college, around 30 years ago.
