Ticket 2 Ride

You know you are getting old when you try to find candy that was been off the market for years. Finding specialty candy that is still manufactured can be a challenge as I found out trying to find a Clark Bar. I got to thinking about the candy of my youth. A candy bar cost a dime. Bubblegum was a penny. Baseball card packs contained a piece of gum.

Thankfully, some of my favorites are still around, although like I said, you have to resort to the Internet to track them down.

Candy is big business. So is dentistry and fitness. Of the top ten candy companies we have Mars, Hershey’s and Nestle, all familiar names. Smaller manufactures of candies from the past have been gobbled up by the multinational companies.

Let’s look at some familiar and forgotten candies of my youth.

Bubble Gum

Bubble gum is still available, but some varieties are gone. Bubblegum cigars and cigarettes are difficult to find, in part because they are affiliated with smoking. Bubble gum was the go-to candy for kids, just ask my dentist.

Usually, I bought bubble gum in pieces. Speaking of gum, candy makers were creative about how to sell it. Tiny Chicklets are no longer sold. Bazzoka Bubble Gum is still around if you can find it, but the Bazzoka Joe comic strip on the wrapper was replaced a few years ago, but demand brought it back. In the olden days, each piece was a penny.

Candy Bars

Hershey’s, Milky Way, Payday, Snickers, Baby Ruth, Almond Joy were probably the most popular then, but not the only candy bars on the market. A few others have disappeared over the years. The big candy companies bought up the brands and eliminated the competition. Smaller, regional companies also had a hard time against the big boys.

Clark Bars – discontinued in 2018, returned 2020.

Milkshake -Chocolate nougat and caramel in milk chocolate giving it a taste experience similar to Milky Way.

Oh’Henry – Discontinued in recent years.

Seven Up – The candy bar with seven different fillings in each bar. Discontinued in the late 1970s.

Zagnut – The coconut candy bar. Still around, but might have to be ordered in boxes.

Skrunch – Discontinued along with Marathon and Powerhouse candy bars. The taste experiences can be found it Snickers, Kit-Kat and Baby Ruth candy bars.

Zero – A strip of nougat, caramel and white chocolate. Not one of my favorites, but quite a different taste sensation. Still around, but harder to find.

$100,000 Bar – Milk chocolate, crisped rice, and caramel. The bar was renamed (100 Grand Bar) when sold to another company. It is not easy to find, but still around.

Other Treats

Wax Lips – Flavored wax. I’m sure some kids enjoyed these. Invented in the early 20th Century, they are now owned by the Tootsie Roll Company and called Wack-O-Wax.

Sugar Daddy and Sugar Babies are still available if you can find them. These were quite popular in my youth. These two products were developed in the 1930s and through multiple transactions are now marketed by the Tootsie Roll Company.

Boston Baked Beans – These were pretty delicious, candy-coated peanuts. Easy to eat an entire box. Invented in the 1920s.

Wax Bottles – If you bit through the wax there was the taste of some concoction of sweet liquid. Back in the old days we were not overly picky about what we ate or drank. Officially known as Nik-L-Nips, marketed by the Tootsie Roll Company.

Hostess Fruit Pies – These bad boys were put in the microwave and heated to a temperature hotter than molten lava. They contained enough artificial ingredients and calories guaranteed to stunt your growth. I believe they are still available in some flavors.

Black Cow and Slo Poke were chewy caramel candies. These bite-sized chews would probably loosen my dental work now, but back then, delicious. The original Slo Poke Caramel Pop was invented in 1926 and the bite-sized version later. The same company also introduced the Black Cow brand, which was the Slo Poke covered in chocolate.

Tootsie Roll Pops were a staple of childhood. How many licks did it take you to get to the chewy center? I do not know, I always cheated. Invented in 1931, the number of licks needed has been studied and studied. What’s your number?

These little suckers on a string did not last long but they were cheap.

Pixy Stix candy was a mouthful when you cut the end and emptied it in your mouth. A big rush of sugar! Originally called Lik-M-Aid, it was invented in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1940s. Currently owned by Nestle.

Dad’s Root Beer Barrels flavored candy. Shaped like the barrels the root beer used to be shipped in. Put one in your mouth and you got that summer root beer taste. Refreshing. Invented by the same pharmacist that invented root beer.

Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels, the size of bubble gum, were delicious, but really made me thirsty.

LifeSavers, particularly the variety roll, were awesome. Not a bad flavor in the group. Parents even carried them so the candy couldn’t be all bad. This candy has been around since 1912.

DOTS were chewy like gummy bears. If you bought a box of these at the movies, you would be going back for a drink. Still a very popular candy.

Plop a Fizzie in your glass of water and you got an instant glass of something resembling Kool Aid. Sweetened with saccharin, but was changed to a different sweetener. Fizzies were on the national market starting in 1962. The product came and went, came and went, as the company was bought and sold and eventually went out of business. Originally developed by the same company that marketed Alka-Seltzer

Next, we will look at drinks that are no longer available or difficult to find.