Sweet Treats from Yesterday

I'm siting here, watching Unwrapped. Marc Summers is extolling the virtues of my favorite stuff, CANDY!

The upsell at a commercial break was about Slopokes. I mentioned that they were like BB Bats. Ed had never heard of them, and he knows candys. It ends up the man who resurrected the Slopokes also makes BB Bats and Kits, candies that I remember from the 70s (and may *still* have stuck in my teeth today!)

It makes me think of those favorite treats when I was a kid. A quarter or a buck meant I was buying candy. These are the ones I remember buying and enjoying:

Reggie Bars (but only for a few weeks before I got those braces)
Violet Mints and Teaberry gums
Charleston Chews (they came in a lot of flavors back then, but vanilla is the best)
Space Dust/Pop Rocks
Sugar Babies
Zotz (I found some in Saint Augustine, but they only had sour apple)
Clark Bars
Fun Dip
Ice Cubes
Bazooka Gum
Necco Wafers and conversation hearts
Mary Janes
Pixy Stix
Chunky Bars
Oh, and I forgot a few-Razzles and Nik L Nips. I enjoyed so many Razzles that I got a free backpack one year.

Of course, now that Halloween is around the corner, I start to think of the good, the bad and the ugly of what we'd find in the trick or treat bags. The worst would be getting the open candy, because that half pound of candy corn and unwrapped hard candies in the bottom of the bag all had to go in the trash.

We all got that lecture in school and at home that you MAY NOT EAT OPEN CANDY! The other thing drilled into our heads was that ALL fruit has razor blades in the middle! Even if one of your classmates moms was the one handing it to you! (how sad is that that?)

In our neighborhood, the kids would confer. "Don't go to that house, they give out pennies." "That house gives out licorice." "That house gives out bags of potato chips!" (we later learned the guy worked for Wise). You'd learn where to go and which houses were a waste of time.

I'm sure it's the same for kids now. The kids would come by the carload into our old neighborhood, because of the 50 odd houses, there were about 30 giving out stuff and only one was giving out bible tracts. Most gave out good stuff. My rule is that we must.give.out.chocolate, though last year I added those snack bags of Goldfish and they ran out first. I hope the people living there now give out the chocolate, too.

My landlord tells me that we'll hardly get trick or treaters. That's okay, I'll buy the choclate and if we don't get the 60 or 70 kids we usually have, then we'll have a nice chocolate fix for a while. At least they won't be complaining that those people are mean and give out the boring candy.

What about you? What confections of childhood were you looking for in that trick or treat bag? And do you have odd quirks, like hating coconut, yet loving Almond Joys and Mound bars (but not Bounty)?

(an aside, now Unwrapped is featuring GooGoo clusters, which I first tried at the Grand Ole Opry. We want to drive over to Cracker Barrel and get some. They are SOOOO good.)
These pictures were taken at Kracken Barrel this morning, while Chef did his Popcorn show and sell. Goo Goo fix was satisfied!