A Trip Down Memory Lane with Candy

Sometimes we just have to have candy. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen very often but there’s something comforting about biting into a milk chocolate bar, especially if it’s embellished with caramel and nuts.

Maybe eating a candy bar brings back memories of when we were a kid. I know it does for me. I think sometimes about the candy bars around then that I don’t see anymore. Some are available through those web sites offering “vintage” or “retro” candy, but these were the standards and the ones I liked as a child:.

Sugar Daddy, Neccos, Sugar Babies O-Henry

Wax Lips, Candy cigarettes, Bubblegum Cigars

Charms, B-B-Bats, Banana Split Taffy Chews, Mars bar

And my favorite, Royal Flush,

I have searched the Internet once looking for Royal Flush, but it has been discontinued. The Neccos I have a special memory of, because before I was old enough to go to school, I visited with my sister one day. I also visited a first grade class that day, and was lolling about at the back of the room while the class was in session. I stumbled upon a partially eaten roll of Neccos., which I promptly ate. Later, all the children were searching the room and one child said, “Darry has lost her Neccos!” I felt guilty but  didn't tell. They just kept on searching and I actually helped them! Why I remember that incident after all these years amazes even me, but it's probably because I had such a guilty conscience for taking something that wasn’t mine! Today we would have candy police and would probably haul a child off to jail for such a "crime."

I try to eat candy very sparingly now, and choose the dark chocolate with high cocoa content because the experts tell us it’s actually good for us. Occasionally,though, I buy a Snickers Almond Bar, as this is the replacement for the old Mars bar. It’s very, very good.

In grade school we had a “canteen” that sold candy and popsicles. It was only open after lunch and we kids would line up with our nickels and choose from the choices the teacher manning the store laid out on the little table for sale. If we wanted a popsicle, there was Fudgesicle, Dreamsicle, Orangesicle, ice cream sandwich, orange, grape and cherry  to chose from.

Because I was wont to lose my canteen nickle, my mother would tie it in a knot on the end of my handkerchief. Easier to keep up with!

I Googled top selling candy bars of today and found they are: Hershey Bar, Snickers, Kit Kat, Twix, Butterfinger, 3Musketeers, Milkyway, Nestle Crunch, Reese's, MnM's.

Times have changed a lot since my childhood. A nickle would buy a candy bar but today they cost 75 cents or more. And is it my imagination, or were the candy bars twice as big back then? Or maybe when we are small everything seems large.

What are the candy memories from your childhood? What were your favorites? What type of candy do you eat now, if at all?