Sweets
When I was young most sweets were displayed in shops like this:
They were sold in multiples of 4ozs. I remember barley sugars, lemon drops, acid drops, raspberry ruffles, caramels and chocolate toffees.
What were your favourites?
Now while you think about it, I am off to chew on a square of licorice & chase the dust. It is Friday and LBC day, I need to be back for a rest and a read at 3pm.
Rummuser said,
November 20, 2009 at 6:32 am
Mine were mints, those big round ones, not the ones with the holes in them. They would melt in ones mouth. As an extension, bulls eyes. Those black boiled sugar candies with white stripes on them. I still have them whenever I can remember to buy them.
Geri Atric said,
November 20, 2009 at 8:35 am
Pink sugar mice…slurp… and black and white stiped humbugs….slobber… and Frys green peppermint cream chocolate…drool… (can you still get that?)
steph said,
November 20, 2009 at 9:28 am
Hand’s off! Rummuser.
Those Bull’s Eyes are mine! :mr green:
If you didn’t eat up your sweets quickly, they’d stick to the brown paper bag.
Do you remember that sticky piece of rock called a ‘Peg’s Leg’? Yum!
Grannymar said,
November 20, 2009 at 9:45 am
Ramana - I’ll leave you and Steph to fight over the bulls eyes. They made my tongue all black. You can have the clove drops too.
Geri - There is no mention of Fry’s Cream on the Cadbury site. It was my father’s favourite.
Steph - We were never allowed a ‘Peg’s Leg’, I think it might have something to do with having an Auntie Peg!
Julia said,
November 20, 2009 at 10:27 am
Pinwheel caramels. I still love them. The other was rock candy, with the string in them. Yummy.
Maynard said,
November 20, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hey Sweet Thing– Don’t forget to buy some for the rest of us!
Rummy seems to have his own source!
Nelly said,
November 20, 2009 at 11:52 am
I liked the hard candy that had pictures of fruit on some of the sweets. I think they were called Fruit Salad. My favourite of those were the lilac ones.
Daniel said,
November 20, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I used to love the ‘Gobstoppers’ - they used to change colour as you sucked them, gradually getting smaller over the whole day it used to take to consume one. They don’t seem to exist anymore, probably because they were radioactive or something….
Nancy said,
November 20, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Grannymar,
I had to answer Maynard’s question from yesterday this morning. So, if you want to see my reply to you,Maynard, look at yesterday’s comments.
About candy. My very favorite is what we call “All sorts”. It is little squares of licorice and sweet pink “icing” in between. Delicious!
Grannymar said,
November 20, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Julia - I have not seen pinwheel caramels in years…. but I can taste them right now!
Maynard - You are able to buy Hershey’s Kisses, is that not enough for you? We don’t get them this side of the pond.
Nelly - I think I remember them.
Daniel - I would say the ‘PC’ world we live in plus health and safety rules are the reason that gob stoppers have disappeared is the same way as Spangles. Now who remembers them?
Nancy - Bertie Bassett’s Licorice Allsorts. They are still available.
Magpie11 said,
November 20, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I remember Spangles… I honestly cannot say which were my favourites but I have a jar of Aniseed Balls on my desk here.
GM, are those jars real glass ones or are they modern Plastic ones? There is a row of glass ones in our kitchen labelled variously: Plain flour, wholemeal flour, etc…… when we first lived here we used to salt runner beans in one, like my mother did.
Grannymar said,
November 20, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Magpie, I think in this picture the jars are actually a mixture: some glass and others plastic.
Now, there is no need to share those Aniseed Balls, I never liked them. Any Humbugs?
bikehikebabe said,
November 20, 2009 at 9:45 pm
DON’T EAT CANDY!!!
Grannymar said,
November 20, 2009 at 10:49 pm
BHB, Not even a little piece? Pretty please.
bikehikebabe said,
November 20, 2009 at 11:16 pm
WELLLLLLLLL O.K.
But you are allowed to eat a lot of bitter chocolate–72% cocoa.
Grannymar said,
November 20, 2009 at 11:23 pm
BHB,
I like some toffee to chew on when I am ironing and only eat chocolate (dark) for a treat. I never eat milk or white chocolate.
Ursula said,
November 21, 2009 at 8:48 am
Bike Hike Babe, we are definitely kindred spirits (sorry, Grannymar, to use your blog to communicate with my new found soulmate). It probably has not gone unnoticed by you that I am not a “sweet” person. Give me a pickled herring, onion and gherkin any day - also useful to keep unwanted people at an arm’s length.
Grannymar, thanks for reminding me of the romance of that tiny corner shop on my way to school, selling only sweets and cigarettes. I loved just looking at all those colourful jars. Unlike you we didn’t have to buy by weight, only by solvency. So the smallest coin bought me either five lengths (or one spiral) of liquorice heaven.
U
PS I should add that nowadays I get the same effect from the taste of Pastis.
Grannymar said,
November 21, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Ursula, I am very familiar with Pastis, now I wonder if you drink it A la Parisienne, A la “Marcel” or Classic?
For anyone trying Pastis for the first time always add water before ice, as ice would make anéthol crystallise.
bikehikebabe said,
November 21, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Go back to English. Forget the French.
bikehikebabe said,
November 21, 2009 at 4:37 pm
“…when I am ironing”
Ironing??? What’s that???
Grannymar said,
November 21, 2009 at 5:07 pm
BHB,
A little back ground to Pastis take a look here.
“Ironing??? What’s that???” - that is something I do to keep me from boredom!
stwidgie said,
November 22, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I love the names for the candy I didn’t grow up with. I’ve always wondered what a “humbug” was and why anyone would consider eating something called an “acid drop”!
We had penny candy at Harvey’s dimestore. I was fascinated by the little bags of roasted cashews sold in a warm, lit glassed-in display much like popcorn. Each bag had money in it, between 2 cents and a dollar, wrapped in foil. So it was a little gamble, buying your bag of toasty, salty cashews and unwrapping the foil to see what you’d gotten.
We had: starlight mints, butter mints, brick bats, Mary Janes, mothballs, and some wonderful pastel waxy discs that would melt mintily in your mouth. Razzles and Lik-m-aid, wax lips, wax bottles, Boston baked beans, candy cigarettes, chocolate cigarettes, bubble gum cigars (hmm…), Necco wafers, Smarties, Bit-o-Honeys, root beer barrels, blue mints, butterscotch disks, Chuckles, Chiclets, circus peanuts, strawberry laces, coconut Neapolitans, candy lipsticks, and whistle pops. Not much of a licorice culture, outside of Good’n'Plenty candies.
I think you need to do a post just on ironing if you haven’t already. :^)
Grannymar said,
November 22, 2009 at 1:46 pm
stwidgie,
That is an impressive list of childhood treats. I wrote about my childhood treats here and here
I was egged on to write a post about how to iron a shirt As you say it is not always easy to put into words the tasks and chores we do automatically every other day.