How about hotdog and sputnik bubble gums? There was also chum gum which was 2 for a penny (so you could share it with a friend) I still liked the others better.

Mother was a good cook, but mostly made cakes and pies. Candy was something made at Christmas time – everybody loved her divinity, but I didn’t ever care for it much. She made bourbon balls and fudge that I liked more.

As far as store-bought candy, Boston Baked Beans was my favorite by far. Also, Red Hots and 5th Avenue bars and Bit ‘o Honey to some extent. Actually, I’d eat almost any kind of candy, but those were my favorites. I went thru a thing a couple of years ago, sought out these old favorites and kept them on hand for a couple of months, but don’t usually keep candy around the house much, now.

Someday I’m gonna visit Ferrara Pan in Chicago and give somebody a hug and probably cry a little.

No kidding Liketoeat. We now have (Louisiana I mean) the two poorest counties in the United States. Apparently we even beat garden spots like Harlan County in Kentucky and some of those coal mining areas farther on up. Really sad.One of my least favorite things to do is to drive from Monroe to Greenvile and pass all of those old gin sites. Mississippi can’t claim being the poorest anymore because their politicians weren’t adept enough at stealing all the gambling money. Some of it was left over for farming communities.

I was wondering…when was the last time you had a pigs foot? I don’t like those pink ones you see nowadays. I will admit, however, to an occasional can of vieeners (vienna sausages to you from northern climes). That little layer of gelatin makes them so good going down. Unfortunately it also makes my blood go straight up. Can’t eat em too often. Damn nitrates.

quote:

Originally posted by chezkatie

When I was really young, my favorite candy was a Babe Ruth bar As I became older, (high school) my very favorite was a Chunky bar. I used to love those things……….would stop at the nearest neighborhood grocery store by the high school and buy one and slowly eat it all the way home. I have not seen one in years but have to admit that I really do not look for them any more as my scales tell me "No candy bars for you, hon!".

Chunky bars. How I loved ’em! I have seen them at Walgreens and Dollar Trees, and I occasionally indulge in one. They are as good as I remember them, I have to also be careful, because I love potato chips. Does anyone remember either Crane Potato Chips or Midwest Ice Cream?

You are right on all counts, Mayhaw. You know whereof you speak. Not only have the country general merchandise stores disappeared, but also most stores in the small country towns (such as this one) and even in the county seat sized towns – all going back to the economic changes (largely land holding concentrations and mechanization in every sense of the words) you enumerate leading to the population disappearance. That coupled with the advent of the Delta’s welfare economy for those who remained (thanks to the politicians out for the vote) and you have the Delta in all its states having been transformed from the economic power house areas to the most poverty ridden sections of those states. Enough preaching. Its the truth.
As to that store, you’d not believe the number of those fly strips I changed, but that number pales in comparison to the number of sweepings and dusting (daily) I gave that big old barn of a place. Good times, though, and lots of good candy, colas, and other eats went through there (such as bologna sandwiches, cans of sardines, or a pig foot out of a jar flopped on a cracker for instant eating or some of the best beef ever to come out of a market to take home and cook). I’ll not get off on that, though.
PS – Congrats, Mayhaw, on that over the hundred level.

You’re right. It all seemed to dissappear around the early 70’s. About the time everybody went from 4 row to 8 and 10 row equipment. The market in those rural communities just went away. The communities have gone away to some degree as well.

Also, when I said you could still find ’em, I meant the buildings themselves and maybe small rural groceries. Small general mercantiles (along with damn near everything else that used to be in the Delta) have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Big farms, small payrolls. Can’t hardly even find a Western Auto anymore. Every kid I know got his first storebought .410 there, and probably his first bike.

Your family must have had a pretty classy place if they changed the fly strips regularly.

Hello, Everyone. This ain’t my day. Both hot water heater and computer problems off & on all morn (and it all knocked me out of my anticipated lunch in DeWitt today) but hope all is fixed now. I don’t think licorice is a regional candy, Nancy; at least I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve ever been. It was just never very popular around here tho we always had it. I do remember JuJu Fruits but can’t place the JuJuBees. Definitely lost on the red dollars. I know what the gummy bears are from the present, but my real "candy days" long preceded their advent in this country. Mayhaw has given a pretty apt description of my candy selling environment, tho (1) we didn’t even have the screen doors which some such stores did; double doors were wide open in summer, (2) we DID change out those fly catcher strips, (3) candy was in glass showcase & had to watch the chocolates could handle in summer but no problem in winter; problem then in this area was keeping everything from freezing in big old barn like country stores. Such stores are extremely rare any more; may occasionally find one which is in effect a grocery, but I don’t know of any anywhere which are still general merchandise stores such as those were – groceries of all sorts (including meat market), dry goods of all types, sewing supplies, boots & limited shoes, hunting & fishing goods, hardware, gardening equip. & supplies, seeds, farm equipment repair parts, mule harness and livestock feeds of all kinds, batteries of all types (including radio batteries larger than the table model radios they powered), Victrola needles, all kinds of notions, patent medicines, gasoline, motor oil, kerosene, and no telling what I’m forgetting. Such stores were country versions of department stores from somewhere in the last half of the 1800’s through about the 1970’s or so. Think thats the time they started dying out. Most popular candies were Baby Ruth & Butterfinger (never understood how Curtis Candy Co. survived with just those two brands & their direct distribution). All other candies were sold through wholesalers. Other most popular brands were from Mars stable; Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Mars Bars, etc. Also Mounds and Almond Joy. All sorts of penny candies – orange slices, the little banana flavored soft squares, other little unwrapped soft squares each with a kid’s toy ring stuck directly into the candy, marshmallow peanuts, bubble gum, peppermints, corn candy and a number of others I’ve seen mentioned here. There were also the hard candies and nuts at Christmas. Back to penny stuff, there were many verions of "penny cookies" in glass or plastic containers such as Mayhaw describes. Those containers also held the 5 cent bags of peanuts. I still have a few of those containers and other items from the old store, but not many. Those were some quite different days. In winter when no farming was going on they were the community gathering places with men of the community coming up and sitting around in the store most of the day doing lots more talking and playing checkers then buying, all to the store owner’s chagrin. But that’s just the way things were. Enough of this. Apologize for getting away from the candy theme, but it just all kinda flowed together.

quote:

Originally posted by Mayhaw Man

I remember the chocolate coins as well as liqorice. We had lots of crossroads stores when I was a kid in North Louisiana that had candy on the counter, but rarely chocolate. I was thinking maybe this was because chocolate melts. These places mainly had screen doors (with a tin push bar on them usually advertising either snuff[xx(] or bread[:)]) and the door was screen. I think maybe the lack of chocolate was due to heat nine months a year, these places were never air conditioned.

Your probably right on that Mayhaw. Up here in Baltimore, chocolat was a seasonal candy until just recently, come April or May it would disappear from the stores until October. Again it was the weather. Even today many of the better chocolatiers won’t ship in the summer, not even with an ice pack (could cause a bloom on the chocolat, not bad for you just doesn’t look pretty.)[:D]

Ahhhhhhhhhh – JuJuBees – (I buy them at Target now) – extra tasty after you open the box & let the air hit them for a few days! Addictive for me.[}:)]

Regarding the licorice question: I’m from the North (NJ), but I never thought of that type of candy as a regional specialty, although maybe it is!

I remember the chocolate coins as well as liqorice. We had lots of crossroads stores when I was a kid in North Louisiana that had candy on the counter, but rarely chocolate. I was thinking maybe this was because chocolate melts. These places mainly had screen doors (with a tin push bar on them usually advertising either snuff[xx(] or bread[:)]) and the door was screen. I think maybe the lack of chocolate was due to heat nine months a year, these places were never air conditioned. I used to love the "pic" strips hanging from the ceiling. Always covered in flies and seemingly never changed[:0]. I have recently bought a "Toms" cookie jar at a garage sale. I bought it just because I remember them from when I was young. Clear glass with Tom’s printed on both sides with a red tin top. Not too many of those places left anymore, but there are still a few if you look hard and have some (alot) of time to kill you can find them.

When Red Hot Dollars first appeared, they were mfg. by Heidi Candies, who gave us JuJuBees and JuJiFruits. The dollars had "Heidi" embossed on them – found in the penny candy places. Cinnamon bears appeared before gummy bears and had a distinct cherry cinnamon flavor – also penny candy section.

quote:

Originally posted by Liketoeat

Nancy, I remember some multi-colored foil wrapped coin shaped and imprinted chocolate candies, but don’t think they were your red silver dollars. These tasted just like chocolate; believe I would have remembered them had they tasted like fish!

liketoeat.
both the red silver dollars & the swedish fish are in the gummy bear catagory(original spelling here was gummi by the way, a Swedish import), neither one tastes like fish, closer to cherry licorice in taste.[8D]

Nancy, I remember some multi-colored foil wrapped coin shaped and imprinted chocolate candies, but don’t think they were your red silver dollars. These tasted just like chocolate; believe I would have remembered them had they tasted like fish! Do remember your strawberry licorice. In fact was thinking earlier about all the colors, shapes, and varieties in which licorice used to come. None of it was ever very popular around here. What about in your area? Assume it must have been.

Ok, Liketoeat, how about this one: red silver dollars – they were the taste of Swedish fish, but coin-shaped…

Then, there’s Danish rolls – strawberry licorice in four or five break-apart rolls that were sort of ribbed. Input?

Thanks, Nancy, for further info re the Planter’s Peanut bar. I’m sure we are definitely talking about the same thing. Sorry I can’t help you with the spearmint leaves. I sold (and ate) lots of penny and other candy as a kid in my dad’s old store (recognize so many of the candies mentioned here and in similar forums), but believe that is one that we never had and that I otherwise never came across.