CandyFavorites

A 3 Musketeers Wrapper from the 1970's when candy bars were still $.20

Sharabilty: 6

Denture Danger: 4

Convenience: 5

Novelty: 8

Overall: 9

 There were a number of years in which I called 3 Musketeers my favorite candy and it isn’t a mystery why. The ‘whipped up’, fluffy chocolate in the center of the milk chocolate shell may look like wet cat food but the taste, consistency, and texture are in a league of their owns.

 In August 2007,  3 Musketeers came out with the 75th anniversary addition of the candy, The 3 Musketeers mint with dark chocolate. This version has a filling of a similar texture and consistency as the whipped, fluffy chocolate, but its taste matches right up with that of the filling of a York peppermint patty.

In fact the 3 Musketeers mint is basically a peppermint patty in bar form. It also differs from the normal 3 musketeers in that it comes in two separate bars instead of one full size bar, which makes sharing a little easier.

 In 1932 3 Musketeers was the third brand to be produced by the Mars Company. It originally had 3 small bars inside the package—hence the name—with three different flavors, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.

This version of the bar stopped being manufactured, most likely because of the rising costs and taxes on sugar during wartime. So the most popular of the three, chocolate, took over the package.

 Fun Fact: The 3 Musketeers bar is known as Milky Way outside of the U.S. and Canada (we have our own Milky Way).

 Sources:

http://www.3musketeers.com/index.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Musketeers_%28confectionery%29

Did you know that the Hershey 5th Bar was invented by William Luden who invented Ludens Cough Drops

Sharability: 3

Denture Danger: 6

Convenience: 5

Novelty: 8

Overall: 9

NECCO created the Clark Bar, Nestlé created the Butterfinger, and Hershey’s didn’t want to be left out. Don’t fear because Hershey has its own chocolate covered crunchy peanut butter candy bar, the 5th Avenue bar.

 I can’t say it is better or worse than the Clark Bar or Butterfinger, because it is basically the same. It’s delicious, it’s flakey, it will get stuck in your teeth, and it will leave chocolate on your fingers, but it won’t disappoint.

William H. Luden started his candy business in 1879. He manufactured hard candies and soft candies, marshmallow products, and chocolates. He created the well-known Luden’s cough drops as well.

In 1936 Luden introduced the 5th Avenue candy bar. During WWII the cough drops and 5th Avenue bar had greater production rates because they were used by the military. Until Hershey’s acquired Luden’s in 1987, the 5th Avenue bar had two chocolate-coated almond halves on top. 

The 5th Avenue bar is great for creating one of those stories where you use the candy bar (or just the wrapper) as a word in the story. I know Pittsburgh has a 5th Avenue, and I’m sure most cities have one, too. Write a story with it, share it, or gobble it up, but whatever you do with it, make sure you enjoy it!

Fun Fact: The 5th Avenue bar appeared in the Seinfeld episode The Dealership and in the 1994 movie, Stargate.

Sources:
http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/fifthavenue.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Avenue_(candy)

CandyFavorites has been Serving Candy Lovers Since 1927

CandyFavorites.com, the Internet’s Oldest and Largest Online Candy Store, is Proud to Announce a New Blog and Forum devoted exclusively to candy lovers young and old.

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) February 4, 2010  – CandyFavorites.com, the Internet’s oldest and largest candy site is proud to announce the launch of a Sweet Forum which is an forum for candy lovers around the globe as well as a revised candy blog featuring reviews with an emphasis on history and trivia.

“People love candy and I always wanted to launch a forum where people could go and discuss a product that is so linked to good memories.” said Jon H. Prince, President, “and with the recent emphasis on nostalgic candy, we are thrilled to offer an updated blog featuring product reviews along with historic insights”.

For the next few months, CandyFavorites.com will be awarding a $50 SweetCertificate weekly for the best Candy Memory shared on the new Candy Forum

“Retro candy has never been more popular and I think it will be fun for candy lovers to have a place to go to voice their opinions knowing that it is populated by their peers and read by industry insiders,” says Jon H.Prince.

“Our new blog writer, Becca Droz, has added a marvelous educational element to our blog that is seldom encountered on more commercial sites. She loves candy and it shows in her writing.”

“When I first started in this industry over thirty years ago, no one could have imagined that there would be a forum devoted to candy.  This just shows how rooted candy is in our collective psyche.” Says Tom Griffin, General Manager, “and I think that visitors to our website will find this interactive element entertaining and educational.”

CandyFavorites.com offers over 2800 varieties of candy, with an emphasis on bulk candy, Brachs Candy and hard to find old-fashioned and classic candy offerings. It also features a unique section devoted to candy related history and trivia.

About McKeesport Candy Co. / CandyFavorites.com
CandyFavorites.com is backed by the McKeesport Candy Company, one of the oldest candy wholesalers in North America. It is one of the internet’s largest candy stores and contains over 2800 items in their candy warehouse. It was one of the first online stores to offer an educational section featuring pictures of retro candy advertisements as well as history and trivia of many of the candies offered. www.CandyFavorites.com.

If you like the combination of chocolate and pretzels, you will love the taste of Hershey's Take 5 Candy Bar

Sharability: 2

Denture Danger: 5

Convenience: 5

Novelty: 3

Overall: 9

Hershey’s Take 5 is one of the most ultimate candies out there. Pretzels and chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, and peanuts all combined into one delicious two-piece candy bar. Mmmm, salty, sweet, peanuty, crunchy, chewy, chocolatey, melty… wow, it’s amazing they can fit so much deliciousness into one candy bar.

It took Hershey’s a while to come out with this genius idea. The Take 5 bar didn’t hit the market until 2004 where it immediately began satisfying the munchies of teenagers all over America.

You are going to want to take at least five minutes to enjoy this delicious five flavored bar. The time spent eating this delicious bar (which you probably will want to do alone as to make sure you don’t have to share any of it) is best spent listening to “Take Five,” a jazz piece written by Paul Desmond.

 The Dave Brubeck Quartet performs this swingy song that is named after the unique quintuple (5/4) time. I can’t think of what might be a greater five minutes than that spent with a Take 5 while listening to Take Five.

Sources:
http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/take5.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Five

The Cool Kidz share their opinions about Gummi Fruit Salad

We’re Back!

Recently, we have tried  gummi fruit salad, which consisted of sour watermelons, apples and cherries.

These candies were good,however, their was a clear distinction between the best and the worst. The best being sour watermelons, which are classic and are sold everywhere and are delicious.  However, they are not sour, at all. According to one of our mothers named Frannie, “they should be called sweet watermelons!”

 In spite of that, they are very good. In our opinion the next best is sour apples. They are moderately sour. And worst of all, but not horrible, are the sour cherries. These red bite sized pieces are interesting in flavor, but the most sour of all three.

Overall, these candies are definitely addictive, but their titles can be misleading as they are not very sour whatsoever.

“Oh babe I’m in the mood for you”  – Bob Dylan; Baby I’m In The Mood For You

Peace & Love,
The Cool Kids.

Whether you prefer Brachs or Necco, one thing that everyone can agree upon is that Valentine's day wouldn't be the same without Conversation Hearts

Sharability: 10

Denture Danger: 2-7

Convenience: 10

Novelty: 10

Overall: 5

 The classic Valentines Day candy… these candy hearts are so popular that both The New England Confectionary Company (NECCO) and Brach’s manufacture them, and now they are even made in an enlarged size. The candies themselves are definitely more of a novelty item than a tasty candy. In fact, eating too many can induce side effects of nausea.

 Even though Brach’s and NECCO both make these conversation hearts they aren’t identical candies. The differences start with aesthetics. NECCO takes the gold in this category.

The Brach’s Conversation Hearts have a greater width making them look more generic and almost like their shape has been a mistake. The second difference is consistency; this award goes to Brach’s. Your teeth can sink right into the Brach’s hearts while the NECCO hearts put up a strong fight creating significant amount denture danger.

The third difference is taste. The corresponding colors don’t even have all of the same flavors. Both types of hearts have white wintergreen, purple grape, orange orange, green lime, and pink cherry, but the yellow in the NECCO group is banana while the Brach’s side steps the banana and chooses a somewhat more tasty but virtually indistinguishable flavor.

 Another difference between the two is the short sayings printed on the hearts. Not only are the Brach’s sayings sloppier and harder to read, but some of the sayings are quite inappropriate, especially for Valentines day. While the NECCO hearts have classic sayings such as, “Let’s Kiss,” “Miss You,” and “Cutie Pie,” Brach’s hearts spread negativity with “No Way,” “See Ya” and “Good Bye” and aren’t as appropriate for the young ones with “Too Hot” and “So Fine” mixed in with the usuals.

I don’t understand why a Valentines Candy would have sayings on it that promote negativity.

 The Large Conversation Hearts have a solely aesthetic advantage. They make reading the saying a little bit easier (even though many are still off-center or illegible), but eating one is way too much gross sugary flavor for one bite.

 The first idea for conversation hearts originated back when Abraham Lincoln was president. Mottoes were a candy that contained a rolled up piece of paper inside the shell shaped candy that sported the sayings that influenced today’s conversation hearts.

 Daniel Chase (the brother of NECCO’s founder, Oliver Chase) experimented with the idea of putting messages on candies with hand tools in the 1860s. He soon realized this process would be much too tedious to continue and thus he created a machine to print messages on the candies.

 The first conversation candies were especially popular at weddings with their witty sayings such as “Married in satin, Love will not be lasting,” “Married in pink, He will take to drink,” and “Married in white, You have chosen right.” These long messages were not printed directly on the candies but were written the original way on rolled up pieced of paper inside the candies. 

 The idea for the modern day hearts came about in 1902 along with candies in other shapes such as baseballs and horseshoes. Today the heart shaped candies are so popular that during NECOO’s peak production periods, approximately 100,000 pounds of conversation hearts are made each day and all of these hearts sell out in about six weeks. Eight billion candy conversation hearts are produced every year just by NECCO; that is enough hearts that if lined up they would stretch from Rome, Italy to Valentine, Arizona and back twenty times… that’s a lot of hearts.

 Despite the unsatisfactory taste of these little candies they still remain an almost necessary purchase for the Valentines Day season. Though the Brach’s might taste better, I’d recommend buying the not-so-negative classic NECCO Conversation Hearts; these candies aren’t really for eating anyway.

 Sources:

http://www.necco.com/OurBrands/Default.asp?BrandID=8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweethearts_%28candy%29

http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/conversation-hearts-origin.php

This is a rare Rolo label from the 1970's and it shows the manufacturer as being Mackintosh which was the manufacturer in England

Sharability: 3

Denture Danger: 8

Convenience: 5

Novelty: 10

Overall: 9

 1937 isn’t just the year that U.S. Steel raised workers’ wages to $5 a day, or just the year that the first quadruplets finished college, or just the year that China declared war on Japan. 1937 is the year that the Rolo candy was introduced.

Nestlé Rowntree manufactured this delicious candy, and Nestlé continues to produce Rolos everywhere except in the United States. Here in America, we have accredited The Hershey Company with the Rolo candy since 1969.

Rich milk chocolate surrounding a soft, chewy caramel filling; this candy is classic, this candy is delicious, and this candy is rolly. The most well known Rolo slogan, “Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?” is quite appropriate because the Rolos used to come with 11 in every package leaving 10 for you, but in 1995 Rolos reduced the number of candies in each package to 10 making giving up one much more difficult.

They also advertise the candies as rollable, you can roll them to your friend, you can roll them to your mom, or you can roll them to me.

A few fun facts about the vintage Rolo label:

This wrapper is interesting as it shows the “Mackintosh’s” brand above the candy name

Originally, Rolo’s were from the United Kingdom and it wasn’t until the early 1980’s, when Hershey acquired the brand, that the Mackintosh name would be removed from the label.

Also, if you look carefully, you will see that NECCO is on the label and that is because the New England Confectionary Company was the original distributor and manufacturer of Rolo’s in the United States.

Sources:
http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/rolo.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolo
 http://www.brainyhistory.com/years/1937.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/nestle-keeps-mum-as-last-rolo-goes-missing-1526432.html

Join the "Cool Kidz" Brooke and Emily as they share their opinion of Toosie Rolls in all shapes and sizes. Click on the picture and try some yourself!

Hey Candy Lovers!

Today we ate original and assorted tootsie rolls. The original tootsie rolls were chocolate flavored, and the assorted tootsie rolls consisted of vanilla, cherry, lime, lemon, and orange flavors.

The original tootsie rolls are basic and even if you don’t love the taste you still eat them. They are easy to love but more importantly, easy to find and easy to eat. So while they may not be your favorite candy, you will definitely end up eating them more often then you’d expect.

However, we had a completely different opinion about the assorted tootsie rolls. The vanilla ones like the chocolates are yummy but not a favorite. Out of all the assorted flavors, because vanilla is so basic, this flavor is the best.

 The lemon, cherry, lime and orange flavored chewy tootsie rolls are not up to par with the tootsie roll standard. They are found very commonly in Halloween baskets, but we find ourselves avoiding them every time we take a piece.

They taste very artificial, and the thought of them is unappealing. It is psychological because admittedly, the thought of them is much worse than the taste, so you may be surprised.

“Don’t think twice, it’s alright” – Bob Dylan

Peace & Love,
The Cool Kids.

A retro Mallo Cup wrapper from the 1970's

Sharability: 4

Denture Danger: 7

Convenience: 4

Novelty: 10

Overall: 8

The Reese’s Cup might taste better (and it might not, it’s all a matter of opinion), but it doesn’t have the novelty factor of being the first ever cup candy made in the United States. The Mallo Cup takes the trophy for this honor.

The whipped cream center has the consistency of melty marshmallow and is covered in a chocolate coconuty cup shell. The taste is odd at first but quickly grows on you and if you don’t like it, I’m sure someone at the lunch table will be happy to relieve you of the burden of eating the second cup.

Boyer Brothers, Inc. founded in 1936 in Altoona, PA is the company that manufactures these gloop filled cups. They used to manufacture many different kinds of cup candies including a s’mores cup and a peanut butter marshmallow cup, but all of these came after the original Mallo. Now, the only cups they manufacture are the peanut butter cup (the standing competitor of the Reese’s cup), the smoothie cup which is a peanut butter butterscotch cup, and of course, the Mallo.

Fun facts:
-The Boyer Plant makes over 2 million cups every day. If you were to line these cups up side by side they would cover 58 miles.
- It takes 20 tons of the Mallo filling to fill 2,000,000 Mallo Cups.

Sources:

http://www.boyercandies.com/

The Cool Kidz review candies that are great for movies!

Hey Guys!

We are so excited to be starting our sweet journey. Today, we ate candy, which would be easy to munch on during the movies. Red Dollars, and Cinnamon Bears.

They are both red gummy candies, however obviously the Cinnamon Bears have a cinnamon flavoring, and the Red Dollars are cherry flavored.

 If you’re at a movie theater or staying in with your friends at home both are one-bite candies that are easy to share. If any of you try it, we would love to hear your response.

“Oh ain’t she sweet” – Ain’t She Sweet: The Beatles.

Thanks!
Peace & Love,
The Cool Kids.