Comments on: Sweet Tooth Contest

By: Natalie U

Natalie U — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:38:21 +0000

Some of my best memories are of our family sunday night at our local pizza joint, it was literally our entire family including aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa, and lots of cousins. This was back in the seventies so it was a little safer and my grandparents would always give us change to walk to the liquor store next to the pizza place to get our fill of penny candy. All my cousins would pick from little bite sizes of the candy and we would all get little paper sacks to put our candy in. My bittersweet memory is that one of my cousins had cystic fibrosis that was incurable, but she loved her Chick O Sticks, and it would be her go to candy at the liquor store. I couldn’t stand that candy and we would always tease her on why would she get those and not pixy sticks or something else. She passed away when she was 9 years old…I started eating Chick O Sticks and, to this day, 35 years later, I love them

By: SherriParks

SherriParks — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:53:13 +0000

When my family moved to a small town in Nothern California I was able to get the dream of my life – a pony that I kept in our huge back yard. Every Saturday I would ride “Mercury” into what passed for downtown, hitch him at the rack in front of Mercado’s General Store, and go in to buy my day’s supply of penny candy. My favorites were chocolate covered malt balls, Rainblo gum balls, and the very first Spree. The taste of those can still bring back memories of long rides in the beautiful Marble Mountain Wilderness and the wonder of discovering how fantastic a friend, companion, and escape a horse can be.

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:43:54 +0000

My favorite memory is when my mother would give me 5 cents so I could walk to the drugstore that had a candy store in it. We were allowed to go behind the counter and get our own candy and I always got Mexican Hats because they were 2 for a penny. Leaving that store with 10 Mexican Hats was the best feeling. I still love Mexican Hats to this day.

By: Janice Bowen

Janice Bowen — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 00:20:37 +0000

i came from a large family with 7 children, all of whom had a sweet tooth. Even penny candy was hard to come by for us, but when we were able to go to Mr. Bud’s corner grocery store & pick out something with our hard-to-come by pennies, it was really difficult to pick out just ONE piece. I remember always looking from row to row & from shelf to shelf at the Goetz’s caramel creams, lollipops, Bazooka bubble gum, wax bottles filled with fruity liquids, Tootsie Rolls and so many more luscious looking & tempting candies. But, low & behold, I usually ended up selecting my favorite of all, the tiny ice cream cones with the dollop of marshmallow candy on top. They resembled a real ice cream cone which would cost far more than the items we were allowed to chose from & offered the double treat of a crispy waffle-textured candy & a sugary, multi-flavored marshmallow all in one. To me, this seemed to make the treat last longer than one with a single flavor & texture, like a Tootsie Roll. It wasn’t until years later when the sad news reached our home that the store’s owner, Mr. Bud, had passed that I discovered that the cones I always selected were NOT amongst the penny candies for sale. Mr. Bud would always allow me to get my candy & reach into his own pocket & add the extra penny that the cone actually cost to his till ( in order to keep his inventory & accounting matters correct ) rather than add those pennies to the “book” of credit that he kept for my Mom until my Dad, a truck driver, was back in town with his pay. For this kind deed & for these fond memories of eating those marshmallow topped ice cream cones, I thank you, Mr. Bud. To this very day, I buy this same candy whenever I see it & ship them to my own grandkids, all of whom have been told about Mr. Bud.

By: Jennie Carter

Jennie Carter — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:10:55 +0000

Zotz, even the name makes kids want try it. Yes I was one of those kids. It was a science experiment in my mouth, who could resist? So sour on the outside only a true kid could love it. That touch of sweet. Then there is the center, the sweet and sour fizziness that always takes you by surprise and makes your mouth pucker. How could your mouth foam like this? How could it taste so good? Thank heavens for so many flavors!

You can tell these are my favorites as a child, but what surprised me was my kids reactions. They loved them so much they request them for party favors for all birthdays, all party days at schools, pretty much anything that would involve bringing candy.

I now buy Zotz in the fabulous multi flavor boxes of 48 strips. Yes that is a total of 192 pieces of sweet and sour and fizzy goodness! Thank heavens form my kids as there is always one Zotz strip hiding somewhere so that I can indulge in my childhood memories!

By: Matt Cunliffe

Matt Cunliffe — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 02:20:26 +0000

My favorite candy memory was when I was about 12 years old living in a home with 9 sisters and my parents. We would have been classified as poor but at the time we didn’t know it as we always had food and a home full of love, not many extra treats around. My Dad would take me fishing and he’d always have a snack for us, usually chocolate Hersey kisses, Malo Cups, Necco Wafers to name a few. We had a big freezer in the basement that we kept frozen food for the week. One night my Mom asked one of my sisters to run down and get a roast. She came up with my Dad’s jacket and said “Look, why is Dad’s jacket in the freezer?’ Mom just said, “If your father put it there he must have had a good reason. Put it back and get the roast.’ When Dad came home Miom asked him about the jacket. Dad said, “Oh I forgot about it!”, ran down to the basement and brought up the jacket and put his hand in the pocket and pulled out a bunch of Hersey kisses and declares, “I saved them! I saved them!” He looked so happy I’ll never forget it. He had left the jacket in the truck while fishing and they had melted and he loved them so much he just had to try and save them and he did. My God rest his soul, he was the best father we could have hoped for and we miss him.

By: karin wrape

karin wrape — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:28:51 +0000

i grew up in foster homes and needless to say we didn’t get much candy,but on halloween, it was on!!! i remember one in particular, when i had gotten in some kind of trouble, and had to paint a fence before i was allowed to go trick or treating. i was getting the paint everywhere trying to paint it fast before the night was done,and when i finally finished it, it was well after dark,and i couldn’t get the paint off, so i grabbed a paint bucket and ran from house to house as fast as i could to get all i could on that one special night when, foster kids were no different than other children,and all you had to do to get the candy was ring a doorbell!!! i especially remember it being after midnight and that almost all the porchlights were turned off, but i knocked on the few that WERE lit on my way back home and most all that answered would empty the rest of the candy intomy bucket, then go to bed-, by the time i got back to my fosterhome, i had almost filled a 5 gallon paint bucket with candy- much more than my other fostersisters got and they started before dark, i remember them being so mad that i had gotten almost a full 5 gallon bucket of candy, that they complained to the lady that was our fostermother, wanting me to share mine with them-and that i was allowedto keep it all, as i had completed my punishment after dark, and even with no costume, i made the best of my situation by improvising a last minute costume,and used every minute i had running from house to house as fast as i could. I was tired the next day and my arms hurt from carrying my bucket full of candy, but that was one of the best halloweens i ever had! memories from 40 years ago, karin wrape, fraser, Co.

By: Annie W

Annie W — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 01:44:45 +0000

When I was a kid–really, it wasn’t THAT long ago–we had one of those tiny neighborhood grocers and they had a case with penny candy. We were able to fill our own itty bitty tiny brown sacks (remember those?) whenever our parents could spare a dime or quarter. The elderly gentleman that worked there always was warm and kind–we were poor little urchins and a bit of a minority in this Ozarks town (mom is Asian). He even had a nickname for me; he’d greet me with “There’s my little Wart!” and I loved it! No one else had a nickname. Perhaps he saw I was the runt of the pack and treated me special (I would get an extra piece of candy now and then). I can smell that store and old glass-front candy case . . . I loved Cherry Mash, Sixlets, Pixy Sticks, and Chik-O-Stix!!! Thank you for bringing back those old, innocent, sweet memories.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:59:29 +0000

Jolly Ranchers is one my favorites to buy.

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:44:00 +0000

Wow, this is a tough one. I have so many “favorites” with penny candy. We used to go to a penny candy store in Maryland and we could buy whatever we wanted up to $5.00 and that was absolutely wonderful! I would get the root beer barrels because my mom and dad loved them. Caramel bullseyes, zotz, now and laters, razzle bubble gum and pixie styx were some of my favorites.

It was one of the best parts about the trip. When we moved to Florida, we went to the same penny candy store and would buy our special goodies for the remainder of the trip. Oh how I loved those days! Every now and then I buy the bullseyes for my mom, root beer barrels for dad and mary janes for both when I am going to visit them. It’s always a fun time to reminisce about the fun times we had and we always talk about that special store.

I love the good ole days and the special treats we had.