Elder Care Cafe

This article is the second in a two part series written by Jason Miner. I hope you enjoy this fun trip down memory lane. You can read more about Jason at the end of this article and also click on the link to read Part One. We would love to hear about your memories of past decades. Just leave a message in the comment section following the article.

In the 1930’s I found some other favorites.

Here I was thinking that every great candy was of modern invention. Not so. The 30’s brought us 3 Musketeer candy bars, 5th Avenue candy bars, Boston Baked Beans, and one of my and many other people’s favorites, Candy Buttons! They were one of the first things I grabbed at the old corner store. Chick-o-Sticks and Nonpareils were some of my other favorites; little did I know they were made in the 30’s. My Mom set me straight on that right away; of course they were made in the 30’s!

Chunky bars came out then along with Tootsie Pops and some you may be familiar with but I had never heard of. Candies like Chocolate Babies, Violet Mints, Good News bars, and Peanut Chews for example. Another one of my all time favorites, Heath candy bars came out then. I say a big thank you to whoever came up with that one! Everyone has had a Hershey’s chocolate bar but did you know the miniatures came out then too?

Sugar Babies and Big Daddy’s were ones my parents would have liked me to avoid because of their ability to pull out teeth. I’m sure no one of this generation thinks that Kit Kat bars came out in the 30’s, especially with the modern advertising. “Give me a bite off that Kit Kat bar!” Some of the candies that I would have figured for the 30’s and I was right are Licorice Snaps, Life Savers Sweet Story Book, Mallo Cups, Valomilks, (the last two are some of my Mom’s favorites), Milk Maid Royals, Sky bars, Peanut Butter Kisses, and Zagnut bars.

Others like Nestle’s Crunch bars, PayDay’s, and Snickers bars are still so popular you would never know they were made over seventy years ago. A couple of my Dad’s favorites were the Stuckey’s Pecan Log Rolls and the Planters Peanut bars. I loved it when he’d make a special stop at Stuckey’s on our road trip and bring out one of those big rolls for all of us to share. They were so sweet you didn’t need much.

I was surprised to find that Red Hots came out during that era. I’ve been eating them and cooking with them ever since I can remember. You would think by the end of this list there would be no more really good candies for the next generations to invent, but the list goes on.

The 1940’s

The 1940’s didn’t produce quite as many new candies as the thirty plus years before. More than likely it was due to the fact that we were in a world war, but it didn’t completely stop the candy makers from making more of our favorites. What it did produce however, because we didn’t know any better, were Candy Cigarettes and Bubble Gum Cigars. But oh how I loved to get a pack when I was young and pretend to smoke them with my siblings!

What we didn’t know didn’t kill us, they still tasted good and we were innocent babes. Almond Joys came out then along with Bazooka Bubble Gum, Dots, Smarties, Jolly Ranchers, Rain-Blo Bubble Gum, and Junior Mints which was another one I loved to get at the theater. Of course you remember Licorice Laces and Strawberry Licorice Twists, along with Mike &Ikes, Peanut Butter Bars, and Red Vines.

One that did surprise me was Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip; I thought that was a newer one. At least I don’t remember it but I was so busy eating the sweetened Kool-Aid packages that maybe I just didn’t look.

I hope you’ve had some fond memories of days gone by and the candies you loved. I’m sure you were as surprised as I was on the times when some of these candies were made. This is as far as I made it in my candy research. I’m sure the 50’s brought many more confectionary delights.

You can still find many of these candies on the market or via the internet if you are interested but there are many more that have been discontinued. I was saddened when I found a favorite of mine gone, it was the Caravellebar which I bought everyday during Junior High. No one else remembers it. It’s a bummer but probably a good thing too, I couldn’t imagine eating one everyday at my age!

To reach the fascinating beginning of Jason’s article Take a Sweet Trip Down Memory Lane, just click on the link.

Author Bio: Jason Miner an expert freelance writer loves writing articles on different categories. He is approaching different bloggers to recognize each other’s efforts through www.blogcarnival.com.  He can be contacted through e-mail at jasonminer8atgmaildotcom.