(image from The Candy Wrapper Museum)
Most people I know can think of at least one beloved candy that’s no longer available, and even more people may have forgotten former favorites simply because the candy’s no longer on the market. The folks at Old Time Candy have compiled a list of dozens of discontinued sweets, and it’s worth a look, even though it’s a little sad. The loss of Bonkers is an insult to my childhood, but at least I’m not alone in remembering the tasty, fruity goodness.
I’ve never heard of at least ten of the candies on the list, like Ben Hurs and Snirkles. A few that I’ve heard of, I hadn’t realized were off the shelves, like Bar None, Gatorade gum, and Sugar Mama. Luckily, a handful of treats that were once on the list have returned—namely Flicks, Mint Juleps, Banana Splits and Fizzies. A few others (like Adams Sour Apple gum, Beemans gum, and Blackjack gum), are “now back in stock for a short time.”
Certainly, there are other long-lost candies out there, but the Old Time Candy list is impressively comprehensive. I like to think of it as a memorial to old friends.
More candy articles about: candy, sweets, discontinued, old, old fashioned, retro, nostalgia, oldies, classics, classic
My all time fave candy as a child. I think about these often.
November 6th, 2006 at 1:15 pmBonkers, I meant
November 6th, 2006 at 1:16 pmNOBODY remembers my favorite discontinued candies- Candylicious. I specifically liked the tropical mix, because the pineapple was my favorite candy EVER. THey were chewy candies, softer than starburst. The commercial had a snake and the song went, “Chew candylicious, bigger than you figure, candylicious gives you bite size, more than you can chew!”
November 6th, 2006 at 8:52 pmI didn’t know Good and Fruity was a discontinued brand…There’s a gas station down the road a bit from where I live that you can still buy them at.
Makes me wonder how old they are. o.O
November 8th, 2006 at 12:14 pmMalinda, would u be interested in helping someone who loves good and fruity’s out? Let me know. Kaisies@hotmail.com
November 10th, 2006 at 1:38 amHow about Chum-Gum? And candy lipstick that was a dark fushia color & 3/4 of it wrapped in gold paper foil then in cellophane.
December 8th, 2006 at 3:34 amI there is any one candy that I’ve obsessed more about over the years, it’s Ben Hurs. Believe it or not, I’ve got a little handful of these candies stuck away in my freezer. Once in a blue moon I’ll eat one, even though they’ve turned a little green with age.
I first discovered Ben Hurs 30-40 years ago, when I was a kid, and our family would go visit my grandparents up in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. Little corner grocery stores were common at the time in Nanticoke, and often they sold a wide variety of candies. Ben Hurs were sold in bulk by weight. In appearance they were similar in shape to a square after-dinner mint, but they were of a dark grey color.
How to describe the taste? Although they are classified in the anise/licorice category, the taste was closer to candied ginger. Some people would call them Sen-Sen, and indeed the flavor is similar to that. Ben Hurs were definitely an acquired taste. Words like “soapy” and “floral” have be used to describe them.
My research indicates that a company called Wunderle originally produced Ben Hurs in the early 20th century. Wunderle, by the way, was the company that first gave us Candy Corn! That company was later bought by another candy company called Heidi, which itself was eventually absorbed by Hershey. Perhaps somewhere in a dusty old vault or file cabinet in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is the original recipe for Ben Hurs, but I’ve gotten no response to my inquiries to the Hershey company.
There was a company called Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City, Tennessee, that sold Ben Hurs as recently as the mid 1990s, but eventually their stock ran out (party because I purchased a few pounds of the candy from them!). I’d be willing to bet that I’m in possession of the very last Ben Hurs in existence. The flavor has faded a bit.
December 18th, 2006 at 2:24 pmOne candy that I recall with much joy was the harmonica. It was more on the order of wax lips or wax soda bottles filled with sweet colored liquid. The hormonic was wax and had about 3 little whistles of differing tones enclosed. Probably would never pass any safety tests today, so of course we loved them. Are you familiar with these?
December 25th, 2006 at 2:36 pmBoth me and my mom were Ben Hur candy lovers. When I was a kid in the 70’s you could buy them all over in Pennsylvania, but sadly, you can’t find them anymore. They were the kind of candy you just couldn’t eat one of… too bad they’re no longer being made.
December 30th, 2006 at 6:08 pmMy distant memory seems to recall the wax harmonica with 5 chambers filled with liquid. Perhaps there were two versions. I’m surprised that at Halloween they didn’t bring back the black wax mustache along with the red lips and dracula fangs. My all time favorite candy bar was the “original” U-No bar… not anything like the ‘new and improved’ (to worse) version you buy today. There was good reason the U-No was 10¢ back in the 50s when other candy was 5¢. Back then, the chocolate was higher quality and when you bit into the center …. ooooo’ my mouth is drooling …. the center was whipped so creamy it literally floated into your mouth. I quit buying them when they “new and improved” (their words) the bars to the point they tasted like cheap fat with a little cocoa and sugar mixed in (bought one about 3 months ago and threw it away). I’m sure the original fell victim to ingredient $$ inflation back in the 60s but I haven’t forgotten. Siiiiiiigh!
January 10th, 2007 at 8:18 pmCan anyone help me remember a name of a short-lived candy, came out in the late 80’s early 90’s, it was exactly like a “Skittle,” but had a different name? They came in large bags, and you could get different flavors, like tropical, or regular fruit flavors. A friend said “Rascals” but that is a shaped fruit candy, not what I’m looking for. I have also ruled out: “Razzels,” “Runts,” “Oompas,” “Zaps.” I swear the name started with a “R” but I could be wrong. I would greatly appreciate a name to this lost candy, since this is driving me nuts not knowing! Thanks!!
February 20th, 2007 at 2:18 pmkelly by any chance was it razza-mattaz these were small skittle like sweets came in 3 different flavours and in big bags let me know? anyway i was wondering if any one remembered cadbury’s Secret ? or golden cup ?
March 5th, 2007 at 5:01 pmKelly there was a “Rascals” candy that was a chewy kind. The so-called Rascals of today. It came in Fruit (purple package) and Tropical (orange package). I remember the commercial from the 1980s, it used to scare me a whole lot.
March 6th, 2007 at 8:50 amBonkers was a favorite from my childhood. As was Astro Pops, they were around since the mid-80’s as well. They had changed them so where the wider end of the pop was now at the top instead of originally at the bottom. Now sadly they too have dissapeared like Bonkers.
I remember a bubble gum that would come in a tube and you could squeeze in your mouth. They had a picture of a face on the tube squirting the a tube of gum in its mouth. The flavors were original (pink) and grape. Does anyone know the name of this bubble gum I’m talking about?
March 8th, 2007 at 6:30 amA BIG thank you to “Bryan” for solving my “Rascals” candy mystery!!!
I can finally prove to my friends (they thought I was crazy!) that such a candy DID exist! Woo-Hoo!
March 8th, 2007 at 2:10 pmAnd to “Jase,” thank you for your reply as well. Have a great day!
I remember when I was a kid, we had Boston Baked Beans Candy, Alexander the Grape, Lemon Head. But the catch was we used the make Harmonicas out of the box. We would leave one side close , and blow through the open end mke a harmonic sound. Now thats “Classic”!
April 11th, 2007 at 9:23 pmI have a candy mystery of my own. I remember a candy I had only once as a child and could never find again. It was an atomic fire ball that would go cold as well as hot. It would alternate between crazy fire hot and as soon as you got to the next layer, it would be icy cool. I remember no more of the candy though and would like to find out what it was called.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:35 amI used to eat those candies all of the time but neither my sister not I can remember the name. I would like to find out as well.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:42 pmJonathan, I also remember Alexander the Grape and Lemonheads. My sister and I didn’t make harmonicas out of the boxes though.
I have two favorites that weren’t on the list. One was a candy called No Jelly. It was similar to a peanut butter cup, but there were two halves of a candy bar shape, and the texture was different. I liked them even more than peanut butter cups. I remember there were interesting television commercials for them as well.
The other was a very strange, but addictive hard candy. I think they were called Copper Pennies, and they were fruit flavored penny-shaped hard candy that actually had a coppery flavoring to them. They were actually good and I liked the coppery flavor. The lime and cherry were the best, the grape my least favorite.
July 4th, 2007 at 4:16 amKim,
August 10th, 2007 at 9:37 pmI found the name of those fireballs that alternate hot and cold……..daredevils.
night nymph,
I was also a fan of the No Jelly bar by Peter-Paul Candy Company. Actually the label said “peanut butter (in small type) and NO JELLY (in much larger type). The TV and print ads almost screamed out the words “NO JELLY!!!” Anyway, I think toward the end of the life of the bar it was renamed to something rather uninspring and then rather unceremoniously dumped a few years later.
Now MY personal favorite and extinct bar was Pearson’s 7-Up bar (the dark chocolate version, although the milk chocolate would do in a pinch). It was actually 7 individual mini-portions/sections, each of a different type, then coated in chocolate. I think the make-up of the sections changed over time, but I recall at the very least there being a coconut, (orange) jelly, Brazil nut, caramel, fudge chew, peanut, and maybe cream types (mint, maple,vanilla, orange), but not sure about that last group. Anyway, I liked the Brazil nut and Coconut best, so the rest are lost to me. It was usually available at movie houses and news vendors. The nice thing about it, was that like Necco wafers, you could trade with your companions to get the flavors you really liked for the ones less favored.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:47 amcan anyone remember the name of sweets in a roll alot similiar to refreshers the were in a silver holgraphic wrapper and were fizzy/sour,i can not fr the life of me remember the name please somebody remember its driving me mad!!!!
August 27th, 2007 at 2:11 pmDoes anyone remember a candy called French Gums? We used to buy these on Central Market in Lancaster Pennsylvania.
I’ve had no luck asking confection makers.
Maybe the best bet is the public.
Donna
August 27th, 2007 at 8:03 pmI remember most of those!!! The candy I most miss from my childhood would be P.B. Max… I’d give my left arm for those to go back into production. I wrote to the company about 5 years ago, and only got back the standard generic form letter thanking me for my valued input, LOL.
Another favorite was Razzles… started out like a candy, and became a gum. I always thought it was a better candy than gum though, and I went through a lot of it.
September 9th, 2007 at 11:55 pmHELP! My mother-in-law says she’s named after an old candy called something like “Donna Dean”. Not sure of the spelling. She grew up in Upstate NY near Canada. Does anyone know what this would be?
November 1st, 2007 at 12:17 pmI was wondering if anyone can help me? im trying to remember the name of a chocolate bar i loved as a child, it was plain choc. with air bubbles all through the chocolate and i cant even remember the company that made it. But it was so good and if anyone could help me i would appreciate it cause its driving me crazy trying to remember the name! thanks
November 26th, 2007 at 2:12 amThere was one candy that I remember and loved. It had a name that was difficult for me to pronounce back then and even today I dont think I can recall it very well. It was similar to a kit-kat bar, a wafer type of candy but it was a single bar, not thin but more squarish. Debeukeler (sp?) or something like it. It was wrapped in a gold/black foil type of paper. I hated buying them because I could not pronounce the name, hence my spelling attempt. If anyone knows what I am talking about it would be nice to hear about it. Thank you!
November 30th, 2007 at 2:28 pmThis is in reply to Cynthia (26):
November 30th, 2007 at 2:32 pmI think I recall a candy that you’re talking about. It came out but to me it seemed short-lived. The name is hazy but for some reason I seem to think of Uno. Similar to the card game. It was a very different texture to the candy almost like biting into air fluffed chocolate. Now you got me going as well, LOL!
To Cynthia, the candy you are describing sounds like the Nestle Chocolite. I remember eating this light and airy chocolate treat.
To Lynley, I remember the PB Max but can’t remember the taste. I used to love Razzles. I would chew them up to turn it into gum, then pop some BottleCaps (still made, and the root beer flavor was my favorite) into my mouth and have a crunchy gum. I am not totally sure that they cannot still be found. I thought I had them not too long ago.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:43 pmHi Kelly,
Yes, it came in a bag like Skittles and they even looked like Skittles but they were called Rascals. I’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for this candy.
Does anyone know anything about the Gummi version of Jujubees? It came out in the early to mid 90’s. I LOVED these.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:25 pmI knew there was a candy bar called no jelly. That was my favorite candy. I told my husband about it but he said there was no such candy called that. I can’t wait to show him these messages.
January 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pmThere are still Wonka bars availble!
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 amMy favorite candy bar (probably discontinued in the early 50’s)was a delightful marshmallow-like center coated with a fine grade of milk chocolate. It was called Whiz and there was a radio commercial that would end with the quote, “Whiiiiizzzzzzzzz……..the best candy bar there isssssss……” I don’t think I have ever had better candy. I am also curious as to the name of the company which made Forever Yours, Big Time, Powerhouse and, perhaps another bar. They seemed to have a counter product for every bar that the Mars company made. Does anyone know?
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 pmdoes anybody remember “disco dish” candy from the 70’s. i can’t find anybody that could remember this one.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:14 pmwil net graag weet of mens nog rascals kry want ek sien dit nie meer op die winkel rakke
February 5th, 2008 at 8:53 amTo Jennifer:
I can recall selling candies for my school fundraiser back in the late 70’s called “Donna Dean Candies”. I believe the candies came in a box of 18 and there were several different varieties such as chocolate fudge, mint, nut clusters, and fruit slices. I grew up in MA. Do you think this is what she is referring to?
February 8th, 2008 at 6:43 amWhere can i find Peter Pan Peanut Butter Eggs? They only sale it during easter so i am really hunting it down but can’t find it anywhere but really wanna find it can anyone give me hope to find thse eggs of peanut butter glory!!
March 18th, 2008 at 7:18 pmpowerhouse is made by peter paul
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:17 amAnyone remember the candy that pre-dated Starburst? I distinctly remember that they were wrapped and shaped exactly like Starburst, only they were a lot smaller. At the time, I remember that Starburst was the newcomer and that they wouldn’t be able to compete, but now nobody remembers the original candy. It is not Mambo or Opal Fruits. It is another brand and I think it’s still available.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 amIn response to the folks talking about Daredevils, I used to see how many of those things I could keep in my mouth at one time. 7 of them would have tears running down my face….wonderful! I seem to remember that back in the early 90’s they were re-introduced as “Redhot Gobstoppers,” but I don’t think they were around very long. Atomic Fireballs are nice, but no substitute. If anyone hears of Daredevils–or anything similar–being produced, please post!
May 7th, 2008 at 3:07 pmDoes anyone remember the marathon bar in the 70’s .I loved them I ate them all the time.I liked mine in the freezer so the chocolate and caramel got hard yummmmmmmm.I would give anything to have one now.Also loved Bonkers when I was in grade school.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:52 pmMy favorite was far and away the 10:30 bar. It was sort of a cinnamon flavored wafer bar covered in white chocolate. It was marketed as an adult candy bar, something a working person might enjoy on a break. Hence the name, 10:30, which is the traditional morning break time at many places of work. I really miss the 10:30 bar. No other candy tastes as good.
June 9th, 2008 at 5:38 pmI NEED BEN HURS LOL
July 28th, 2008 at 12:57 amIn the 1980’s I remember a candy I think it was called Fruit Faces or Funny Faces. Does anyone know if it’s discontinued or not?
July 31st, 2008 at 7:45 pmIn the 80’s there was candy that came in a box, it was small colourful squares and had a very chewy, slightly sour centre. Can anyone tell me what it was called? I havn’t seen it anywhere since the 80’s.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:23 amI remember that Funny Face candy…were they like thin wafer things that came in a box stacked like a totem pole and you’d break them off? Ha. I found this website while checking to see if they are still around. I guess not but I’m glad someone else remembers them.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:52 amcandy keeper: I have been looking for Funny Faces for years now. I used to eat them in the early 1970’s but haven’t seen them since. If anyone knows where we can find these please let us know.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm