Red Hots have been around since the 1930’s, but didn’t enter into my life until well into the 80’s. This is one of those candies that defined my 80’s childhood – including other classics like Lemonheads, those cinnamon-flavored toothpicks, and Now & Laters. For a while there, Red Hots were actually banned from my junior high school – I never did figure out why!
When I spied Red Hots at the American supermarket here in Melbourne, I was immediately transported back to the days when I had really bad hair days and wore a t-shirt which said “Frankie Says Relax.†The actual packaging and look of Red Hots has had a bit of a modern upgrade and now sports the fairly prominent “A FAT FREE FOOD†tag stamped in the corner. I suppose in many ways that is a sign of the times, as we certainly couldn’t care less about fat content back in junior high!
I remember them as being quite small, mostly uniform shiny red nuggets. The ones I tried today look much bigger than I remember them, and at 25 cents it’s still a pretty cheap thrill. The actual “hot†factor is closer to just “warmâ€, but they leave a quite pleasant cinnamon flavor behind once the candy is long gone. The challenge seems to be deciding if you suck them down to nothingness, or if you crunch into them right away for a more effective cinnamon kick.
Either way, this time I’m eating them on a good hair day.
Buy Red Hots online:
- at Candy Direct
- at Old Time Candy
- at Candy Crate
- at Amazon.com
Red Hots are a long time favorite of mine! I like them by the handful – which ups the “hot” factor nicely :)
July 13th, 2007 at 11:11 amI love Red Hots! Growing up, one of my friends had a Valentine’s Day birthday, and her cake was always covered in pink frosting and Red Hots. Lovely stuff.
July 13th, 2007 at 5:36 pmIn my turning of age drinking days we use to always have our Red Hots and Fireballs with a beer chaser….you have no idea how good these hot candies go with beer.
July 15th, 2007 at 5:57 pmI love red hots! They are soo addicting, as a matter of fact I’m going to buy a giant box right after work.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:25 pmI’ve been addicted to Red Hots for 6 years now. I eat about four boxes a week, which means I’ve eaten approximately 1,248 boxes of Red Hots in my lifetime. Probably more, since I sometimes eat a box a day. They’re soooooo good!!!!! Ferrara Pan should be paying me to promote them. Thanks to me, about five other people are addicted, just not as much as me. haha
October 20th, 2011 at 8:34 pm