OK world, are you listening? I want to tell you all something. You probably already knew this, but I wanted to make it official. Are you listening? OK… here goes… Dum-Dums. Are. Completely. Totally. Rad. No, you’re not shocked, but you are nodding your head in agreement! I knew it!
I don’t remember my very first Dum-Dum pop, but they’ve been a pleasant part of most of my life. Personally, I became a lifelong fan of Dum-Dums when they helped me learn about irony in the 7th grade: I noticed my dentist had a big bowl in his office, and his receptionist always insisted I take two or three.
These little babies have been around for more than 80 years, and all this time they’ve been sweet, unassuming, and never expect too much from anyone. Let me tell you, I am all about candy that doesn’t require a huge time-commitment. Giant Jawbreakers, All-Day Suckers – these make a statement. They say, “I love sugar, and I want everyone at this amusement park/school/beach/carnival/mall to know it!!! Look at me and my ridiculously large candy!!!” Whereas Dum-Dums are really the prefect size for a sucker. Just about the time you’re getting tired of the corn syrupy, artificial taste, you’re done!
I got my hands on a small bag recently, and I noticed a few changes from my junior high Dum-Dums heyday. Foremost: the pops are now opaque (they used to be transparent).
Sadly, my favorite flavor, peach, is mysteriously “on vacation,” so I’ll be looking forward to that return. Some interesting new flavors like Cherry Cola and Pink Lemonade have joined the roster, although they didn’t make it into this particular bag. Pretty much everything else is still the same. Same mini size, same white stick, same waxy wrapper. I enjoyed a cream soda pop and it was exactly like I’d remembered it, extremely sweet and slightly chewy.
To me, all the flavors have a kind of sno-coney, bubble-gummy note to them. Let’s be honest with ourselves, we’re not attempting to imitate nature here. But the diminutive size packs just the right sugar wallop without that gross “I just ate a cup of refined sugar” feeling, and there are some unusual, if unnatural, flavors happening there.
An interesting factoid: It turns out that the “mystery flavor” is a combination of any two flavors. See, the machine that makes the pops probably shoots out thousands per minute, and it wouldn’t be cost effective to stop the machine, clean everything out, and restart every time it’s time to change flavors. So, they wait till there’s just a little bit of, say, strawberry, in the machine, then they just go ahead and pour, say, watermelon right on top. For the next 20 minutes, what comes out is strawberry-watermelon, and its sold as “Mystery Flavor”! Isn’t that genius! I would give anything to see Dum-Dums being made…
Buy Dum-Dums online:
- at Old Time Candy
- at Candy Crate
- at Candy Direct
There was a thing about how their made on unwrapped.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:58 amI love them even more now. I always hand them out at halloween. Question? Any idea what the “mystery ” flavor really is? It tastes almost like pineapple.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:29 pmI LOVE the factoid about the Mystery flavor – thank you for that! I always wondered what I was tasting and could never quite figure it out; now I know why. I love knowing food/candy trivia! Now I have to go share that with my best foodie friend…after I hit up the candy aisle at the Mexican grocery store (I live in Tucson, AZ, where Mexican candy is thankfully very plentiful)!
July 20th, 2007 at 5:21 pmHaha…
Dum Dums.
About three years ago, my dog got into my Halloween candy (Oh the horror!), and there was probably nothing, at all, left in that bag that resembled much edibleness.
So me, in my distressed state, crawled into bed – and underneath the covers, there were multiple Dum Dums hiding there. Underneath the pillow too you ask? Why yes.
Well, turns out, she’d taken all the lollipops, and stashed ‘em throughout the house. Six months later, we were still finding dum dums!
Even the dog loved ‘em. Ridiculous.
…Just thought I’d share. =)
(And that’s super interesting about the mystery flavor… I always assumed that it was a regular flavor with a mystery wrapper on it. =s)
July 20th, 2007 at 7:23 pmah…the good old days when dentists used to give out lollipops! Now all they give is a stupid pencil or a sticker.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:37 pmI love these! They should make a bigger version though. :P They don’t last long enough! Cream soda and butterscotch are my favorites.
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:44 pmHow do I get peach back? I’m so distressed that it’s gone, it’s my favorite candy. . .
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 pmI know this is forever a dead post, but if you are still out there I just thought I would say hi! I work for the Spangler Candy Co., who makes Dum Dum pops. Another Factoid about Dum Dums Mystery flavor. There are actually two ways they make that flavor, one is when they change flavors on the line, as they make dum dums all the time (to the tune of 8 million a day). The other is, right before they are packed, quality control checks to make sure that the pop is wrapped porperly. Those that are not, are unwrapped and saved, and then rewrapped as mystery flavor. Hope all is well.
TomC
April 18th, 2008 at 4:17 amPeach is my favorite flavor too and i always wondered what happened to them. I want them to bring it back. Let’s start a petition!
August 19th, 2008 at 12:10 amAbout the only flavor I disliked from these was the buttered popcorn. I don’t like buttered popcorn jelly bellys either. To me, it’s just like eating solid or chewy butter- there’s no popcorn flavor, plus that’s a flavor that doesn’t mesh with the idea of candy for me. I liked the root beer ones though. And strawberry. My little bro liked the cream soda.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:43 am