What is old is new again, and this couldn’t be truer in regard to the recent resurrection of the classic candy Good & Fruity. Many of you may be familiar with this one already, and if you are, I’m very jealous! I’m too young to have enjoyed the original Good & Fruity (or Good ‘n Fruity as far as the original goes) back in its days of glory. I was hoping that the fact that Hershey’s was bringing it back would make me feel like a more “complete” candy lover; like how a modern gamer would feel finding an original Nintendo Entertainment System to play or a wine connoisseur discovering a long lost vintage. A chance to take a step back in time and taste something that “once was.”

Although, like Zombies brought back from the dead, things just aren’t as good the second time around. The original Good ‘n Fruity were pastilles with a bland jelly center and the actual fruit favoring came from the colored candy shells. As the legend goes, the formula was changed in 1988 to enhance the flavor by making the jelly centers fruity to match the candy coating. After that there’s no word on how Good ‘n Fruity slipped out of favor with the candy eating public and ended up discontinued.

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Although I don’t consider myself to be a picky eater, I’ve been told that I tend to dissect my food. This is particularly true when said food was once alive and has the ability to surprise me with an unexpected texture or color. I hate to admit that this attention to food detail has in the past extended to candy. I am referring to my hesitance to try Cow Tales.

My early experiences with this candy involved seeing it displayed alongside bouquets of Slim Jims at convenience stores. This frightened me to my very core as a child. And as a teenager. And to this day. Does the close proximity to mechanically separated chicken parts mean that there could possibly be an actual cow’s tale in this unassuming white wrapper? What exactly is a Cow Tale? And is the spelling just a clever ruse to distract me from the fact that I may be about to consume an actual appendage?

Let’s just say I overreacted a little bit.

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Although Snickers has satisfied the world for over 75 years now, it has been some years since I’ve actually bought and eaten one. I had pretty much overdosed on them during my pregnancy, when I craved Snickers every day for several months (or just used the cravings excuse as a way to justify daily chocolate eating)!

These days there are so many interesting candy bars available, the tried-and-true don’t often get chosen when I’m in the mood for a sugar fix. After eating one for the purposes of this review, I remembered why those cravings were so nice to have. Snickers is really the granddaddy of all candy bars and it’s not difficult to taste why.

Upon eating it, I was reminded why Snickers is such a popular choice – there is just something very appealing about the different textures it offers. The smooth, slightly squishy nougat, the stretchy caramel, and the crunchy peanuts, all wrapped up in a soft chocolate coating makes this bar almost irresistible.

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Exotic treats are not what you commonly expect to find on the candy rack of the local gas station. And though exotic might be a bit lofty when describing Toffifay (known outside the US as Toffifee), its unique nature compared to its store shelf neighbors definitely makes it stand out.

I recall first running across this Storck product when I was young. I wasn’t a very big fan back then of toffee (unlike today) and avoided this odd confection at first. But the curious looking box the candies came in intrigued me, particularly the beautiful rendering of the candy on the front of the package that didn’t appear to be toffee-like at all (which it’s not).

Imagine my surprise the first time I opened the package. The box is open at the top with paper enveloping all sides. Once you push your thumb through the paper and pop open one side of the box you discover a golden plastic tray hiding inside with four inch-wide cups each containing an individual Toffifay piece.

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“Take it back inside and give it back to the man at the counter.”

My mom looked at me pointedly. Tears welled in my eyes. I clutched a box of Junior Mints, a box my mother knew the cashier hadn’t seen and she hadn’t paid for. I was four.

“That’s called stealing,” Mom said. “Take it back in and say you’re sorry.”

I did. To this day, I pay for every box of Junior Mints I consume. Looking back, I’m not sure what made me choose Junior Mints that fateful day. Maybe it has something to do with the glossy chocolate coating and how it encapsulated a perfect, creamy mint center. A retro candy staple first released in 1949, Junior Mints were my first mint love. Now that I’m older, I love garden mint body spray, mojitos, and any combinations of mint and chocolate I can find. Junior Mints were my candy gateway to all things mint.

They certainly don’t seem to compare to the other candies I preferred when I was a child. I loved bright, colorful, fruity candies, sweets so chewy they tugged at fillings. I fell for gimmicks, like special candy I could squeeze from a tube or wear around my wrist. But Junior Mints didn’t have to look cool. They tasted cool.

I’ll never forget them, because they taught me a pretty valuable lesson. Just because you can easily swipe a box of Junior Mints without paying doesn’t mean you should do it. Thanks, Ma (and delicious Junior Mints).

• Junior Mints website

Buy Junior Mints online:

• at Old Time Candy
• at Candy Crate
• at Candy Direct
• at Amazon

More candy articles about: junior mints, mint, chocolate

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