50 delicious candies that you ate as a kid, but aren't so easy to find these days

1) Abba-Zabba

Abba-Zabba was a classic go-to candy as a kid. No matter how hard it was to chew, and no matter how much it made your molars stick together, it was impossible to resist that sweet taffy and peanut butter center. Apparently it was John Wayne’s favorite candy. You can still find it in stores today, but you’ll have to look hard.

2) Candy buttons

Candy buttons were originally introduced sometime in the 1950s and NECCO began making them in the 1980s. These super sweet hardened pieces of sugar came attached to a sheet of paper. It was almost impossible not to eat some of the paper in the process of eating the candy!

Sandy Toes and Popsicles
Source:

Sandy Toes and Popsicles

3) Kits

Kits were introduced to the world in 1924. It used to cost just a penny! This sweet treat was similar to today’s Starbursts and came in four flavors – chocolate, banana, peanut butter, and strawberry.

4) Zotz

Zotz were made in Italy and brought to the States in 1968. Inside the sweet hard candy shell, you’ll find a fizzy mixuture of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid which made your mouth have a funny tingling and sour sensation. If you scope out retro candy stores, you can still find Zotz around.

5) Fizzies

Speaking of fizzy candies, Fizzies were a popular hit back in the day! They first hit the market in the 1950s and were created by the same company that created Bromo Seltzer. Drop these tablets in a glass of water and you’d have a fizzy fruit-flavored drink. Although it was known to cause tummy aches instead of curing them.

6) Marpo Yum-Yum Marshmallow Ice Cream Cones

“This petite treat definitely deserves a candy comeback. Nestled atop of a sugar-wafer cone is a fluffy scoop of “ice cream.” OK—it’s just a bite-sized marshmallow, but its pastel coloring makes it absolutely adorable. This fat-free candy was created in 1936 under the name Captain Cone’s Fun Time Treats—though the jury’s still out on just who Captain Cone actually was,” said Taste of Home.

7) Candy cigarettes

Candy cigarettes seem pretty taboo today since we don’t necessarily want to encourage our kids to smoke but back in the day? We loved them! They were introduced in the late 19th century and were made with chalky sugar or bubblegum that was wrapped in paper and resembled cigarettes.

8) Chiclets

The history of Chiclets chewing gum goes all the way back to 1900. All it was really was a candy-coated peppermint or fruit-flavored chewing gum. And let’s face it – the flavor really didn’t last all that long.

9) Reeds

Reeds were basically like Lifesavers but way better. They first were made starting in 1893 and were produced for 100 years! Their butterscotch flavor was one of the most popular. You’ll be hard-pressed to find these at the store but they do still exist.

10) Nik-L-Nip wax bottle candy

For some reason, we loved to chew on wax as a kid. If you remember these strange candies, you’d have to tear (or bite) off the top of the wax bottle and then drink the sugary sweet liquid inside. Sometimes you’d even chew on the bottle afterward. They were first created back in the early 20th century.

11) Chuckles Jelly Candy

Chuckles Jelly Candy first started back in 1921 and it was a big hit! They’re jelly candies with a sugar coating and came in five flavors – lemon, lime, orange, cherry, and licorice (why not grape?!).

12) Charms Candy Sour Balls

The Charms company was actually Tropical Charms at one point and they offered a square candy (more on this on another slide) but they also created this sour hit. People were buying this sour and sweet treat since the early 1900s!

13) Charms Squares candy

Charms squares candy was the company’s first product back in 1912. They came in both standard fruit flavors and tropical ones. It was hard not to try and crunch through instead of sucking on it until it dissolved.

14) Bit–O–Honey

The delicious and sweet Bit-O-Honey candy was first introduced in 1924. “Almond bits embedded in a honey-flavored taffy made for a long-chewing candy. Today, Bit-O-Honey is made by the Pearson Company,” explains Old Time Candy.

15) Applehead candy

Who didn’t love Applehead candy?! The same company made Lemonhead, Cherryhead, and Grapehead as well. The formula was first introduced in 1962 and can still be found today if you look hard enough. It’s candy-coated chewy center was delicious with the slightly tart and sweet apple flavor.

16) Boston Baked Beans

“‘The Boston Baked Bean’ is a generic name used throughout the candy industry for sugar coated peanuts. The Ferrara Pan Candy Company developed their line of Boston Baked Beans in the early 1930s,” explains Old Time Candy.

17) Red Hots

Red Hots were also introduced in the early 1930s and are still a hit today. Although you may be hard-pressed to find this exact brand ever since Hot Tamales came into the picture. They’re tiny, they’re kinda hard and kinda chewy, they’re fiery-hot cinnamon flavored, and they’re delicious!

18) Goobers

Goobers were simple but boy were they good! Goober is actually a nickname for peanuts in the south and that’s what Goober candy is! Peanuts covered in chocolate! They were made in 1925 and are now produced by Nestle.

19) Atkinson Peanut Butter Bars candy

These delicious pieces of peanut butter candy are crunchy, flaky, and chewy all at the same time. Made since 1947, there is a hard candy jacket surrounding a peanut butter honeycombed center. Yummy!

20) Chick-O-Stick

Chick-O-Sticks are also made by Atkinson and is just as delicious! It’s like the inside of a Butterfinger and nothing else. It’s been made since the 1950s and has the primary flavor of peanut butter and coconut. It’s dry and brittle but also takes on a chewy consistency once you start eating it.

21) Oh Henry!

Oh Henry! candy bars are another simple but delicious treat from the past. It’s simply peanuts, caramel, and fudge covered in chocolate. Yes, please! It was first manufactured in 1920 and is not made by Nestle.

22) Charleston Chew

Charleston Chew first came out back in 1925 and is still made today. It was actually named after the popular dance at the time. It’s a candy bar made of nougat that’s covered in a chocolate coating. Chewy and delicious!

23) Candy necklaces

Wearing candy around your neck seems like a logical idea, right? The classic candy necklace was always a hit as a kid. Even though you became incredibly sticky after eating the sugary hard candy wrapped around an elastic string. They were first made in the 50s and can still be found today made by Smarties.

24) Wax Lips candy

Here is another “play with your food” type of candy that we all loved as kids. The history has been hard to track down but versions have dated back all the way to the 1900s. They’re made from a flavored wax and had a bite plate in the back to create a funny look. They were meant to be chewed afterward but most people just threw them out.

25) Chupa Chups Whistle Pops

Candy plus an instrument? Sure! Why not? “Whistle Pops were a lollipop brand produced by Spangler Candy Company that were designed to make a whistling sound. They were produced with a hole in them, and when blown into, a whistling sound would emanate from the confectionery,” explains Wikipedia.

26) Big League Chew

Big League Chew was also another “play” on tobacco but it was just so fun! It was strings of pink bubble gum in a light sugary coating and you’d just shove piles of it in your mouth at a time. So fun! It came out in 1980 and has been popular ever since.

27) Necco wafers

“Necco Wafers are simple, sweet, and made from the original recipe used by Oliver Chase in 1847,” says the Spangler Candy website and they’re still just as yummy today. However, if you find them, stock up because the future of the candy is unknown since their company filed bankruptcy in 2018.

28) Slo Poke caramel candy

This caramel treat is chewy, sweet, and full of flavor. It was first produced in 1926 and came in bars as well as a lollipop form. It would always satisfy a sweet tooth!

29) Cry Baby sour gumballs

These gumballs were so sour they would definitely make your cheeks pucker. Although we’re not sure when they were first made, they were definitely a staple as kid growing up in the 80s.

30) Fun Dip

Fun Dip candy has been around since the 40s and it’s a kid’s dream candy! You take a stick made of sugar, lick it, then dip it into flavored sugar! It doesn’t get better than that really. And if you ate the stick? Just use your fingers!

31) Root beer barrels

Root beer barrels taste just like they sound like – root beer! This hard candy nailed the flavor spot-on and they’ve been around since the early 20th century.

32) Fruit Stripes gum

Fruit Stripe gum is a childhod favorite for kids who grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s. They offered a chewing gum and a bubble gum as well. The gum was known for its strong, fruity flavors but it was often fleeting. The wrapper was also a temporary tattoo!

33) Idaho Spud candy bars

Idaho Spud candy bars were first introduced to candy aisles in 1918 and aren’t the easiest candy to find these days. It’s a lovely chocolate-flavored marshmallow that is covered in dark chocolate and coconut. No potatoes involved!

34) Sky Bar

Necco Sky Bars might be a distant memory for some people. They were introduced in 1938 and produced by Necco until their closure in 2018. It has four milk chocolate sections, each with a different filling – fudge, peanut, vanilla, and caramel.

35) Good News candy bar

This history behind this chocolate bar is a little muddy. It was first made in the 1930s then switched ownership quite a bit but is now made in Los Angeles. The chocolate bar has peanuts and caramel in the center and was a popular gift back in the day. Now, it’s widely popular in Hawaii.

36) Look! candy bar

Look! candy bars are absolutely delicious. Peanuts and nougat are covered in dark chocolate and it’s chewy paradise. It’s also sweetened with molasses so it has an extra richness to it. You can still find Look! bars if you look hard enough.

37) Rocky Road candy bar

This super unique candy bar started back in the 1950s. There isn’t any connection to the ice cream flavor at all. In fact, it’s a marshmallow, sprinkled with roasted cashews, then covered in chocolate. How can you go wrong? They’re still floating around out there.

38) U-NO

“The U-NO Bar is produced by the Annabelle Candy Company. The U-NO is a truffle type bar with almond bits covered in a thin layer of chocolate, and wrapped in a silver foil-like wrapper. It is comparable to a 3 Musketeers bar only in appearance. It has a much higher fat content, and its center is a chocolate fluff,” says Wikipedia.

39) Black Cow chocolate caramel

These delicious chewy treats were unfortunately discontinued so their nearly impossible to find. But remember how good they were? It’s basically just chocolate-flavored caramel and it’s fabulous.

Colorful Pantry
Source:

Colorful Pantry

40) ZERO candy bar

ZERO bars were first created back in 1920 and is also unique because it’s the only white candy bar! It’s filling is caramel, peanut, and almond nougat and it’s covered with white fudge. Hershey still makes them today.

41) Mallo Cups

These throwback yummy candies date back to 1936! “Mallo Cups are milk chocolate cups with a whipped creamy center and a sprinkle of coconut. There are 2 cups per package in the standard size,” explains Old Time Candy.

42) Cherry Mash

This old-fashioned candy goes way back. In fact, it’s roots begin in 1876! There is a soft, cherry-flavored filling made with maraschino cherries, then covered in a mixture of chocolate and peanuts. The company still proudly makes them today, but you’re best bet of finding them is in the Midwest.

43) Spree

“Spree is classified as a compressed dextrose candy, covered in a colored fruit-flavored shell,” says Wikipedia. It was created in the mid-1960s but Nestle bought it in the 70s and has been making them ever since.

44) Bottle Caps

Bottle Caps are sweet but slightly sour and have similar texture to Smarties. They come in root beer, grape, cola, orange, and cherry flavors and are in the shape of a bottle cap! They’ve been around for decades and are still made by Nestle today.

45) Astro Pop

This is a lollipop that you’ll be hard-pressed to find anymore. They were first made in 1963 and had the original flavors of cherry, passionfruit, and pineapple. The product was discontinued in 2004 after safety concerns because of its shape.

46) Good & Plenty

If you’re a fan of black licorice, you probably love Good & Plenty candy, right? It’s chewy black licorice covered in a sweet candy shell. It was first created in 1893 and is still made by Hershey today.

47) Atomic Fireballs

Seeing who could keep an Atomic Fireball in their mouth the longest was always a fun game as a kid. The super spicy cinnamon candy was fiery hot and sweet at the same time. It took quite some time to dissolve it! These have been around since 1954!

48) Banana Splits

Taffy fans who love banana flavor probably went gaga over these retro chewy candies. It’s creamy, it’s smooth, and it’s going to be hard to find them ever since Necco went bankrupt. It goes all the way back to the 60s.

49) Bar None

“BarNone featured a cocoa wafer, chocolate crème, peanuts and a milk chocolate coating,” explains Snack and Bakery. Although, sadly, the candy bar that originated in 1987 has been discontinued.

50) Werther’s Original

Although still popular today, it deserves an honorable mention. This caramel-flavored hard candy has been a fan-favorite since 1903. It’s a candy so good it’s withstood the test of time!

Here are 50 candies that you loved as a kid but are tricky to find these days.