Controversial Candies
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2022
- Circus Peanuts, Black Licorice, and Candy Corn are possibly the most divisive Halloween treats. Each, however, has its own history that has allowed them to, perhaps surprisingly, have endured to show up in trick-or-treat bags and candy aisles for generations.
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Script by JCG
#history #thehistoryguy #Halloween
When I was about 15 years old, my dad got me a "bucket of coal" for christmas. It was a little metal bucket with several lumps of black licorice and a little hammer to break it up. All in all, about 5 pounds of black licorice. Just to be a contrarian, I ate it all. By the time I finished the "coal", I ended up liking black licorice. Can't say it's my favorite, but I do like it.
Great story.
I live in an area where coal mining is in its history and the local museum includes a mining area and they sell this "coal" in a similar way. Kids love it.
My family sold them in our sweets store.
You can still find bags and buckets of coal candy around. A fun treat for and from friends
I remember that exact " coal licorice " . I ate some and could taste it for hours afterward .
Candy cigarettes were a staple of my childhood Halloween plunder. Pell Mell, Kamel, Lucky Lights. They probably deserve an honorable mention for divisive Halloween treats.
Yeah... those would be divisive for a different reason. And, frankly, unlike the other three, most of us in the millennial generation and below have probably never eaten one. I'm in the older half of millennials and I'm trying to remember if I've ever even seen one in person, though I have heard of them from older generations.
Thankfully, I think we've reached the point in society where most people agree that marketing cigarettes to children isn't the best of ideas.
@@vbscript2 There were two kinds of candy cigarettes, hard chalky candy sticks with a red colored tip, which you can still buy rebranded as "candy sticks", and the much cooler cylinder of bubblegum in a paper wrap, with powder between the wrap and gum. Those actually looked like, and were the same size as, cigarettes, and you could blow "smoke" out of them. I'm pretty sure they're not made any more at all.
I LOVED candy cigarettes! But my folks would rarely let me have them, apparently because they were afraid they would get me started on the real thing! Well, I started smoking, anyway--not because of them, but because of peer pressure in my second year of college!
@@vbscript2 Well, I'm a boomer (born 1955) and I do remember eating candy cigarettes in my childhood. They were kind of chalky and, IIRC, a bit minty. They were made of a white candy with a red tip intended to look like the burning end of the cigarette. Fortunately, in spite of the best efforts of that unholy alliance between Big Tobacco and Big Candy, I never took up tobacco smoking.
My paternal grandfather dying of emphysema (he was a heavy smoker) when I was maybe 10 or 11 was a major factor in that.
@@one-eyedsam2186 I also recall long cylinders of chocolate inside a real rolled cigarette paper. You slipped the chocolate out of the papers to eat it.Just don't leave them in the sun. If the chocolate melted into the paper they were trashed.
We LOVE circus peanuts, and candy corn!!!! Keep them coming. We go to certain stores just to get circus peanuts.
Sounds like you'd sell your first born just to buy some, GET HELP!!
Bob Evan’s sell those nasty peanuts. I’m 61. The only candies my grandmother ever had were those nasty peanuts and root beer barrels 🤢
My hubby 'bout barfs over the smell of Circus Peanuts, but I love them. I hate black licorice, but it's his favorite. 😂 Go figure.
Circus popcorn ❤
@@pamelanadel3787i loved them both!
I was raised on Candy Corn, Circus Peanuts, and another candy not featured here - Orange Slices. I have always loved them and I always will!
Let’s not forget the required Christmas ribbon candy
I once used candy corn as a practical joke on my mother. I cut off the white tips from several of them, put them in my mouth, pretended to hit a door hard, and spit them out. Mom thought they were my teeth. It was hilarious. She was not amused.
Lol when my brother-in-law were little 7, 8 years old, we put ketchup on our hands screaming to our mother that we cut ourselves. Just like yours, she was not amused.
LOL I used to put the oral thermometer under the hot tap water to get out of going to school. It worked until one time I got caught doing so
" OHHHH YOU LITTLE DEVIL"
and from then on my mom would endure the full 3 minutes of her already VERY busy morning standing over me to get my accurate temperature.
you're my kind of bastard. 😂🤣
LOL Nice
BWAHAHAHAHA! 😃👍🤣
I am 83 years old. When I was a kid in rural Arkansas and Texas, there were no close neighbors or anywhere to go
'trick or treating'. Sometimes there would be a Halloween party at school. Usually a fund raiser of some sort. I know we bought candy corn and licorice a few times, but no one like either one. I didn't know what the Circus Peanuts were called. I think I recall tasting them sometime. Our spending money was usually hard won, so we learned early on to spend it on necessities, caps for our cap pistols, then later BBs for our BB guns. Usually the picture show on Saturday night was a necessity.
It cost .10 cents to get in. A large box of popcorn was .10 cents and a paper cup of Coke was .05 cents. With little brothers and sisters older kids had to make sure we made enough during the week for everyone to go.
I was surprised to know that licorice is still being made. I thought something had happened where it was no longer made.I still don't eat candy. I don't like the taste 'sweet'. I think some 5 percent of the world's population don't like the taste. Just plain sugar has a bitter after taste. I don't like pie or cake, either On December 10th, in 1943, my 5th birthday, my new Dad, (no step involved, had adopted me), but I digress In the mess hall at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, he made me a real, honest to gawd jelly roll. The raspberry filling was a bright red against the white cake. I thought that was to most beautiful thing I ever saw. Still do. He cut it with a sewing thread. I didn't think it was right somehow, to eat something that beautiful.' Dammit I' m a sentimental old fool, crying over a jelly roll that's been gone 3/4 of a Century.
Ok, my keeper is here with my meds. Gotta hide this website. She thinks I'm looking at porn.
Looooooooool, that was great!
Lmao
It is also our sweet memories that make us cry.💝💝🙏💝💝
Food porn
What a lovely story about your life, Jean! My dad is 85, and we kids and grandkids love to sit around him and let him unspool glorious stories about his football days, wearing shirts handmade by his mom, gathering scrap metal for the war, and milking the cows at his dad's dairy farm. Older folks are such a treasure in our world. Good health to you!
"NECCO WAFERS" Were always the most hated candy in these parts. Little discs of blackboard chalk, YUM! YUM!
LOL. I like them tho.
I love them too!!
@@littlelambs7044 They are great. CVS and Dollar Tree usually have them.
Bit-O-Honey.
Love necco wafers too . I didn't like the pink ones so I would put them in the change return in the snack machine at work just before lunch time, watching co-workers reactions when taking their change. Most took it well with a, what the .... and then you had the Karen's. Oh well .... 😂 .
Brought back a memory of my grandma calling candy corn, “chicken corn.” She was born in 1910.
My West Virginia granny called it chicken corn too. She was born in 1914. Lived to 103
I had forgotten my grandmother called them that too!
I love all those! Necco wafers need to be added to the list. I think by law, every grandmother must carry lint-covered Necco wafers in her purse.
You're cracking me up.
don't forget Bit O Honey
Not lint-covered so much. I found them in my Dollar Tree or Big Lots. I saw them, yipped in delight and bought five of these 6" long rolls of Necco wafers. They were fresh, too. (I'm pretty sure it was Dollar Tree.)
Necco is a local product for us; my vivid memory of it is as ammo/shrapnel as the guys in our graphics/drafting bullpen fired it around the room at each other with rubber bands.
@@leszekwolkowski9856 Bit O Broken Teeth
First off I eat candy corn one color at a time and have since early childhood. Now to the nitty gritty. I think the reason we keep these around is it brings us back to a simpler life. It reminds us of going polliwoging, lightning bug hunting. Simple times where the only thing to worry about is getting home before the street lights came on. A time where an empty box today is a fort and tomorrow it's a rocketship. A time when a broom handle was a horse named Silver or Champion. Where an empty lot was a football field or a baseball diamond.
Yeayaright ❗😋☺️
There's dozens of comments on here about grandparents having these candies in a drawer somewhere. I think you nailed it in your description.
Exactly🥰🙏
Lightning bugs are gone, being unsupervised until the streetlights come on is enough to justify a visit from CPS with neglect, empty boxes are now covered in ads and suffocation warnings, broom handles are now roombas, and an empty lot we played football in is now trespassing signs... It truly is a different time
And a month before school would let out for the summer your hands began to ache to be string burned from kite flying. I so loved flying box kites.
Black licorice and "circus peanuts" are the stuff of life ❤
I love both
Circus peanuts have GOT to be fresh,and a good brand.
The stale ones are gross,that's probably why so many people don't like them.
Licorice quality really depends on it being at least a decent brand. Good and plenty are better than most Licorice sticks and whips,but the All Sorts mix are especially good.
I just had some circus peanuts last week. I had no idea they were banana flavored. It is interesting what happens when you colorize things a different color, than the flavor!
🤣 I eat them sometimes. Not been 'banana' flavored for decades...unless it's some rare banana we aren't familiar with ☺
Strawberry gummy bears are green
I like them because I can't eat bananas so they are my substitute. And yes, they still do taste like bananas.
@@matildagreene1744 , According to a friend of mine who went to culinary school, they're supposed to taste like what bananas used to take like before the Cavendish banana became the standard eating banana.
My mom loved circus peanuts stale
The CEO of circus peanut company on a TV interview said; "I have no idea why anyone would want to buy and eat these (wtf), but they do, we just make them". That says it all right there.
I mean yeah they feel, taste, and smell exactly like erasers.
The banana flavor in circus peanuts is mimicking an extinct banana known as the Gros Michel. What you buy at the grocery store is the Cavendish banana, which has a completely different flavor profile. That's why people don't think that banana-flavored things don't taste like banana. What they are tasting is a fascinating aspect of history! I don't think anyone has attempted to or successfully replicated the Cavendish banana flavor.
Its not nessicarally extinct, they just don't grow it on a scale like they used to. Its Industrially extinct. The cavendish is next as there's fears that the monoculture of Cavendish is going to do itself in similar to the Gros Michel.
That's what a friend of mine told me...that they taste like bananas did before the Cavendish banana became the standard eating banana.
That’s pretty cool!! Thanks for sharing. 👍
I am a very picky eater but I absolutely love candy corn and their pumpkin cohorts. I can and will eat an entire bag happily.
I know. Liked the Fall mixture that had the banana and chocolate pieces. The new mixtures don't seem to include them anymore.
The pumpkins are great. The local grocery stores used to have generic "mallocreme" oddball shapes for each holiday, a bit like the pumpkins. They have disappeared over the years, sadly.
Gross
My grandmother, born in 1894, loved candy corn so much that one year when very young, she saved her portion and tried to plant it the next spring.
Oh that is such a sweet story !!
Aww I love that story!
sounds like the old gal should have spent time modeling straight jackets!!
that's adorable:)
You might note that I said she was very young. She was probably only 3 or 4 years old when it happened. She got a kick out of recounting the story years later.@@gregrak9389
I think my chilhood was fueled by "devisive" candy. I still buy black licorice by the case. Thankfully no one else will eat it, so my stash is safe!
I also like black licorice and I'm thinking about starting a support group
Exactly!
Black licorice, black jelly beans, black JuJu's, Black Jack gum. Either you get it or you don't.
And we get everyone's black jelly beans
I used to buy actual licorice *sticks* to chew as a kid, from an old fashioned pharmacy (with a sandwich counter and soda jerk!). Yes, actual sticks/roots from the licorice shrub; the original "no sugar added" confection!
So I have a peanut allergy. I fondly remember finding circus peanuts when I was little and thinking “wow, I can eat these!” and so I loved them from then on. It’s still a favorite of mine today.
Awh how cute! 😊
An excellent taste treat!
If you love it, love it! Does NOT matter what others think!
@@edamnaf9265 That's the bottom line regarding most things (music, art, etc.).
yea I like them too, but only fresh. The pharmacy used to get them fresh back in 2019 that was the last time I had a bag.
Growing up in a large family (7brothers, one sister) in the 60's in Cleveland, Ohio, we ate a lot of these candies because that's what my parents could afford to give use that could be shared so none of us felt left out. Didn't realize how poor we were until I finally got my first job as a teenager. Don't regret it though, taught us thrift and gratefulness.
Many of the candies that are hard to find, are sold at Cracker Barrel in their gift shop like area. I made a nostalgia basket for my brother's 50th birthday and bought many of the old favorites there.
thanks
My grandfather used black licorice flavoring to spray on his fishing lures. He swore by it for catching bass and crappie. He passed more than 30 years ago. His tackle-box still smells of it.
It's true, fish are strongly attracted to the anise flavor. A lot of commercial berley pellets include aniseed.
Fish must be attracted to the smell, because I've noticed that a lot of rubber fishing lures absolutely REEK of black licorice!
Crack works too. It just disrupts the ecosystem.
Love that,
My beloved grandfather was a merchant seaman who always smoked a pipe. A favorite childhood memory was my imitating him with a candy pipe made of black licorice...two "old salts" together. RIP, Pop-Pop!
Did he ever get that white whale?
Liquorice pipes were a childhood staple for me. But salmiak (salty Liquorice) was always a favorite.
For Finns it's pretty common to pack a lot of salmiak when going abroad since it's difficult to find outside northern Europe.
I used to love licorice pipes... It's been many many years since I've had one, but yeah, those were a staple for me, along with Swedish Fish, candy corn, circus peanuts and marshmallow peeps.
No
My mom, dad, brother and I used to sit back after Sunday dinner and “smoke” our licorice cigars. We had a contest every week to see who could make their cigar last the longest.
When I was really little, maybe 2 or 3, I saw a picture in a coloring book of a circus elephant holding a peanut in his trunk about to eat it. My grandmother had given me these treats, too, so naturally I concluded that they must be elephant food as well as candy. LOL 🤷🏽♀
My grandmother often had a bag of circus peanuts hidden in the bread drawer at their home. I liked them and have very fond memories. Candy corn are one of my favorite candies.
My gram used to stash those coconut covered marshmallows in her cubby... grammas are funny like that!
I'm 70 and love all three. Candy Corn and Circus Peanuts were Halloween staples when I was a child. It is not just a tasty treat, but a good memory!
Agreed. I’m 76 and I too grew up with all three.
Candy Corn don't taste the same as they did when I was a kid in the Sixties. Probably made with fructose and fillers now..... and I never liked candy "peanuts".
I only know one person who loves circus peanuts, my older cousin. She had a bag of them on vaca & I didn’t know they still made them
Dad, born in 1927, loved circus peanuts. I didn't really like them, when I was a child, but as an older guy, I kind of like them now. I previously thought, that Dad liked them, because it reminded him of his childhood, or they were the only candy available then, so he'd developed a taste for it, but maybe, as we get older, our tastes change? For instance, as a kid, I didn't like licorice or even coconut, but as a grown up, I like them both. Perhaps these candies survive, because adults are projecting, what they like as adults, onto children?
@@sparky6086 I think you are right about that. Nostalgia tastes sweet, indeed!
Black licorice is excellent. Very underrated. Very underappreciated.
And is highly toxic to humans
I honestly have no opinion on black licorice, but for the sake of being American, let's argue about it! 😠
If you do drink alcohol and love licorice, try " Motor Oil" : add your favourite licorice to Vodka till the consistency is thick like molasses. I takes some days to fully dissolve.
@@aleisterlavey9716 sounds good
@@aleisterlavey9716 In Netherland, we have something alike, called 'Dropshot' , although less viscous
I love circus peanuts, especially when they just start to go stale. It's the texture more than the taste, the taste is just sugar lol
Me too!!
These three candies were the last I ate out of my trick or treat gatherings when everything I liked was gone.
The mention of Necco wafers (from the New England Candy Company) will always stir up a lively discussion in my home state of Connecticut. I, for one, like them and find them nostalgic. Also, growing up in the 1960's, I saw the shift from full-sized candy bars given out as treats to the diminutive "fun sized" bars. I remember thinking to myself "Who's idea of 'fun' is this?!!!" Now, half a century later, I can still remember the houses in my neighborhood who gave out the treasured, full-sized Hershey bars for Trick-or-treat.
Best regards from Key West,
Capt. Blackheart Charlie
I loved Necco wafers too and looked forward to that neighbor that dished out a full sized roll of them for Halloween
Especially the licorice flavored Necco wafer.
Circus Peanuts bring back memories of my Grandmother's pantry. Whenever we visited there was always a bag of circus peanuts on the shelf. Candy corn was always in candy dishes in everyone's house during the autumn, along with candies shaped like cats, bats and small pumpkins (and those were VERY special! LOL!).
I don't remember the cats and bats, but I've missed the little pumpkins for a long time.
@@LynxSouth The small pumpkins should be at Wal Mart in a round plastic container along with candy corn, they call it Autumn Mix now. They sell out pretty fast but usually keep restocking it. At least they do in NE, we get them there every year.
@@dev-debug Thank you! 🎃
My granny Bessie Jane Mannon who was born as she said"19 and three used to buy the peanuts.I remember not eating much of it.It was way too sweet.She was originally from Wagoner Oklahoma.I remember she came to visit when I was 3 or 4.I heard she was making a store run and I got all excited bc I knew she would bring me some candy.Ok I was born in 59 and maybe some of u people my age might remember the wax like candy we called lips and teeth?A kid could put these in his or hers mouth and have fun bc u had these giant red lips or big white teeth hanging out your mouth.Well she was gone for about an HR and what does she bring me back? A box of good old Lipton Tea.I was mad as hell and I think I threw it on the floor!And she just laughed.It is quite funny now but it wasn't then.Thanks
P.S.Does any body remember the candy known as"Mexican Hats"?I can't find it anywhere.I wish they would start making it again it was quite delicious!
The quality of this video is amazing for being just a regular TH-cam video. It takes me back to when me and Mom used to watch Unwrapped or Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives!
Hope you can keep making videos like this. I'd love to be able to flick it on, sit back and reminisce!
It's wild that some of the candy corn shapes we think of as seasonal now (i.e. pumpkins), might be closer to some of the original shapes. I never knew that. Thanks for another good one!
I love circus peanuts, but never realized the banana flavor was there until you pointed it out.
I just learned that a few months ago from my wife, it never seemed banana to me. I usually hate synthetic banana flavoring, but I love circus peanuts
Might be why like it so much love banana its not very strong think they are trying to make it vanilla flavor now
That is the reason i don't like them; the imitation banana flavour.
I like them . But I never knew there was a banana flavor. Or noticed
THEY'RE THE WORST.
Weird... up until now I didn't really identify circus peanuts as having a banana flavor hahahaha.
I was thinking the same thing!
Yes makes sense because I hate anything "banana flavor" which doesn't taste anything like banana to me. Circus peanuts are one of my most hated candies
My Wife and I like them but neither of us noticed the banana flavoring. Can still get them at Dollar stores and Farm and Fleet type stores…
I always thought they tasted like less-delicious Juicy Fruit gum but I never pinned down artificial banana as the common flavor til today. They're two of my favorite sweets, so I guess I super like fake banana and never thought about it hard enough to realize.
I once gave a circus peanut to a barista she thought I was trying to poison her
I love your delivery style. It reminds me of reports on CBS New's 'Sunday Morning'. It is exciting to have found such a fun channel!
I am 53 and diabetic, so sadly can no longer have candy corn. When I was a kid (and a couple times as an adult) I ate so much that I ended up an upset stomach.
The dude looks and sounds like he was stuffed in high school lockers as a teen!!
I'm sorry about your sugar woes. I've been trying to figure out why his delivery sounds so familiar and you nailed it for me. "Sunday Morning " brings back a much simpler time for me. 😢😊 Btw I'm 53 too. 54 this April.
@@gregrak9389why do you say that? Such a unexpected reply.😂
@mahalalel7771 I actually am 54. I just don't always remember! Sometimes I find myself having to figure it would from my birthday. Honestly, being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was a blessing. I needed the wakeup call, or I could have been dead in 7-8 years. Whoever said he seems like he was stuffed in a locker as a kid is obviously either an actual kid, or never really grew up. Being a solid citizen and a decent human being doesn't depend on how much you can bench or what your fashion choices are.
Love all of these, particularly Good & Plenty. Thanks for this video. “Satan’s ear wax!”😂
I very seldom eat candy, but when October rolls around, I usually buy a few bags of candy corn. The mix with the pumpkins is the best.
Same here, in fact I'm out of it at the moment and need to stop by a drugstore on the way home. The disappointment of opening your candy bowl and realizing you'd already eaten it all and your plan to "make it last" had failed. Again.
My grandmother always give out candy corn on Halloween 🎃.
your channel makes me so happy :) it's like having my grandfather tell me about the good old days, a lovely cup of chicken noodle soup but in video form
I’ve been craving those marshmallow peanuts and now I’ve had to watch this video. Too the candy shop! lol. =]
I haven't had sugar (even fruit) in 11 days and now I want these.
I've never known that circus peanuts were banana flavored, but looking back at it it's so obvious. How did I never realize that?
I have never eaten one. They just look dusty and unpleasant
@@austinbevis4266 they always seemed stale, even right out of the bag
@@chrismemphis8062 I actually bought a bag of circus peanuts a while ago that were genuinely stale. They were past the “best by” date and were so hard I thought I would break a tooth! I took them back to the store and exchanged them for a fresh bag of the same thing. The lady at the store looked at me like I was crazy for buying them in the first place!
@@chrismemphis8062 I like the candy and so does my sister. We can enjoy them when they're older and firmer, but if they're super hard they are really old and we won't buy them. We only buy them if they're fresher. They don't usually sell well, so if they're somewhat soft we'll go for it. If we're really lucky and they are actually soft like marshmallow not exactly like regular marshmallows, they melt in your mouth and are the best that way.
I didn't realize it & I've always loved them as long as they were not stale
A sister to circus peanuts persists in Australia. Same texture, same flavour, but in the shape of bananas to match their taste. Candy bananas are quite popular here.
I love them. Grew up in the US eating circus peanuts occasionally, never realized they were banana flavored. Moved to Australia later and really liked the bananas, especially the ones from IGA. I forget the current brand name, but they used to be Black and Gold brand. I still try and find a bag of circus peanuts whenever I go back to the USA.
We have the bananas in Canada too!
@@mattboggs6304 I was shocked years ago when someone mentioned they were banana flavored. I don't care for them, and could never get a grip on the flavor. If someone does love them, I say have at it. 🙂
In 50 years of eating that candy, it never dawned on me that it was supposed to be banana flavored until a few years ago when someone made that claim. I argued, intending to die on that hill, when I heard someone made them banana shaped in other countries, and ordered a plastic pail of them off Amazon! Sure enough, banana. I recanted my argument on the Internet (it may have been the first time that's ever happened). But I will claim they taste different, and it could be entirely mental, but the banana shaped ones smelled and tasted more like banana. And as the last part of the video here today shows, even The History Guy doubts the banana flavor, LOL.
We have those in Canada too!
England here. Never seen candy corn before 🤩
However, I can confirm that we had those marshmallow peanuts in the 1970s. I recall thinking they were weird at the time (and not really noticing they were supposed to taste like bananas).
Howes in Grove city Pennsylvania still produces Circus Peanuts using the Spangler trademark in several flavors and I love them all....
When I was a kid, back in the 70s, we lived behind a Kmart. I loved dumpster diving in their dumpsters. One day I discovered cases and cases of candy corn in the dumpster and brought them home. I secretly gorged on candy corn for weeks. That was the last time I've eaten it. Cured me for good.
Aw :(
candy corn conversion therapy 😭😭😭
@Senkaw'naowis'nebpher the antifurry you're Jewish
OD'd on candy corn, LOL!
The secret of candy corn is that you have to buy the Brach's Autumn Mix that only comes out in September. It's soft and fresh with real honey and cocoa mixed in and make sure you just buy a little bag if you don't have anybody to share it with because you will inhale it all overnight. Most people buy the stale generic stuff from the drug store that's fifty cents for a pound. That stuff is pure corn syrup and tastes like "ow, my teeth hurt.''
Is that the one with pumpkin shaped pieces?
@@ksmith96 yes w the brown corn pieces too, shit smacks
Good to know.
Sounds as difficult as trying to get the correct 'Conversation Hearts' during Valentine season.
The mellocreme pumpkins are my favorite candy ever.
I have loved black licorice since I was a child. I especially loved licorice pipes and cigars; they were my favourites. I can't find them anymore…or maybe I just haven't looked for them hard enough. Thank you for the memories!
Circus peanuts have always been my favorite candy. Fresh, stale, I don't care. I really like candy corn too especially if mixed with salted peanuts.
A radio station here in Philly, asked everyone to bring
down all their unused/unwanted Halloween candies back in the 1960's.
They filled 46 trashcans with different bands of crap candies.
I won the one filled to the rim with Good & Plenty.
I still think that's why I made it into my folk's will. lol!
sounds like something current era WMMR would do on the morning show.
Can never find good and plenty anymore in stores.
Did they happen to have any Mary Janes? Those were always my least favorite. I ate them out of obligation and love for my aunt rather than the taste.
Circus Peanuts were one of my grandmothers favorite treats so I developed a taste for them myself, because when you stay over at grandmas on the weekend as a kid and all she has is divinity and circus peanuts you're going to eat them.
My grandmother was born in 1919 and circus peanuts were her favorite candy. Interesting side note that connects to this, my grandma was the Spider Girl for a very short time in the Hagenbeck and Wallace Circus, so more than likely, traveling circuses did indeed have them.
Candy corn and peanut butter taffy in orange and black wrappers are classic Halloween candies, somehow without them Halloween wouldn't be the same. Mom always wanted the candy corn in small packets to give out on Halloween, yet I have never seen it packed this way. The candy companies don't seem to know that this would increase sales.
Should do another video on rootbeer barrels, wax lips, and necco wafers.
I thought wax lips were just for fun. Were they not? Did people really eat them??
@@chickennugget6233 they do have flavor, and are harmless to ingest. they’re basically just gum but worse
OMG! Are you living in my brain!!!
Wax bottles*
@@JosephLedbetter oh yeah!! And cinnamon toothpicks and candy necklaces!
Necco wafers is one of my favorites, and I also still like Circus Peanuts - it's probably nostalgia. It was disappointing when the Necco wafers stopped being sold, but they have come back! Recently, the young lady at the counter referred to them as "old people's candy", and asked me why I like them because "they taste like sheetrock". I asked her how she knew.
NECCO waggers now made in dirty Mexico. No thanks for anything made there. Scum bag Hershey took over 2,000 jobs from Canada & USA to dirty Mexico.
I still like NECCO wafers and actually order them regularly. You use to be able to order rolls of just the individual flavors but I haven't found anywhere selling them that way lately. Always loved the wintergreen, chocolate and licorice the best!
@@patrickdurham8393 I used to sort the roll and eat the ones I liked least first, the black , brown, green and then savoring the white ones.
I saw them the other day at Tractor Supply. They sell a selection of old timey candy.
I was born March 9, 1952. My sister, December 2, 1954. When they brought her home from the hospital I was exited and wanted to share my Halloween candy with her. Parents were in kitchen and heard her choking. I'd shared my favorite, candy corn, with her. Parents weren't thrilled even though they always taught me to share. For her 30th birthday I found a throw pillow shaped and colored like a piece of candy corn. I wrote in the card, " I tried to be an only child, but it didn't work out." She laughed and had to explain it to her husband and kids.😊😅😅
That's some good black humour 😁
My grandfather loaned the two guys who started Peter Paul candy company when the bank would not loan them the money because the bank thought a candy company was a bad risk. Shows you how shortsighted bank loan officers can be. We the family got free boxes of candy every Christmas for years after as gratitude for my grandfather's belief in someone's dream.
That's awesome
Great story.
beautiful story
My great great grandfather started the organization that we now know as the American Dental Association. He also thought that a candy company was a bad risk.
For children.
What a cool story. =]
Circus peanuts have been my favorite candy since I was a child. I remember getting made fun of because others would say it was "old people's candy."
I remember a "peanut" shaped candy that was kind of like a Chick-o-stick, only it had a hard candy glazed coating on it. To this day I have absolutely no idea what to call them.
Fun fact: Circus peanuts are used as packing material in 3rd world countries. Even they won't eat them.
No, Circus Peanuts aren’t called old peoples candy! In fact if that was the case they still wouldn’t make them today, which they still do make them today! It’s just a fact that Circus Peanuts have been around forever!
@@AngelofDeath1431 The only candy that I can think of that fits that description is "Boston Baked Beans". However, they are actually peanuts, and are very delicious.
In my experience toffee is old people's candy, rarely ever see that stuff now but I quite like it.
I have ALWAYS and still do LOVE Circus Peanuts (EXTREMELY) and CANDY CORN is delectable to me😋 I’m 63 years old and I literally crave them from time to time. I’m constantly searching for them in stores and buy many sometimes all the bags they have to store up for when my faves have shortages 🤪 My son and husband ABSOLUTELY ADORE BLACK LICORICE!!!😂
I was never a big licorice fan. But Basset's Licorice allsorts and Torpedos were and are worthy of mention. They are the most common products of that type in the UK.
You should cover the chalky Valentine's Day Hearts in next year's edition. I absolutely love them. People used to give theirs to me because I was the only person who wanted them. I also love Necco Wafers, which are basically the same.
Wow I thought nobody liked those Necco wafers
Those are good! Especially the pink ones.
Both conversation hearts & Necco wafer were made here in New England by the Necco Company that sadly got bought out by Spanglers and the Necco Factory closed down 🙁 they also made Squirrel Nuts & MaryJane bars which can’t be found now a days. But I do think Spanglers continues to produce Candy Buttons (dots of colored sugar candy on paper strips) Necco used to make them also.
@@SamChaneyProductions the chocolate Necco wafers are my favorite but I like them all, specially the licorice ones
@@cherriberri7161 oh I remember those candy dots! I used to eat those when I was a kid ('90s), and the bit of paper that inevitably came with them lol.
Side note. I spent a year on a ship operated by a developing nation. There was no sugar whatsoever on that ship. I had never had a sweet tooth and especially was never impressed with cake. But after that year the first sweet thing I had was a piece of cake and it was mind blowing. It completely changed my perspective on why sweets like cake or your examples were such a big deal in a time before sugar and high fructose corn syrup had worked it’s way into everything we eat.
I'd agrue sugar tastes better than corn syrup.
I think the syrup makes things a bit too sweet and overpowers the other flavors of which it is put into.
Know what i mean?
My grandmother loved Circus Candy. Even had diabetes. She wouldn’t give them up for anything.
I have always adored Circus Peanuts. My grandmother always had those, Orange Slices, and Oatmeal Cookies. But the Circus Peanuts were the only ones that I never could get my mother to agree to buy, because she thought they were so disgusting they must be bad for you.
My life is incalculably richer for now having the phrase "freak banana oil incident" in it. (Although I'm half convinced it just might be the name of a forgotten 60's psychedelic band whose only single can be found tucked away somewhere on Disc 3 of the Nuggets boxed set)
As a kid in the '50s, whenever I would go to see a movie I would stop at the candy counter and buy a box of Good and Plenty. I still love licorice.
with your name, i would think Mike and Ikes would win
I always chose Sno-Caps. Or Junior Mints!
The Danes have a huge affinity for licorice. When I was in Denmark, I went to a local grocery and was simply astounded to see how many varieties of licorice they had. My black licorice-loving father would have been so pleased. Although even he drew the line at triple-salt black licorice. That, he stated, simply tasted like a salt lick.
Licorice: Satan's bullhole. Candy corn & Circus Peanuts: Gift from the Gods!
I did not realize circus peanuts were considered bad. I love all three of these candies. Great video!
people like to hate on them, but those people secretly love candy corn, so you can't trust their opinions :)
I liked circus peanuts, but even as a kid a little went a long way. It had so much sugar it would make me dizzy! Black licorice was my mom’s favorite, but I didn’t like it so much unless she bought anise-flavored gum, I think it’s called Black Jack gum and you can still find it in farm supply stores with other old fashioned candies like the circus peanuts, candy corn, and the burnt peanuts (Rural King stores).
I have such fond memories of the Circus Peanut. Next to chocolate, it was my favorite candy as a kid in the Fifties. I didn't eat it so much as a young adult, but now as an Senior Citizen, it is even better. For a Winter afternoon snack, a cup of hot coffee filled with cream, and a couple of the Circus Peanuts, I couldn't ask for a better treat. Thank you for sharing this oddball bit of candy mystery/history.
Agreed.
Ok
@@boomer3150
@@Noneofyourbyisness what
No it was a horrible movie
I have a love/hate relationship with them! I love the taste but hate the texture! (I'm 65) Also they were my mom's favorite as well as black licorice(that I also love)
Or… and this is a crazy thought… only some people hate them.
Circus Peanuts are one of my favorite candies 😍
Bowl with 2/3 cocktail peanuts and 1/3 candy corn is a fun fall treat! your welcome.
Aside from chocolate, these are 3 of my favorite candies.
My grandma, born in 1889, liked good and plenty, the bright squares from England and the twists; she was the only person who offered it to me and she did so regularly.
I absolutely love black licorice too! Wiley wallaby brand from Australia is my favorite. It's nice to know that I am not the only one who loves it.
Sometimes available here in the States, I tried some and have to say that they are really good.
Wiley Wallaby Liquorice is made at Kenny's Candy & Confections in Perham, MN. 😊
Can you imagine the hold up at his house this Halloween night as he explains all of this to each group?!
🤣
, Licorice and candy corn may be candies we grow to love as we remember the good times associated with them. Plus there should be an honorable mention for spiced gum drops too.
Circus Peanuts are one of my favorites and have been eating them for 68 years, LOVE THEM. Comfort Food.
As a kid I loved circus peanuts, after about 35-40 years since eating one I saw them and decided to try them again. The first bite made me gag.
I'm 63 years old, and those are 3 of my favorite candies from childhood, and I love them still. They're just a few of those little things in life that bring us as close as we'll ever get to time travel.
Orange slices a close second to circus peanuts for me...Though Chocolate won me once was available.
Boomers eat the nastiest shit. Do you also like ham and spinach in gelatin?
Mine as well!
'55 model here 😂
Memories of my youth ✌️😎
🪶 👆
Mine also
@@JohnZombi88 😁 ✌️
My mother who died in 2000 at 86 loved circus peanuts. Before internet / Amazon I remember searching everywhere to get these treats for her
Peeps for Easter are just as loved/hated.
Those fluffy orange circus peanuts are definitely something a lot of people dislike. My great grandma always had a bag of them in her drawer. I remember grabbing one or two every now and then, brings back memories.
My grandmother kept a bag in a metal breadbox next to where she sat. Honestly can't say whether she ate them or not, but, i do know she never had to chase her rambunctious grandson down for hugs and kisses.
Circus peanuts I remember tasted so nasty and stale,
I love candy corn, I especially like it after Halloween when the store puts it on clearance.
I am 50 and love candy corn, but I love circus peanuts even more. Spangler circus peanuts are the best but you need to give one a squeeze in the package to test its firmness. My brother and I were just at Menards and saw them there and we both ate the whole bag on the ride back home. We both approve of this delicious candy but yeah....its not for everyday. Thanks for doing the background history of this American classic 🙂
When my wife (from Kansas) was pregnant, 14 years ago we were visiting some family in Texas and she had a craving for circus peanuts - enjoying them myself I went in search. My odyssey took me to at least 10 stores and asking numerous people and nobody seemed to even know what I was talking about. It was as if I had traveled to a parallel timeline where the banana oil mistake batch was dumped rather then batched and sold; and I didn't like it one bit.
Driving back home, as soon as we made it closer to the Oklahoma border I found 3 bags and we leisurely snacked to the collective dismay of our pancreases. I actually never was able to figure out what the flavor was until watching this video and you're absolutely right, they are indeed banana flavored!
You can buy them at dollar general her in Oklahoma...
@@loading...8512 You should probably read the whole comment. lol
a good historian can take anything and make it the most interesting and attention grabbing story you've ever heard! thank you again, history guy!
The lack of evidence for the origin of circus peanut can only mean one thing.
Aliens did it.
True THAT..... I owe my love of History to a really great freshman HS history teacher.
@@MonkeyJedi99 do the monkey's have anything to do with that❓❓❓
🙈🙉🙊
@@MonkeyJedi99 👽
History is fractal - the deeper you look the more questions there are
My grandma usually had circus peanuts for us; they were always soft and delicious. Whenever I see them in the store, I gently squeeze to see if they’re soft. They never are, so I don’t buy
I've never had a fresh circus peanut.
Throughout the sixties and seventies, my family traveled from wherever we were to meet at our grandmother's house before spending a month at the beach. Every year she set out the same spread to greet us kids. Canada Dry ginger ale served warm in the can with paper straws, Wise potato chips, and circus peanuts. Not refreshing, exactly, but unforgettable.
When I was a kid I absolutely thought of licorice as “old people” candy. Now that I’m an old person it’s the only candy I enjoy.
Yes! 😂
Why do we keep them around?
Me: don't touch my licorice.
I'm 62 and remember my Grandfather giving me circus peanuts as a little girl. As a 4 y/o I thought they were wonderful 😂
Nostalgia ❤
I’ve always loved candy corn. I didn’t realize people hated it until I was an adult. Seriously, I always looked forward to it. It was one of if not my favorite Halloween candy.
Circus peanuts are definitely not my favorite. They taste like if peeps were made out of foam, and I hate peeps.
@ferretyluv I was waiting for him to mention mixing candy corn with dry roasted peanuts. That's what my mom always did. It sorta tastes like a Payday candy bar.
@@carlabythelake8162 We must just be weirdos. Most people don’t like Payday.
I love candy corn, and I can say that different brands have different tastes. Brocks is Ok, but a company called NICE i discovered at Walgreens is much better! Creamier taste. People today have become so darn picky, it’s candy for heaven’s sake, it’s just sugar, what’s not to like?
@@ferretyluv Not only do I like candy corn and paydays, but, gasp! I like quality black licorice too. And I'm not 80 lol
Also taste exactly like candy corn: pumpkins. and these valentine candies that come in arrows, angels, and hearts, red, white, and pink.
I haven't heard the term "chicken feed" applied to candy corn in many decades. Thanks for reminding me of my childhood!
Wow I just remember older people in my life calling them by that name, and all they got from me was a blank stare lol.
I've never heard it before watching this. Pretty funny to me.
I used to love circus peanuts. I have rarely eaten them since I have been an adult. I also loved candy corn.
I could really go for a bag of Circus Peanuts now..
Candy corn is what probably cause Rob Zombie's Michael Myers to go on a rampage.
My mother introduced me to circus peanuts as a little girl. She told me that when she was a little girl, there was an old man that lived on her block who would pass out candy to the neighborhood kids on Saturday mornings, and he had circus peanuts and Smarties, the rolls of small circular pastel colored candies that tasted faintly like SweeTarts but not as strong and with a more chalky texture. She would also choose the circus peanuts because she liked the way they melt in your mouth. I still buy them on occasion and I always let the first peanut I eat melt in my mouth completely before I take a second one.
Are the chalky candies Neco Wafers?
Smarties! I cannot stop once I start eating them. I know it's just sugar but I love them melting in my mouth...I can eat a truckload of them.😏🍬🍭
@@chainsawtotheheart no they’re called smarties. But the US version. Smarties are kind of like m&ms in Europe
Circus peanuts always tasted like somebody tried to get to "banana", but didn't quite make it.