In honour of Remembrance Day, here is a review/spotlight that is somewhat innkeeping with the theme of the event – Gummi Army Guys by Albanese.
Also known as Armistice Day, and Veterans Day in the US, the 11th November marks a somber occasion where countries stop, and take time to reflect on all those that served, and were lost during the First World War, and subsequent conflicts through the decades.
In the UK we also wear red paper poppies, or poppy pin badges, as a symbol of our grief, reflection and support of the armed forces. The Poppy Appeal was founded by the Royal British Legion with the first campaign taking place in 1921. Poppies, and poppy memorabilia were produced by veterans and volunteers, and sold to raise funds for the charity, as it continues to do so today.
These are the poppies I will be wearing this weekend
The poppy was adopted as the symbol for memorial after it was observed that they were the only living flora to thrive amidst the devastated war-torn fields and lands across France and Europe. They offered a striking contrast of colour and life amongst the churned up fields, smoking craters and fallen soldiers on the battlefields.
I’d love to be reviewing a gummy poppy, but the symbol isn’t as wide-spread here in America. But Americans, and the culture in general, has an unwavering pride in their veterans, making the image of the soldier a prominent feature during this time of global remembrance.
These dark green Gummi Army Guys by Albanese [World’s Best] look like they’ve been created in the same mold as the classic toys! The size, scale, colour and detail is strikingly similar to the little Army soldiers we saw come to life in Toy Story, and have been a feature of little boy’s bedrooms for generations.
Gummi Army Guys by Albanese
Albanese are one of the few American-made gummi-producing companies whose products I thoroughly enjoy. Their sweets are plump and juicy, with strong recognizable flavours and a pleasing texture (it’s what they’re famous for) – and these little Army Guys are no exception.
They have a subtle, but identifiable, green apple taste and are semi-chewy. The Army Guys come in four figures; a shooter, a grenade thrower, and two bazooka-bearing soldiers that lie down and kneel. These candies are made to be played with!
I’ll be sharing these fun and tasty treats with my husband and father-in-law (both US veterans), and will send some to my own parents (both British Army veterans) via care package this winter.
It’s the 1st October! The countdown to Halloween begins! And Ferrero have made the arrival of the spooktacular holiday even sweeter with their ‘31 Days of Halloween’ confectionary countdown calendar!
Ferrero’s 31 Days of Halloween 2023
Available in limited numbers, and for those living in the US only, for a one-off $31 donation to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, you too can receive a giant Halloween advent calendar filled with miniature and full-sized Ferrero family treats! 2023 sees these huge countdown calendars return for a fourth year in collaboration with the charitable trust.
Behind each door, sweet snacks such as mini Butterfinger, Crunch, 100 Grand, Mother’s Animal Cookies, Keebler cookies and Kinder Joy await!
This year’s design features a haunted house. Embossed with gold type and gates the initial impact is striking, and one of expectant quality. Once the custom-cut façade is pulled back, the house is illustrated with sweet Ferrero characters such as the Keebler elves and anthropomorphized Tic Tacs.
Can you guess which Ferrero-branded treats lie behind each window?
I love these little details on the box, it’s almost like trying to decode a treasure map that leads to sweets; the Kinder Joy-shaped clock face, the Kinder branded globe, Tic Tac chandelier and animal cookie bats in the corner all point to bite-sized deliciousness behind each window…everything designed to get you pumped up for the spooky season!
The concept of a Halloween advent calendar alone thrills me! But the fact that the Ferrero 31 Days of Halloween contributes to something bigger, charitable, and more important that candy, warms my bones.
I am indulging my inner wants for my 90’s childhood in this episode of Sweet Spotlight; for ‘Toffo‘.
‘Toffo‘ was a flat-topped round of toffee, individually wrapped, sold in foil and paper lined rolls, and came in a variety of flavours; original (toffee), mint, strawberry, chocolate, rum and butter, blackcurrant and the “obligatory pariah flavour*” banana (which was my personal favourite).
Mackintosh ‘Toffo’ toffees
As a 90’s child some of my strongest confectionery memories are tied to ‘Toffo‘; in particular going to the corner shop at the end of Brown Street on a Sunday. After posting back our rental VHS tape for the weekend at the shop next door, I’d spend a quid or so on assorted ‘Mojos’ (remember them) and a roll of ‘Toffo‘ to share with my Mum. If I was lucky, the corner shop would have the assorted roll in stock.
I would be most pleased if the next piece was wrapped in yellow, groovy bubble writing, because that meant banana! Not so much if it was plain old original…you’d have to suck on them a little before they became malleable, but they were worth the effort.
But the nostalgic ‘Toffo‘ has much earlier beginnings. ‘Toff-O-Lux‘ appeared in Britain during the 1930’s, created by toffee and caramel masters Mackintosh of Yorkshire (1890). The name ‘Toffo‘ didn’t appear until 1975, but it disappeared in 2008 when the product line was discontinued by new owners Nestlé (after also passing through the hands of Rowntree during the late 1960’s).
In the late 1970’s a series of wild western themed adverts, filmed in New Mexico, were created to give ‘Toffo‘ a fun and faux macho image. With the tagline ‘A Man’s Gotta Chew What A Man’s Gotta Chew‘, it would perhaps be a better theme for Nestlé’s ‘Texan‘ bar, but nevertheless, people still remember these adverts, and remember them for their love of ‘Toffo‘.
1980’s advert for ‘Toffo’
I assume that the brass longhorn belt buckle featured here was a part of this stylized promotion. Although I have no information on this item specifically…all I know is that I’m glad I found it, bought it, and you’re darn tootin’ I’m gonna wear it! If you know more about this item, please get in touch.
Perhaps due to ‘Toffos‘ longevity that it is often sited as one of the most missed British confections of years gone by. Our Grandparents ate it, our parents ate it, and we ate it…and unless you live in the United Arab Emirates we eat it no more.
‘Toffo’ belt buckle (purchased in the United States) with ‘Toffo’ toffees, available from the United Arab Emirates
Small rolls of original ‘Toffo‘ toffees can still be purchased there – and I just had to treat myself to some in order to remind me of what Sunday’s in the ’90’s were all about…
*quote and badge from “A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers”, Steve Berry & Phil Norman
Good people of Britain, can you help me find out the name of a long lost sweet in order to help a rather nice, elderly lady remember one of her favourite childhood treats?
Please pay close attention to the description below;
Key notes: 1. Bought from jars in 1960’s North London.
2. Look extremely similar to rainier cherries.
3. Had a similar texture and glaze as a Jap Dessert (but is not a Jap Dessert)
4. Very sweet and sugary.
The mystery sweet closely resembles these rainier cherries
IT IS NOT ONE OF YOUR POPULAR RETRO SWEETS; ANISEED BALLS, COLA CUBES, TURKISH DELIGHT, JAP DESSERT, MARZIPAN, BON BONS ETC! They are too different, well known and distinctive – we’re looking for something else. It is most likely discontinued or available in certain regions.
If you think you remember eating something like this, then please get in touch! I would very much like to help my reader figure out this sweet mystery from her past. So far my best guess is a marzipan fruit, but our reader is not so sure…
An example of marzipan fruit; something like this…but not this
The British Candy Connoisseur (was) on holiday in Florida! And while mooching the streets of St. Augustine’s Historic District, I came across Zeno’s – producers of the ‘World’s Most Famous Taffy’.
Zeno’s World Famous Taffy shop, St. Augustine, Florida
Not to be confused with ‘toffee‘ which is made with butter and has a golden hue, creamy taste and hard chew; taffy is a light, airy, often pastel-coloured glossy confection which is ‘pulled’ which gives it a distinctive soft and silky bite.
An American invention dated to around the early 1800’s, the process of making taffy often turned into social events where parties gathered to stretch and pull the sugary strands between the buttered hands of guests.
And its the hypnotic movements of the mechanical taffy pull* which lured me into Zeno’s shop. Located in the window, the taffy pull has two arms between which the strands of taffy are stretched and aerated. If you can bare to look away from this fascinating piece of machinery, you will then see a wall filled with taffy of every colour and almost every flavour!
Taffy, taffy, taffy
Zeno’s have been producing these quintessential seaside candies since 1948 at their factory at the ‘World’s Most Famous Beach’ at Daytona, FL and now have several store locations in the state.
Every customer is greeted and is allowed to sample one piece of wrapped taffy upon entering…I was feeling bold and so opted for pickle flavour! Once unwrapped the vinegar smell was instant, but despite that and the ominous little green speckles throughout the sweet, it tasted pretty good! Tart and fruity, the ‘pickle’ taste of the pickle soon disappeared and the candy began to melt away in my mouth.
To pickle, or not to pickle?
If you’ve never tried taffy before and the thought of pickle flavoured sweets makes you nervous, they have plenty of other delicious and exotic sounding sweets to sample;
…blueberry cobbler, chocolate malt, cream soda, guava, pina colada, watermelon, red velvet, Swiss cake roll, strawberry kiwi, pumpkin pie, apple pie ala mode, sex-on-the-beach, pear, maple bacon and of course, key lime, just to name a few!
I got a couple of (almost) every flavour and to help me decipher all my little sweeties Zeno’s hands out a helpful flavour card to help identify my holiday goodies. Although I might just opt for the ‘lucky dip’ approach!
Are you Team Taffy? Or Team Toffee?
*check out @the_britishcandyconnoisseur on Instagram for a video of the taffy pull!
While scouring the internet for vintage confectionery tins and ephemera, I came across (and purchased) a small tin badge not really knowing what it was for…until now!
This small, safety pin clasped badge is adorned with a miniature bar of Cadbury’s famous Dairy Milk Chocolate (created in 1905) and features the ‘glass and a half‘ logo of flowing milk (first marketed in 1928). The iconic Cadbury purple, now known as Pantone 2865c, is also pictured.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Award pin badge
But what does it all mean?
In 1965 Cadbury ran a campaign called the ‘Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Award’, or C.D.M Award for short. It encouraged the British public to nominate a friend, a family member, a local hero (or themselves) for ‘a simple everyday act of kindness, cheerfulness or courtesy’.
Winners of the C.D.M Award were gifted one of these tin badges, along with a presentation letter and a half pound bar of Dairy Milk chocolate.
Images showing the promotion and prizes for the Cadbury Dairy Milk Award
The promotion ran for several years and helped to temporarily boost sales while the company operated through a difficult period, instigated by a series of miss-matched marketing decisions and fluctuating costs of raw ingredients.
Cadbury in recent years have adopted the themes of kindness and thoughtfulness, as promoted in the C.D.M Awards, in a series of TV adverts. These adverts often feature children offering their bars of Dairy Milk to those they see as deserving or in need of a pick-me-up; a crying teenager, a tolerant neighbour and a hard-working mother.
(British) Advert for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
I personally will be wearing my claimed C.D.M Award on the lapel of my jacket whenever I introduce myself as the ‘British Candy Connoisseur‘!
Remember ‘Spangles’? Well I was born in the 1990’s, so, I don’t…but while reading various books on the history of British sweets, I have seen that there are many people who reminisce about these candies in particular…and I might have found a suitable substitute for those that do miss them!
Created in Mars’ UK Slough factory, Spangles hit the shelves in 1948. These ‘luscious crystal fruits’ were square-shaped, hard-boiled, coloured sweets in a variety of flavours, with a unique ‘dimple’ which allowed the sucker to reach the ‘heart of the flavour’.
Packaged in a foil-lined roll (and eventually individually wrapped), the original line up consisted of strawberry, blackcurrant, lemon, pineapple, lime and orange. Up until they were discontinued in 1984, the range had developed a ‘fizzy’ line, ‘Old English’ line and many others, which included butterscotch, cola, spearmint, barley sugar, liquorice and even a ‘mystery flavour’.
In the 1970’s the striped wrapper underwent a ‘groovy’ makeover and a bell-bottomed typeface was used (no doubt adding to the heavy nostalgia felt towards these sweets).
Bell-bottomed Spangles wrappers
Writers Steve Berry and Phil Norman (‘A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers’, 2014) speculate that the profound fondness felt towards Spangles is linked to the type of sweet itself. Hard-boiled fruity sugar sweets hearken back to the days of the grocer, the corner shop and sweets being weighed out by the pound. Spangles’ pre-wrapped convenience meant that post-war shoppers could enjoy these types of sweets ‘the modern Spangles’ way. The tastes and textures were still familiar, but the fast action of self-service and branded confectionery would begin to change consumer habits.
Vintage Spangles ads
Spangles made a brief reappearance in 1994 when department store Woolworths (remember Woollies?) relaunched a limited range of Spangle favourites, but the novelty did not lead to a full re-launch. And ever since, it seems, Spangles is one British sweet that many wish were still in production…
…however, if you nostalgic sweet lovers are needing a Spangles-type fix, then the American ‘Charms Squares’ might be the next best thing! Founded in 1922, and later bought by Tootsie in 1988, Charms Squares also consist of square shaped, dimple-impressed hard candies in fruit flavours (cherry, grape, lemon, lime, orange, and raspberry).
Modern day Charms vs. Spangles
And I have it on good authority (from my Mum) that Charms are a pretty good substitute for the well-remembered British Spangles!
I bought this German box of ‘Katzenzungen‘ chocolates recently simply for its tacky, kitsch and ridiculously enjoyable portrait of five young kittens. I am personally drawn to confectionery tins, boxes and posters with animal subject matter and certainly anything a little bit daft.
The box contains two rows of thinly molded ‘cats tongues’ confections, marbled with creamy white and milk chocolate. The shape of the chocolates are inspired by their namesakes – the tongues of cats – and have also been adapted into finely sweet, lightly baked French biscuits of the same name ‘langues de chat’.
Thin, marbled ‘cats tongues’ chocolates from Germany
But personal aesthetic affection aside, I also looked into the history of the brand Sarotti and discovered something unexpectedly divisive about the life of its mascot, the ‘Mohr‘ (see top left of the box).
Berlin-based Sarotti confectionery was founded in 1852 by father and son Heinrich and Louis Neumann who offered a range of sweet treats such as marzipans and liquors in their oriental-themed decadent shop. Twenty years later ‘Felix & Sarotti’ was bought by fellow confectioner Hugo Hoffman who began to sell his own lines under the name ‘Sarotti‘. During Hoffmann’s ownership the shop relocated to Mohrenstrasse in central Berlin.
Translated to ‘Street of the Moors‘, the place name originates from the term ‘moor‘ or ‘mohr‘ – an archaic word used to refer to black men and women in a derogatory sense, since the term was also used to describe a ‘dumb’ and ‘simple’ person. Mohrenstrasse became the German place name for an area in Berlin that housed North African and Caribbean slaves first brought to the country in the 17th century.
In 1918, Sarotti’s former trademark of a bear and bees was replaced by three black-faced ‘mohrs‘, dressed in Arabian-style turbans and slippers carrying trays in order to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary.
86 years later, now owned by the Stollwerk brand (after several decades under the Swiss-based Nestlé) the black Soretti Mohren are transformed into a gold-toned Magier – a magician or mage – and it is this version which you can see on my contemporary box of Katzenzungen juggling the stars.
Before and After – the Sarotti Mohrs and Sarotti Magier
The Sarotti Mohr, despite being a well-recognized mascot of a well-loved German chocolatier, is a prime example of how the image of black Africans was often romanticized and mixed with fantastical imagery of what was thought to be exotic and mystic. Despite the allure of these foreign colonial subjects, North and West Africans were also depicted as subservient (in this case carrying a tray, suggesting the work of a servant), and primitive compared to the white 19th and 20th century colonizers.
Sarotti were [are] not the only companies to fantasize the imagery and reality of African nations under empiric rule; religious Quaker British brands Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree also used similar portrayals of fictionalized and white-washed versions of African life in promoting their own chocolate products.
Images such as these attempted to publicly strengthen the links between the colonies and the motherland, suggesting cooperation, unity and strength within the greater empires of European nations such as Germany and Britain. However, despite ‘good’ intentions (in terms of a colonial world view), depictions of black Africans were screwed with derogation and racist imagery.
How the Sarotti Mohr and Magier have been represented in t.v commercials
In more recent years, companies have been making efforts to readdress sensitive imagery used in their brands. In 2020 ‘Uncle Ben’ disappeared from Mars’ packet rice (founded in 1943) and is now rebranded as ‘Ben’s Original’.
Quaker Oats’ American pancake brand ‘Aunt Jemima’ made bolder changes – removing all trace of slavery connotations by rebranding as ‘Pearl Milling Company’ (a former name of the company that later developed into the ‘Aunt Jemima’ brand). In both instances the companies made these adaptions in order to ‘make progress towards racial equality’.
Brands that have listened, and changed in light of public demand for racial equality
This is not to say whoever has enjoyed Sarotti chocolate, Uncle Ben’s rice or Aunt Jemima pancakes also inhibits racist views. Nor do I want to belittle the social and emotional impact long-lasting brands such as these have on communities and individuals growing up. But times change, and depictions such as the black-faced, dwarf-sized serving Sarotti Mohrs have no relevant place – rebranding has come late to these brands, but it is welcome.
Do you think the subtle change of skin tone of the chocolate-bearing Mohr goes far enough in addressing the changes in contemporary society however? At risk of removing the association of the mascot completely from the confectioner’s history, and consumer memory, should the exotic-looking ‘Magier‘ be redeveloped further?
I certainly did not expect to discover the controversial history of a chocolatier’s mascot when this tasty box of German chocolates first caught my eye. I enjoyed every bite. But it just goes to show how elements of a colonial, slavery-inclusive past can slip past our daily observations. Some connotations of racism have been long intertwined in the products we have experienced for generations, and marketing changes or social commentary can disrupt the fond memories and relationships we have to certain products. It’s ok to enjoy these sentimental attachments, but we must understand the context in which some brands were developed, and recognise that for some they do not accurately or fairly represent society as they should.
Pocky is a dipped biscuit snack invented in 1966 by the confectionery company Ezaki Glico Co. Osaka, Japan (1929). The ‘snack with a handle’ got its snappy name by the Japanese onomatopoeia ‘pokkin‘ – the sound the biscuit makes when broken and eaten. The initial name of ‘Chocotek‘ was dropped two years into production.
An original landscape Pocky box
Originally dipped in milk chocolate, the first flavoured Pocky debuted in 1971 with almond, followed by strawberry in 1977. However Pocky can now be found worldwide in a range of flavours, including; mango, banana, milk, matcha, blueberry, cookies and cream, pumpkin, purple sweet potato, watermelon and coconut.
The long, thin biscuit snacks were, at first, hand-dipped and fully coated in chocolate. However, this made for a bit of a sticky eating situation – so the end portion of cookie was left bare – not only making it easier for the dippers, but also resulted in a neater snacking experience for consumers.
Pocky biscuit sticks
Designed as a mess-free snack for Japanese women on the go, the coated biscuit sticks have gained a sort of cult following – becoming an Asian entry food for teenagers and those wanting to explore more of global confectionery. Glico have also tried to ‘adapt’ to their markets, releasing a less sweet ‘Men’s Pocky’ and ‘Little Pocky’ for young women and children.
Men’s Pocky
Known as ‘Mikado‘ in some European markets and ‘Rocky‘ in Malaysia, the crunchy biscuit sticks have continued to take on the snack market by adapting to consumer tastes and introducing limited edition flavours, sizes and a range of eating experiences.
What flavour Pocky will you be munching on today? I have these new Choco Mint and Coconut varieties to try!
* Why 11th November? Because 11/11 looks like a stack of Pocky sticks!
Tucked away just beyond the railway stations in the heart of Wigan, you will find the small yet hardworking factory and team behind one of Britian’s favourite winter-warmer sweet brands…Uncle Joe’s.
Founded in 1898 by William Santus, the company expanded from a modest market stall selling fruit in Wigan Market Hall. Santus’ wife Ellen Seddon brought to their marriage her skills for making toffee and candy. The sweets proved so popular on their market stall that within just twenty years the couple has sold off their numerous successful sweet stalls, moved premises twice, and in 1919 the current factory space on Dorning Street was established.
Company’s tag-line sign on the walls of the Dorning Street factory, Wigan
For over a century the little brick building has been producing hard-boiled classics such as Winter Nips, Throat and Chest and the iconic Mint Ball; all made in small batches, by hand, using natural ingredients…and last month I had the honor of being invited to see how it’s all made!
As an ‘official volunteer taster’ for Uncle Joe’s I was welcomed to the factory (along with my good friend) in September, shortly before relocating to the USA.
The strong and eye-watering smell of mint and menthol struck us both even before we had left the car – follow the smell, and you’ll end up in the right place! We were immediately made to both feel welcome, and after a quick change into a rather large white coat and (sexy) hair net, we were lead away onto our sweet adventure.
Our well-timed visit allowed us to see the full production line for (my favourite) Uncle Joes’ Mint Balls from start to finish, beginning with the mixing of just three simple ingredients; pure brown cane sugar, creme of tartar and peppermint oil. The sugar and creme of tartar are melted down into a sweet, sticky, caramel-like substance in large copper pans before being turned out onto the slab.
All of Uncle Joe’s sweets are produced in the same way; by melting the ingredients and being worked on the slab
Peppermint oil is then sprinkled onto the melted candy before it is worked in by hand; by turning over the mixture this also gets rid of any large, pesky air bubbles. With a turnaround of just fifteen minutes, each slab can produce approximately 8.4-11.2 kilos of Mint Balls!
Making Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls is a tactile job, employees have to build up a working knowledge of the candies to know when the mixtures are just right for the next process – rolling and cutting. If the candy is too sticky, it’ll get caught up in the machines resulting in misshaped sweets, and if too cool the mixture will become brittle and brake.
As the mix begins to cool, air bubbles are forced out by folding the candy over by hand
After sitting on the slab for around ten minutes, the Mint Ball mix is then placed on a rolling machine which spins the cooling, minty syrup towards a tapered end, producing a hypnotic snake-like rope of candy. The wiggling mix is then punched and pressed with the ‘Uncle‘ and ‘Joe’s‘ on opposite sides before being spun around on a two-tiered wheel in order to cool the balls.
The pleasure of eating a warm, right-off-the-press Mint Ball is (probably) one that few fortunate people have been able to try; while warm it soothes the mouth with its caramel-like sweetness before very quickly sticking to your teeth has it hardens: the fresh peppermint oil slowly replaces the taste of the brown sugar. This really felt like a Willy Wonka moment!
The physical production and sensation of eating fresh, warm Mint Ball candies is somewhat similar to the production of another northern favourite – seaside rock. Both use traditional ingredients and rely on the specialist training of candy makers that use feel and graft to sculpt their products. Warm rock freshly cut is also a sweet experience any candy-lover must try!
The snake-like candy wriggles its way through the production line
As we continued our tour of the factory we noted that the floor is sticky in all places, and the smells of peppermint, liquorice and menthol permeate the walls. In such a surprisingly small space the factory on Dorning Street melts, makes, packages and ships all Uncle Joe’s products, with production of candies varying throughout the day.
As we saw the Mint Balls fly out of the packing machine, and up a conveyor belt somewhat reminiscent of Toot Sweet production (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), the factory team began melting up the ingredients for Throat and Chest lozenges. The sweet and sharp scents of aniseed and menthol floated around the warehouse as we were finally shown the panning drums, old iron machinery parts and archaic elements of the factory’s design (including the old sugar delivery shoot), before being handed a generous selection of Uncle Joe’s sweets.
The old sugar shoot and (current) panning drum
As my first factory tour as ‘The British Candy Connoisseur’ and taster for Uncle Joe’s, myself (and company) were made to feel most welcome throughout the building. We were conscious of being distracting, or gauping, or invasive with our questions, note taking and photography – but all of the above were encouraged. Having grown up with Uncle Joe’s as a sweetie staple in my Nothern life, I am very grateful to the (incredibly) small team for giving up their time so we might learn and enjoy the history and heritage of the company today.
The British Candy Connoisseur (right) and company
Uncle Joe’s may be a well-established, century-old confectionery Northern staple and worldwide shipper of sweets, but the factory ethos and physicality still remains humble and local at heart.
It’s waxy, it’s sweet, and sometimes the only way to make it palatable is to eat it with a handful of salty peanuts to mask the strange taste and texture…but love it or hate it, candy corn is a Halloween staple in North America and has come to symbolize the spooky holiday so succinctly with three simple stripes of autumnal colour…let’s delve into the history of this confection since today is the day!
Oral legends say that candy corn was invented sometime in the 1880’s by a confectioner working for the Wonderlee Candy Company, Philadelphia. George Renninger supposedly helped develop a recipe for ‘mellowcreme’ – a highly crystalised sugar syrup that when cooled, retains a semi-soft dense texture, somewhat like marzipan, without snapping or needing to be sucked like traditional hard-boiled sweets. His corn-shaped candy was initially called ‘chicken corn’.
At a time where over 50% of the American labour force were farmers, farming and agricultural themed candies and chocolate bars made popular choices for the consumer – mellowcreme pumpkins still being a popular autumn candy today in the US. And with the attractive ‘penny candy’ price, sweets like candy corn could be mass produced and easily affordable.
Candy corn really got going when the Goelitz Candy Company (now the Jelly Belly Candy Company) began producing the kernel shaped candies in 1898. Marketed as ‘chicken feed’, these striped sweets featured in adverts that focused on the agricultural inspiration for their conception, often using images of chickens, cockerels and the countryside.
Advert for Goelitz candy corn
Despite their autumn colours of white, yellow and orange (so chosen because of the colour of corn kernels), candy corn wasn’t simply just for Halloween. Up until the 1950’s, the candy was advertised and purchased all year round. The trend for seasonal and targeted sweets and treats for Halloween began to boom during the post-war period. Today you can still get your candy corn fix during other holidays such as St Patrick’s Day and Valentines Day where the sweets tend to feature themed colours.
Established producers of penny candy Brach’s have taken the celebration of candy corn to a new extreme, with the release of their Thanksgiving Dinner flavoured corn mix earlier this year. Not unlike the Willy Wonka invention of 3-course dinner chewing gum, this mix features all your Thanksgiving favourites all in a convenient candy corn mix! Featuring roasted turkey, green beans and stuffing, ginger glazed carrots, cranberry sauce and sweet potato pie…I’ll let you guys make your mind up about that one…
Brach’s novelty Turkey Dinner candy corn
Whether you are the kind of person who describes candy corn as the ‘shed baby teeth of tiny toddler demons’, or the ‘Donald Trump of candy’, or would simply like to see it ‘condemned to the deepest circle of Dante’s Inferno’, approximately 95% of Americans will buy it on the run up to Halloween, with it being voted the nation’s sixth favourite spooky treat. It even has its own commemoration in the calendar, with the 30th October being the official National Candy Corn Day.
“The worst thing about Halloween is, of course, candy corn. It’s unbelievable to me. Candy corn is the only candy in the history of America that’s never been advertised. And there’s a reason. All of the candy corn that was ever made was made in 1911. And so, since nobody eats that stuff, every year there’s a ton of it left over.” – Lewis Black, comedian.
Brach’s (say ‘Brox’) candy corn – another leading manufacturer
Love it, hate it (I hate it) candy corn is an American confectionery staple and beyond being an edible treat, the buying and the consumption of it has become part of a Halloween ritual undertaken by ‘chicken feed’ patriots all across the country. The 130 year old sweet is now embedded in the culture of the spooky holiday, and could only ever be fully appreciated in the land of its invention.
The short story of this Sweet Spotlight all began with the chance discovery of a little brown tin of rahat lacoum (that’s Turkish Delight to you and me)…
While casually browsing one of my regular antique shop-haunts, I came across a small round tin that once contained the lightly perfumed confection – being a magpie for vintage graphics, tins and confectionery, it had an instant appeal to a collector and researcher like me! Upon noticing the address, N.16 London (Stoke Newington) and the age of the tin, my Grandad commented if that could be the brand that he used to have as a boy, sent by his own grandparents as gifts in the post while they still lived Islington (the borough next door)…and so our journey began!
The tin that started it all – D. Politi & Sons. Ltd Almond Turkish Delight
D. Politi & Sons Ltd, confectioners, took their name from the founder David Politi, who was born in 1845 in Corfu, and who went on to have around five sons, and seven daughters with his wife Hinda. In 1862 he traveled to England, and after following his naturalization in 1866, founded his company four years later in Highbury, living at number 10 Kings Road.
Politi family photo
Their growing success producing turkish delight, pear drops, creme de menthe, jam, sugar and chocolate coated fruit and nuts, resulted in land being purchased in 1911 at 10 Manor Road – N16, London. From here on the company continued to expand, focusing not only on local distribution but also foreign exports to America, with one record showing a receipt for 4224 tins of candy being shipped to Dallas, Texas (1974)!
A hand written invoice from D.Politi & Sons Ltd.
Whether it was eaten from the wonderfully colourful metal tins, or the equally decorative round wooden boxes, D. Politi’s rahat lacoum was traditionally presented with layers of thin paper between each stack of delight, dusted with powdered sugar and eaten with wooden sticks or forks – something that my Grandad remembers also*.
Someone who used to work at the factory at Manor Road recalls that their ‘fingers used to get burnt to the bone from rope burning‘ the confections.
The factory on Manor Road still displays the name ‘Politi’ on its chimney
At the age of 78, David Politi died 29th November 1923, and after 120 years of production, it appears that D. Politi & Sons Limited ceased trading in the mid 1980’s, but there are still remains of this small, successful family owned company; in the ghost signs of the old factory building, and their wonderfully illustrated tins and confectionery boxes that are waiting to be discovered in antique shops up and down the UK.
David was descended from Sephardi Jews in Spain and Portugal, who traveled to Venice, and then to Corfu in order to escape religious persecution in the 16th century. Harrowingly, the remaining Politi family in Corfu were rounded up by German soldiers in the 1940’s and sent to Auschwitz. Knowing this history somehow makes my little brown tin feel like a poignant survivor, and reminder, of a fate shared by hundreds of thousands European families.
*After some more online searches, and learning a bit more about where my great, great grandparents lived in London, both me and Grandad George are pretty convinced that D. Politi & Son’s turkish delight IS the brand he used to receive as gifts as a little boy in the 1950’s. Who knew that a chance encounter with a little sweet tin could reveal some of my own family history!
Let me introduce you to one of the most intriguing US chocolate bars you’ve probably never heard of – Sperry’s ‘Chicken Dinner’.
Debuting in 1923 by the Sperry Candy Company, Milwaukee, the ‘Chicken Dinner’ enjoyed four decades of production before being discontinued in 1963, a year after Pearson’s (Salted Nut Roll, Bit ‘O’ Honey) bought the company.
Being advertised as an ‘expensive, high grade candy’ (Sperry, 1924) the chocolate bar was originally sold at a hefty 10 cents, which was at the more expensive end of the booming candy market (other high end competitors included the Baby Ruth bar and Oh Henry! which were also selling for a dime).
During 1920’s and 1930’s America, candy production, invention and manufacture was just beginning a golden age. There were hundred of new products each year, with some of today’s most popular and familiar brands being invented during this time: Oh Henry! (1920), Baby Ruth (1920), Milky Way (1923), Reeses’s Peanut Butter Cups (1923), Milk Duds (1926) and 3 Musketeers (1932) to name a few. Up-and-coming companies jostled for grocer’s patronage, and a huge array of chocolate bars, caramels, and candies fought to be the next people’s choice. In the flurry of all these exciting new products how could a new confection stand out? With a memorable name and some clever advertising, that’s how!
Not to be confused with a real chicken dinner, the chocolate bar actually was a mix of fudge, peanuts and milk chocolate, wonderfully described here taken from a 1930’s advert;
‘It’s the bar with the old-fashioned peanut bar centre, and it has a thick layer of delicious caramel and later of fudge-like French cream. And it’s thickly coated with nourishing milk chocolate’.
With a bizarre name and vibrant eye-catching posters and wrapper designs, the Chicken Dinner made itself instantly recognizable and memorable with consumers. There are anecdotes linking the strange choice in name to President Hoover’s ‘a chicken in every pot’ political campaign of 1928, but since the candy predates this movement by five years, it seems doubtful. A more likely reason is that Sperry were clever enough to know that in order to stand out in the ever expanding market they needed something bold, and big…and chicken shaped. The ‘well-being’ of chocolate products were also highlighted during the 1920’s, almost up to the 1950’s…including the Chicken Dinner, chocolate was sold as ‘nourishing’, ‘wholesome’ and simply ‘good’ for energizing and enriching the body. It was sold as a food, not a candy at this point in time, and so perhaps the name Chicken Dinner also carried connotations of being filling and enriching, as well as a tasty treat.
In 1926 Sperry began a huge marketing campaign in order to spread the word about their Sunday roast themed ‘candy made good’. Billboards and banners were posted along roads and busy down-town centres, sign writers painted on shop windows, traveling salesmen and entertainers were hired to cheerfully up-sell their products and, most remarkably, a convoy of chicken-shaped trucks drove from town to town laden with the dense peanut filled sweets. When sounded, the horns of these trucks would cluck and chirp away signaling that the Chicken Dinner had arrived!
Chicken Dinner truck circa 1950
Despite the surreal and colourful advertising, Sperry soon dropped the image of a roast chicken on its candy wrappers as they thought that it didn’t really communicate well the image of the candy bar they were selling…early wrappers didn’t even tell you what you would be eating! So to avoid any further confusion, the image was removed, but the name remained in a stoic attempt to stake it’s claim in the market.
Wrappers that ditched the roast chicken graphics
This ‘distinctly different’ chocolate bar is a wonderful reminder of the efforts made by the small, pioneering confectioners of early twentieth century America. By having a good product, and some superb marketing sense, the Chicken Dinner was able to endure forty years against growing candy behemoths such as Hershey, Mars and Wrigley. The seemingly crazy concept of a roast-themed candy bar could only be a product of the golden age of confectionery…what would a chicken flavored candy bar taste like anyway?
Hullo and welcome to the first ‘Sweet Spotlight’ – a little article series where I intend on focusing in on one type of candy bar/sweet/chocolate, both current and past. To kick it off I’ve been trying to find out more about the Verne Collier Inc, Birmingham Alabama…
I picked up this original tin whilst rummaging through an antique mall in Kansas last summer; it stands approx. 10cm tall with the front design advertising ‘kitchen fresh fine candy’, and the reverse sporting a rather 50’s retro looking silver star pattern. Only the lid makes reference to what type of candy was inside – I believe that this might have been a design feature of quick and cheap, mass production; allowing candy to be distributed quickly with little time spent on amending designs for each confectionery line. Just pop them in the tin and make sure the right lid is on top!
According to the lid, the tin apparently once contained ‘Cocoanettes‘ – made with (among other things) milk, sugar and cocoanut – an archaic spelling of ‘coconut’, and retailed at only $1 per pound. But apart from the actual information on the tin, I’m struggling to find out much else about this candy (for now)!
The only references I have found so far are advertisements taken out for Cocoanettes, Chocolettes and Peanut Brittle in magazines such as ‘Scouting’ and ‘Field and Stream’ where the tins of candy are pitched as a way for boy scouts, schools and churches to raise money for community causes. They could be bought by these organisations for 50c, giving them the opportunity to double their money; a similar framework is still in place for scout groups buying and selling chocolate and candy today.
Left (1966) Right (1970)
Most of these adverts seem to span the 1960’s and 70’s, and their images of the tins pretty much match mine, hooray! And in the above adverts we can even see images of the candy! They almost look like piece of heavily coated popcorn…but I hazard a guess that they were rolled coconut balls of sorts.
Above (1974)
But I am yet to find any references to Cocoanettes being sold outside this market and appearing in retail stores – perhaps this was solely the purpose of production for the Verne Collier candy company? Not being an American, or familiar with the notion of selling candy even as a girl guide, I feel like there’s a pool of socially based information I am not privy to, so if any of y’all can enlighten me, then please let me know!
I am hoping to find out more about this tin in the future as I work my way through a series of books on American candy, but if any one out there also has a tin, knows anything about the origin of Verne Collier candies, or can remember selling or buying or eating them, please get in touch! I’d love to hear from you, and will update this article if any I can find out any more information about my little American souvenir.
The British Candy Connoisseur 