The Retro Sweets. Bring them back!
I was sitting in my comfortable armchair earlier, drinking a cup of coffee and indulging in a walnut whip. For those of you that have never heard of this phrase before, it’s a chocolate confection that comes from England and has been around for a very long time. The walnut whip is not just pleasing to the taste buds, but aesthetic to the eye. It looks like a small (note the word small, they used to be a lot bigger), chocolate Helter Skelter, filled with a sort of whipped foamy inside and topped with a walnut (there’s the goodness for you). I absolutely love them, and thankfully after all this time they have not been discontinued.
I do have a sweet tooth, and I also have fond memories of chocolate bars and sweets that used satisfy it. Sadly, the majority of them have been discontinued, which is a shame. Here’s a list of some of the ones that were my favourites and the memories behind them.
Sweet Peanuts
These were great, and I honestly don’t know it you can still buy them. They were a lovely toffee tasting sweet peanut shell, and when you bit into them, there were tiny praline pieces coated in a sugary syrup. Simply divine. I remember being at primary school and we all got so excited if a child passed them around.
Candy Necklace
I remember these well. As little 8 year old girls, we got so excited if we bought one of these from the shop. We wore it for a while and felt like a princess. When we could stand it no longer, we started biting off the little round necklace sweets. They used to last for ages.
Fry’s Five Centres
I think the company Fry’s in Britain, were one of the first chocolate makers, beginning in the late 19th century. They made their beautiful chocolate with their ‘Five Centres’ bar being very popular in the 70’s and 80’s’. It consisted of dark chocolate with five different fondant fruit centres. I really loved these, but they were phased out in the 90’s. It was considered to be a rather posh chocolate bar and Fry’s still produce the peppermint cream version.
Candy Whistles
The candy whistles were quite cheap to buy; usually about 2p each from the corner shop. These were great sweets that lasted quite a while (something that every child wants), for kids like us growing up in the 1970’s, when money was tight. They were basically a candy stick within a plastic container that worked as a whistle. Me and my friends used to pretend they were lipsticks!
Pacers
Square chewy sweets that were a spin-off from Opal fruits. They had a very unique peppermint taste and looked really good; white with green stripes throughout. I’m sure if these came back they would be very popular.
54321
These were one of the first chocolate biscuit bars that came in multipacks, similar to penguins and club biscuits but more superior. A five layered chocolate biscuit bar, comprising of wafer, fondant, rice crispies, caramel and chocolate. The advert song was incredibly catchy to listen to… Can you remember it?
Space Dust
This packet of mind exploding candy was very popular with children in the 70’s and 80’s. There wasn’t much substance, but goodness me it did pack a punch! You basically put a handful in your mouth and waited for it to fizz on the tongue. That was pretty good to start with, then after a few more seconds you could bite into it or just leave it there chemically reacting, and you would then feel like your head was about to blow off. It gave you a very odd sensation about the inner ear, and produced giggles and fun when you were eating it with your friends. I have never understood how space dust worked!
Time Out
This is the most recent discontinuation of a chocolate bar. A lot of folk are in a bit of an uproar about it, and there have been petitions to bring it back. These were a simple bar of chocolate with a wafer in the middle, and two thin flakes (flakes are great whatever you put them in, so this masterpiece could do no wrong) either end, enclosed in Cadbury chocolate. It has been replaced with the Time Out wafer, an inferior alternative.
Hubba Bubba
You can still buy Hubba Bubba. Square shaped pink chewing gum sold in packets. The one I remember is the disc shaped gum wrapped individually that you could buy for a penny at the corner shop. They were a great sweet, mainly because they provided you with at least half an hours entertainment trying to blow the biggest bubbles in comparison to your friends, but there was always some smart arse kid that would pop yours if you blew the biggest. You felt like a bloody hero if you were the winner. Sadly, I never was. I remember the taste being like sweet sugary candy floss.
Spangles
These were square shaped boiled sweets that were produced in the 1950’s and continued to be popular for the next thirty years. They had a very unusual taste, a little like bitter oranges but sweet at the same time. I think that’s why I liked them so much because they tasted unlike anything else.
Cabana
Bounty Bars, apart from Twirls, are my favourite chocolate bar. Until my number 2 hit the top spot, the Cabana chocolate bar was confectionery heaven. It had three different layers consisting of caramel, coconut and cherries; and it was the most wonderful sweet tasting chocolate bar you could ever imagine. When I was a little girl and my mum used to ask me to go on an errand, she would always let me buy one of these. If you love coconut then this was the finest one. I have never understood why this was discontinued, as many of my friends remember it with fondness.
Toffo
The round chewy toffees that came in a circular tube and were individually wrapped in white paper. They had a lovely chewy taste, however, if you had fillings it was an absolute necessity to avoid the Toffo. They had the ‘stick your teeth together’ quality similar to superglue, and you could be chomping away at them for a very long time. I occasionally gave one to my beloved whippet who enjoyed them immensely, her constant chewing was a sight to behold. Very funny :))
Texan
The caption for the TV advert was ‘Sure is a mighty chew’, and they definitely were. Chocolate, nougat and toffee (a great combination for false teeth wearers). They were quite interesting to eat, because apart from the fact that they tasted great, you took a bite and the nougat would stretch a good 10cm in front of you before it snapped off, thereafter showering you with tiny filaments of chocolate. I always got into a bit of a mess eating one of these and I enjoyed that, as kids do.
I hope this post has jogged some lovely memories for you.
Have I missed any of your favourites?
X Pip
PS: Here are 2 websites that still provide some retro sweets that you can order individually, in bulk or as gift items.
PPS: I do still have my own teeth!
