Controversial Candies
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 .
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!
"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 .... 😂 .
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
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.
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! 😃👍🤣
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 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
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!
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!
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 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
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.
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.
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
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,
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.
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 🤷🏽♀
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 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.
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
The quality of this video is amazing for being just a regular KZhead 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!
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'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!
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 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!!
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, 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.
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.
These three candies were the last I ate out of my trick or treat gatherings when everything I liked was gone.
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!
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!
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
Love all of these, particularly Good & Plenty. Thanks for this video. “Satan’s ear wax!”😂
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. =]
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)
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).
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
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
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 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!!!😂
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 have always been my favorite candy. Fresh, stale, I don't care. I really like candy corn too especially if mixed with salted peanuts.
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.
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.
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!
Howes in Grove city Pennsylvania still produces Circus Peanuts using the Spangler trademark in several flavors and I love them all....
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!
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 😁 ✌️
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 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.
What a hoot!! I'm in the ranks of liking all three! That was a delightful talk, thank you. 👍
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'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
I really like this video. Some deeper dive into the basics of the production methods and the history of the technology would be cool too. More please!
I watched this baked and it felt like an hour long documentary, this kind of stuff is so cool
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.
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!
Circus Peanuts I can do without...i don't really like or dislike them.... but I love licorice and candy corn.... always have. I love your channel. Thank you for the great lessons!
I came home from work and started chowing on circus peanuts and found your channel. Good show, mate. Cheers!
This guy could make a 30 minute video of the history of LITERALLY anything and I'm gonna watch the whole thing everytime. 👏 bravo sir
Same! I unplugged my laptop to take it into another room to do some quick chores so that I could listen to the video uninterrupted.
Love this! Love Circus Peanuts! Our Grandfather used to but them for us when we we five or six years old. It was a wonderful tasting treat and precious memories. Just like you said, the nostalgia of Circus Peanuts is the answer. I am now 74 years old, my twin brother and I still love these crazy orange colored, banana flavored treats! Yes, they are a sweet part of our childhood. I hope they continue on for another 100 years.
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.
I grew up eating Black Licorice because my grandfather loved it. I grew up eating Circus Peanuts and candy corn because my father loved it. I as a child LOVED Good and Plenty and still do!
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 😁
I did enjoy this episode. I didn’t know these candies were so devisive. I must confess that I like all three and will eagerly pilfer them from my grandchildren s candy bag at Halloween. I rationalize my petty larceny by suggesting they won’t know the difference anyway. And Good N Plenty have always been a favorite. I enjoy eating the candy corn each color separately in tiny bites. Glad to know they are still available.
I must have been a weird little kid. I loved black licorice, circus peanuts, super-sour jawbreakers, sponge toffee, horehound candy, and that weirdest of Canadian candies "Thrills", which still sports its proud slogan on the box: "IT STILL TASTES LIKE SOAP!"
Thrills are a Christmas tradition in my family. We use them as stocking stuffers. And they do still taste like soap. Lol
I feel like a bad Canadian for never hearing of this soap-flavored confectionery. Then again, it's probably more my parents' faults for sucking lol
@@Arcanist_Gaming You'll run across it in stores, occasionally --- especially old corner stores --- if you look for it. But there are never ads for it anywhere. It's like it's in some twilight zone that you blunder into by chance. The O-Pee-Chee Company in London, Ontario --- a company much more famous for hockey and baseball cards ---- has made Thrills since the 1930s. During World War 2, they switched to producing food supplies for the war effort, but they continued making Thrills as their only confection product. Apparently it was necessary to keep up national morale. The company suffered the only military attack on Canadian soil when a Nazi submarine entered the St. Lawrence River and sank one of their cargoes. I guess Hitler was well aware how much the Allies depended on O-Pee-Chee to win the war. The original factory building still stands in London, as does the newer factory they moved to in 1989. A part of our heritage that the "Heritage Minute" series on TV never gave us.
@@philpaine3068 Neat! Thanks for the impromptu history lesson; that's a bunch of interesting info you've got there.
@@Arcanist_Gaming I'm a historian, so it's a habit. Easy stuff to look up, and I found the factories on Google Earth. I already knew about the sub from reading about the old film "The 49th Parallel". I had O-PEE-CHEE hockey cards when I was a kid.
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'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 ❤
Circus peanuts always tasted like somebody tried to get to "banana", but didn't quite make it.
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.
Man, candy corn became awesome once I stopped getting swamped by it during Halloween: circus peanuts are awesome; and licorice...well, it was an acquired taste, but I did acquire it eventually. May they never die!
Candy corn, oh my, we used to go to a mall every so often and the Sears had bulk candy and my parents might buy us our candy of choice and mine was candy corn and the pumpkins. By the time we'd be halfway home I'd have eaten half a pound or more and was so sick. Every time I'd eat too much of it because it was such a rarity for me.
I never hated licorice, and I have no issue eating it. But it's one of those things, so much better stuff if I'm going t have sugar.
Everybody likes candy corn, but you are one of the few, the proud, the independent-I say, CIRCUS PEANUTS FOREVER!!!
@@richardtibbitts3841 YES circus peanuts are delicious!!! I also had no idea the marshmallows in lucky charms were also circus peanuts!!! and I never realized they were banana flavored too! 😂
I love allsorts licorice but I hate black licorice. Candy corn is okay in small amounts. How about those root beer barrels hard candies? I always remember them only at Halloween. 🤮 to me!😄
I remember these so well, I do not always remember yesterday, but the joys of youth will stay forever.
I did enjoy that bit of history thank you.
I love all three and hope they keep churning ‘em out!
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!
When I was a kid I loved all three: Licorice, circus peanuts, and candy corn. Later I began to feel that circus peanuts and candy corn were too sugary and although I might enjoy one or two on rare occasions, that is my limit. I still love licorice though, especially Good & Plenty.
My wife and I love the autumn mix candy corn. When we eat it during the fall and winter, our blood glucose levels drop.
You kept a taste for the only one that is undeniably awful. Don't take me too seriously. I just really hate licorice.
@@mage1439 No worries! It's like cilantro -- both have a strong, unusual flavor that people either love it or hate it.
@@mage1439 likely because we are all used to ungodly amounts of sugar. We would all like it more if we weren't So USED to hard candy that is LITERALLY full sugar
And then you had chocolate confections... The industries market the most addictive products. Old fashioned sweets cannot compete. One candy corn and you are done for hours... or days!
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 🙂
I love Fall and Halloween and Candy Corn in the supermarket is always an exciting sight welcoming the season!!! Love it!!!
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 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. 😊
I haven't gotten your videos recommended in a while, and I missed your narration style!
Idk why but your face wincing and saying “banana?!” At the end just made me bust out laughing!!!
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
Love the wax harmonica from Wowee! But I’ve been told someone hated them so much that he destroyed the molds years ago! He hated their sound! Perhaps the only candy that has been hated because of it’s sound.
What about bubblegum being chewed and popped?
@@goodun2974 _everyone_ loves that sound
@@williamchamberlain2263 The popping isn't bad, but the sound of people chewing loudly is nauseating to me. Even if it's just gum.
You just reminded me of a candy called whistle Pops
@@UrMomsChauffer I'd forgotten those things. Bright red?
Good info and I like your reporting style 👍
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.
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.
I think what trumps them all was those awful hollow cheap chocolate easter bunny's. Even as a kid, I remember one day thinking, "this is kinda bad. And I'm not sure why because it's chocolate".
There's different brands that made chocolate bunnies. If it was like a higher quality company, it was usually good but a lot of lower quality companies made really bad chocolate bunnies
I always thought those were rejected wax lips with some chocolate to brown it up.
The little gold Lindor bunnies slap though…
@@jocelynecupcake Yeah we got the lower quality chocolate then. I remember I'd usually eat the chocolate bunny ears and then I'd be sick of it.
@@gemstone108 Well ya... if you're getting Lindor, your parents were rich then, or you grew up in the 2000's? This was the late 80's and 90's and it was just the generic shit parents got at Rite Ade or K-mart. The lowest quality "chocolate" you can imagine.
Loved this! Thank you! :)
Circus peanuts used to be my favorite thing as a kid, getting them from my great Grandmom’s freezer every time I’d come over. Never know people didn’t like them till middle school when I found them in the store and my friends clowned on me for liking them. Thanks for the video brother, brought back good memories.
Can you imagine the hold up at his house this Halloween night as he explains all of this to each group?!
🤣
I am from Germany and had my first Candy corn when I visited Canada nearly 30 years ago. I love it, and whenever a friend goes to north america, I ask them to bring me some. I think it’s delicious - but I also love black liquorice, especially the salty variety.
I absolutely love black licorice. Salmiakki being my favorite. I'm the oddball in my family. Nobody else likes it, but I have since I was a child!
Salty? Ick.
A Root Beer is Not a Beer !