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Your Guide To The Best Old-School Halloween Candies
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Oct 28, 2011
Modified Oct 28, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Oct 28, 2011
Modified Oct 28, 2011
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Halloween is almost upon us, and that means one thing: CANDY. But not all that newfangled nonsense with the 3-D chocolate and edible glitter and biologically engineered flavor bursts. We're talking about classic candy—the kind of stuff that's been around since your grandparents were trick-or-treating. The kind of stuff that you can't find in too many places these days, unless you take a trip down to Economy Candy, the city's preeminent old-school candy purveyor, a sugar-fueled time warp if there ever was one. Here's a look at some of the fine products we were able to score on a recent shopping trip.
1. Rocky Road Bars: Rocky Roads are basically oversized marshmallows coated in chocolate, but gussied up with crushed cashews a "secret ingredient" (malted milk crisps) to give the outer layer an extra crunch. They've been around since the 1950s, and if they're good enough for the Russians, they're good enough for you. (Bonus: here's a video of the bars being made.)
2. Mallo Cups: They're like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but with marshmallow creme instead of PB, and coconut mixed into the chocolate shell. Mallo Cups are also notable for placing cardboard "coins" inside of the packaging, which can be collected and redeemed for manufacturer Boyer Brothers prizes, like...more candy! Also, the Lemonheads wrote a song about them (sort of.)
3. Jaw Busters: Don't let the name fool you: Jaw Busters are actually the very same Jawbreakers that Ferrara Pan has been making for generations. Each Jaw Buster takes 14-19 days to make, starting with a single grain of sugar that's whirled with melted sugar until it grows to the right size, which can range from a tiny sprinkle to a baseball-sized orb (as immortalized in the camp-tastic film of the same name).
4. Abba-Zabas: The tagline "Long-Lasting Fun!" certainly does not lie, because these babies will rip your teeth straight out if you attack too quickly. Abba-Zabas are a thin bar of incredibly chewy taffy with a peanut butter center, and it'll take you a solid two hours to get through the whole thing. They've been around since 1922, mainly on the West Coast, but it wasn't until the late 1970s that the label was changed from this borderline-racist image to the taxi-checkers you see today.
5. Zero Bars: They're made by Hershey's now, but Zero bars were first invented by Hollywood Brands in the 1920s and called, slightly ironically, "Double Zeros." They're similar to a modern-day Three Musketeers—the inside has a calorie-count-flaunting mixture of caramel, peanut and almond nougat —but the outside is coated in white fudge, making this bar a real looker.
6. Cherry Mash:Cherry Mash was probably the scariest-looking candy we picked up, but one the best-tasting. It's a nugget of neon-pink cherry fondant covered in a hulking blob of peanuts and chocolate, and if you can get past the artificial smell, it's actually quite enjoyable, with a marzipan-y filling and an extra-crunchy shell. According to manufacturer Chase Candy, it's the best-selling cherry candy bar in the US, though we're not sure how stiff the competition is in that category.
7. Necco Wafers: The 150-year-old company bowed to customer demands and put artificial ingredients back in after an ill-fated attempt to go "natural," so it's safe to stock up on the neon-colored rolls. The indestructible little discs were shipped to soldiers during World War II, so you're practically a patriot just for eating the things today.
Tagged
candy
classic
economy candy
halloween
old school
taste test
Jamie Feldmar
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