Food
Top 10 Discountinued Candy That We Want Brought Back
Everybody has their favorite kind of candy. It’s the thing that brings them joy after a hard day, or even if they’re having a good day and they just want a little extra bit of sweetness. However, sometimes the best candies get taken away, and we still think about them. This is the top 10 discontinued candy that we want brought back.
10. Wonder Ball
Any kid who came of age in the early 2000s probably remembers the commercials for these very strange chocolate balls filled with candy. “Oh I wonder wonder, hmm I do I do… What’s in a Wonder Ball?” Well, the answer to that question is some extra candy (because a chocolate shell was never really enough, was it?), as well as a “prize” for all the hard work of consuming excess amounts of sugar and artificial coloring. What was this prize, exactly? Usually, it was something only nominally entertaining to a child. It could be a sticker, or maybe a temporary tattoo of your favorite cartoon character… Definitely nothing to write home about. Still, the prospect of getting any sort of non-candy item inside of candy was tempting enough to make these treats relatively popular with young people. After all, that’s the reason why Kinder surprise eggs are still a surefire hit any time of the year. Unfortunately, while Kinder had figured out the best way to keep it’s toy prizes safely contained inside of a plastic capsule (those toys, by the way, were far superior to the disappointing and ultimately unmemorable items hiding inside of a Wonder Ball), Nestle couldn’t quite pull it off. Wonder Balls were taken off of the market after being deemed a choking hazard. Oddly enough, people don’t seem to miss them all that much, and we can only surmise that it is due to the disappointing prizes and forgettable candy treats waiting inside of the ball itself.
9. Triple Power Push Pop
Sometimes it’s too hard to decide on just one flavor of candy. That seems like an odd thing to say, considering that a lot of candy tastes pretty much the same as anything else. After all, who can tell the difference between red and blue candy, right? Here’s an interesting fact about the blue raspberry flavor, as a bonus: the reason that raspberry is often blue is so that it can stand out from the other “red” flavors like strawberry and cherry? Anyway, getting back on topic, back in the day kids wanted choices when it came to their candy. Not only that, but they wanted something that could last a long time. After all, candy cost money, and when you’re a kid, you’re not always flush with cash. Thus came the Triple Power Push Pop. Unlike a regular Push Pop, this bad boy had three different compartments, each containing a different flavor. It was also the kind of candy that could be enjoyed over a few days, since it had a tight-fitting plastic lid. That meant that the TPPP was basically more bang for any kid’s buck, as it could sit comfortably in their pocket or their backpack for days. Of course, there was no danger of it going bad, since it was basically just pure sugar mixed with all kinds of artificial flavors and colors.
8. Tart n Tinys
Some candies benefit from the fact that they combine two great flavors together. Just look at the longevity of Reese’s peanut butter cups. Sure, people thought that might have been a weird idea when it came out, but it has lasted longer than almost anything else and introduced a flavor combination that could not be beat. We’re not in this entry to talk about peanut butter and chocolate, though. There will be more about that later on. Right now we want to take a look at a candy that falls more on the fruity end of the candy spectrum: Tart n Tinys. These little, colorful chunks of candy came from Wonka, and they were really pretty delicious. First, you had the more straightforward sweetness of the shell on the outside of each piece, but inside was a more sour and tart candy filling. They were the kind of thing that you could bite into, or you could suck on one for a while and let the flavors melt into one another, creating a totally different experience altogether. Maybe it was the too-cute name or just the fact that people had moved on to other types of candy, but Tart N Tinys were not to last. People who wanted a similar flavor had other places to turn, of course. Sweet Tarts, which were also made by Wonka, had essentially the same flavor profile and came in a bigger, more manageable size anyway. Still, there are people out there who long for a box of these adorable little guys.
7. Hershey’s Swoops
Pringles are most recognizable by their signature shape. As soon as anyone spies one of those swoopy, almost aerodynamic potato chips, they can be assured that it definitely came out of a can and probably tastes only slightly less appealing than a regular potato chip. Still, maybe the shape of them is what makes up for the somewhat lackluster flavor, and that is why they remain a popular snack choice. Well, that and the ease with which you can store them on a grocery shelf or in your kitchen. Why are we talking about Pringles in an article about candy? Well, the answer will be obvious in a moment. We want to talk about another discontinued candy that left chocolate lovers wanting once it was pulled from the shelves. We’re talking about Hershey’s Swoops. The reason we brought up Pringles is that these chocolate “chips” (not chocolate chips, but chocolate shaped like potato chips) had a remarkably similar shape to Pringles. They came in small plastic containers and were even stacked up like the aforementioned potato chips. Swoops came in a variety of flavors, including plain chocolate, chocolate with almonds, and even Reese’s flavor with a peanut butter squiggle in the middle. However, we have to wonder just how satisfying these things actually were, since they would probably go pretty quick if you were really enjoying them, and they definitely don’t have the same snackability factor as potato chips. It would still be a few years before chocolate-covered potato chips hit the market, so maybe these were just a precursor.
6. Altoids Sour
Any connaisseur of mints knows that Altoids are pretty much the champagne of breath fresheners. Then again, maybe they’re more akin to something stronger. The 12-year-old scotch of breath fresheners, maybe. Either way, there is not really any other kind of mint that holds a candle to the “curiously strong” Altoids, which come in their own little metal tin, a nostalgic bit of candy storage that still exists even to this day. Sure, Altoids aren’t for everyone, but there is no denying that they are the kind of mint that really leaves an impression. So, where do you go after making what is essentially the strongest and most perfect mint on the market? Well, the next step, obviously, would be to expand into fruit-flavored candy territory, and if you can’t make that kind of candy minty, how do you challenge your customers in a new way? The good people at Altoids figured that if you can’t make a fruit candy minty, then why not venture into sour territory? Altoids sour gave Altoids fans a whole new flavor experience, asking them just how much sour flavor they could handle in one candy. Of course, Warheads, a candy that prides itself on being far too sour for regular human consumption, has been on the market for years, but Altoids Sour had slightly more class. However, they did not last, as people preferred the traditional mints over sour candy.
5. Jumbo Nerds
One of the main appeals of Nerds candy is the size. After all, it’s more fun to just dump a whole bunch of them into your hand and toss them back then it is to eat one at a time. Nerds, of course, came in boxes with two flavors, one on each side. The more ambitious Nerds eaters would open both sides at once and simply dump the tiny, tangy candies into their mouth, getting a nice flavor combination that was like something new in itself. However, Wonka has been experimenting with ways to make Nerds different for years: they have made multi-colored flavors, strange combinations, and even a gummy rope covered in Nerds called, appropriately, Nerds Rope. One idea that never quite stuck, though, was Jumbo Nerds. These Nerds were far bigger than their tiny predecessors, and while it seemed like the obvious choice for candy advancement (bigger is better, right?) the idea never really stuck. It could have been because people preferred the little Nerds, or it could have been that they tangy flavor and crunchy texture just didn’t work as well when it was scaled up. We may never really know why candy lovers seemed to reject this idea, but the simple fact is that Jumbo Nerds were just not meant to last.
4. Hershey’s S’mores bar
S’More’s are a treat that you never really get to eat in any situations outside of a campfire, are they? After all, no one is making s’mores in their kitchen (and if they are, then they are truly ambitious dessert lovers), and it’s not like you can walk into a store and buy a pre-made s’more. That is, until Hershey’s came up with an idea for a candy bar that could replicate (or almost replicate, anyway) the flavor of that campfire treat. The Hershey’s S’More’s bar wasn’t a terrible idea, at least in theory. While the bars themselves were pretty tasty, it would have been a fool’s errand to perfectly match the flavor of an actual s’more. While the bars themselves combines the chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker components of the traditional treat, one thing that they could never replicate should have been obvious to the folks who created it: the taste of a roasted marshmallow. Even the people over at Jelly Belly could never get it right, making the toasted marshmallow variety of their signature jelly bean one of the worst flavors in the mix. The texture of the marshmallow filling was also a little bit off. It was chewier than your average marshmallow, which might have made for actual textural improvement in the bar, but just took the flavor farther from what it was trying to replicate.
3. PB Max
This one is a major throwback, so we wouldn’t blame some of you if you don’t remember. For those who got to have these amazing treats, then this will come as a welcome reminder of just how special and delicious they were. Before we start to talk about the candy itself, let’s put them into context, because there is actually a big difference with these guys when compared to other candy and chocolate bars on the list. When you were a kid and you got to pick out what kind of dessert you got in your lunch, it was something really special. You could stand in that cookie aisle for days trying to make up your mind. Of course, you might have also got the chance to pick out a certain type of granola bar, since this was back in the day when something was healthy just because it was made of granola, nevermind the fact that it was still jam-packed with sugar. If you were lucky, then your parents would let you put a box of PB Max into the cart and would put one in your lunch every day. That’s because unlike the other chocolate bars on this list, PB Max’s were actually sold as snack bars and came in boxes of six, much like Little Debbie snack cakes or the aforementioned granola bars. These things were basically just peanut butter and cookie coated in milk chocolate, so there was no reason to think they were anything other than a chocolate bar. Rumor has it that these snacks were discontinued because the owner of the company that made them just wasn’t that big a fan of peanut butter. Seems unfair, but whatever.
2. Reese Bites
Remember earlier how we said we were going to talk about Reese’s peanut butter cups? Well, we might not have been telling the entire truth. See, what we actually want to talk about is an offshoot of the famous candy, and not the candy-coated pieces beloved by E.T. What we want to focus on is Reese Bites, a variation on the famous peanut butter and chocolate combination that came about in the early 200os. Now, to be fair, there were other versions of Bites on the market, but let’s face it: none of them could hold a candle to these little balls of flavor. Reese Bites were basically just what they sound like: a peanut butter cup molded into a ball form. What made these things so special was that unlike a peanut butter cup, you could pop one in your mouth and let the chocolate melt away into the peanut butter center, creating a truly delicious flavor experience. Plus, they came in big bags rather than a sleeve of three, so you always felt like you were getting more bang for your buck. Unfortunately, all of the Bites were eventually taken off of the shelves, and those who loved the Reese Bites seemed to be hit the hardest. Sure, the other bites were good in their own ways, but they just couldn’t hold a candle. And while you can buy a big of mini Reese cups, it’s just not the same at all.
1. Butterfinger BB’s
Finally, we come to the last candy on the list: Butterfinger BB’s. These little bite-sized variants of the Butterfinger candy bar were basically the precursor to the Hershey’s Bites mentioned in the previous entries. However, those bites didn’t have the Simpson family as their spokespeople, so there’s something to be said about Butterfinger’s advertising strategy. Still, there are people who miss these crunchy, sweet, salty candies, simply because they were just too good to pass up. We’re not sure why Butterfinger decided that they didn’t need to make these anymore, but we really wish they would consider bringing them back.