Sweet Sensations: Texan, Tiffin and Aztec

 More chocolate gnashing down memory lane!

I can almost taste them again!

A couple I enjoyed in New York 2001:

 the delicious Butterfinger!

And the equally scrummy Oh Henry!

Do you like these American readers? Sadly only available in specialist sweet shops in the UK.

Back in the days of Blightyful yore there was Tiffin. This is the early Fry's version. I ate the later orange wrapper bar. Not sure who it was by. But, what a treat! fruit and biscuit and chocolate. Yum! Only Kendal Mint Cake equals it's adventuring spirit and ability to kick start quests.

Texan was a Seventies favourite. A proper filling puller if I recall. Delicious nougat smothered in choc. The big chew with a great wild west TV ad.

A personal favourite, Ruffle, a bar so delightful I would get one wherever I saw them. I still do. They're still around! Essential Raspberry goodness!

And maybe the best I've saved for last, Aztec! Now lost in the fickle skip of whims, Aztec was simply and utterly fabulous. A fluffy superised Mars Bar infused with instant bliss. If only they would bring those Aztecs back!

Which chocs or sweets would you resurrect readers? 

Weekend, Five Boys and Bar Six Chocolate

I adored Weekend chocolates as a kid. Sadly no longer with us but we can drool over old ads and pictures like this.

Did you Weekend?

 

I don't recall Five Boys but it looks delicious! Five big words too!

Do you remember it?

Bar Six! Ah! A real favourite of mine back in the day. Delicious wafer covered in choc. Six snap-off chunks!

Mmmm!

Did you Bar Six?

What were your long lost choccy faves?

Christmas Sweets: An Early Nibble

Back in the Sixties and early Seventies, Christmas meant sweets in the UK.

Lots and lots of sweets.

Some of my favourites, mostly chocolate, were often clubbed together in that most fabulous of all human inventions, the Selection Box.

As much a part of the festive season as  dodgy socks and dried stuffing, the Selection box was good to go at any time, whether it be part of the general manoeuvres through the whole of December or as a treat on the Big Day.

The best medleys included a Crunchie, a Curly Whirly, a bag of Fruit pastels, a Fudge and a Ripple. To be honest , it didn't matter what was in them. Even Caramac!

Far more important than any titchy chocs to be had in those flimsy Advent Calendars, Selection Boxes were essential gritty supplies to power you through the more boring rituals of the season.

Other sweets of note were sugared jellies or jellied fruits. Not my favourite at the time, a more sedate tid-bit to be found hiding on small coffee tables, the staple of visiting Aunties and my Mum's big-hatted friends.

Much more to my taste were Chocolate Brazils.

 Always the same make, I forget the name, these rock-hard delights came in a flat box, with each nut nestled in a pleated paper cup. The chocolate around them was so thick you just had to eat it off like a fevered beaver.

A far more adult confection were chocolate liqueurs. I'm not sure I liked them that much back then, the injection of cognac or Tia Maria into my mouth a completely alien experience as a kid. I would eat them now though, no worries!

My final guilty pleasure has to coffee creams. Or is it cremes? 

You know the ones, whether left behind in the chocolate box because nobody liked them or found in an entire box of cremes, this strange treat had a bad rep.

 Less popular than the more suave peppermint variety or those pompous After Eights, the lowly coffee creme was an outcast in it's own munchbox. 

I on the other hand adored them as a kid and to my good fortune, often found stragglers languishing in shame round the house at Christmas. Like a festive magpie I'd gobble them up before downing half a bottle of Tizer, that russet fuel of champions. 

Ah yes, sweets at Christmas. Which were and are your faves readers? 

A Friday Treat! Norman's Thunderbirds Chocolate Bar Wrappers and More!

Hi Woodsy

You asked if I should dig out the chocolate bar wrappers, could I send you scans? Well the answer is YES!

I remember having lost one collection of TV21 to a Thrift Shop in Valletta, Malta (thanks Mum!), the next set came from a friend at school who didn't want them any more. 

So here I had the opportunity to assemble all my ephemera that no-one would ever care about (!) and create a good old-fashioned scrapbook - lots of cutting out shapes and images and texts from TV21, the TV21 Diary, colouring books, party cracker boxes, nougat bar wrappers, the toy boxes and of course ... those foil chocolate bar wrappers!

I was going to crop the images to just the wrappers but thought you might get a kick from seeing what I did and you might even spot some more rarities.

I have collected 12 of them, but who knows how many more there were. There are as follows:

Thunderbird 1

Thunderbird 2

Thunderbird 3

Thunderbird 4

Thunderbird 5

FAB1

Jeff

Lady P

Parker

Scott

Tin-Tin

Hood

So if I were to guess what others might have been:

Virgil, Alan, Gordon, John, Kyrano

But maybe that's just in a sweet shop in my dreams!

Captain Scarlet and Stingray are tucked away somewhere too!

Best wishes

Norman

Frank Bellamy Checklist and Blog

Frank Bellamy Facebook page

and my other interest

Raymond Sheppard

THE MILKY BAR KID IN SPACE 1981

 

I loved Milky Bars as a kid.

I don't recall this 1981 ad though. Maybe its because I was older then. You remember it?

Do you like Milky Bars or white chocolate readers?

WEEKEND BY MACKINTOSH

 

As with most things that have gone I hanker for them even more. 

So it is with Weekend chocolates, Mackintosh's wonderful trays of delights that could be eaten any time but often on a Saturday night when my parents cracked open a box.

Every single one of the chocs was terrific. The fudge, the chocolate cherry cup, the chocolate cracknel, the wrapped raisin fudge and the fabulous nougaty montelmar. Even the lemon jelly slice would be welcome back!

I would love to have all this weekend to make up my mind again!

What a delicious Christmas Day they would give me.

You too?

TRIANGULAR TRAIN!

Hello Woodsy

Further to Toblerone, this faked image has been floating around the internet for years.

One day I may take a crack at making a working model of it it.

Stay well,

Terranova47
USA

WITH TRIANGULAR HONEY FROM TRIANGULAR BEES

I've known the Toblerone symbol my whole life. You know, the pyramidal peak emblazoned on Switzerland's delicious triangular chocolate bar.

What I've only just found out is the image hidden at the side, an image of a standing bear. Once you see it its quite clear!

Is this pure coincidence or Swiss wit?

Do you know of any hidden images or messages in things readers?

TERRANOVA47'S STAR WARS CHOCOLAE BAR WRAPPER

Hello Woodsy

You probably remember blogging the Star Wars chocolate wrappers that never were a while back.

Typically while looking for something else I found my Job Folder of samples with the first marker 'comp'

- (comprehensive sketch) that I did on that project to see what the client wanted.

Here it is.

Stay well,

Terranova47

USA

TERRANOVA'S CADBURYS MONSTER BAR POSTERS

Hello Woodsy

Since the blog is covering candy and desserts, and why not, here are some posters issued by Cadbury in the early 70's in exchange for some wrappers:

SIX CADBURY'S MONSTER BAR POSTERS.

Not as scary as paperback or magazine covers but ideal for the Beano and Dandy crowd.

Regards,
Terranova47

USA

The Bars be with You

Don't forget the Star Wars Candy bars that never were because George Lucas wouldn't license 'junk food'.

Under Disney ownership there are Star Wars Easter Eggs!

Terranova47

USA

LIFE IS LIKE ....

Are there any chocs you dislike at crimbo? I must say I enjoy all chocolates and especially at Yuletide. I even like coffee cremes! 

Weekend were a favourite treat and I loved it when Mum got a box out of the cupboard and opened it up for all on Boxing Day. The green ovoid was spectacular! And the fudge, oh my God! 

Only the lemon slice made me wince. That tart intruder!  In fact I wasn't keen on candied jellies full stop. You?

I remember boxes of chocs like this too, big unbranded things like trays, lying around the place over Christmas. They were square or oblong and contained tons of creased paper cases for the chocs. The single-tray boxes often had flowers pictured or maybe puppies or cats and ribbons. Where did they come from these big unbranded trays?

Without doubt though my number one box was and is Black Magic.

I've asked for a box for my 60th next Wednesday. I cannot wait to chomp into the ginger jelly again! Its been too long!

What are your fave chocs readers?

Have you choccy Christmas memories?

Desperately Drinking Chocolate

Hello Woodsy

As I sit in my living room drinking tea I read your post on Hot Chocolate. 

It proved a timely reminder as on checking, supplies are low and I'm not sure this is exported to the US. 

I brought mine back from the last visit to the UK and I'm not sure when the next trip will be.

Over the years I found the US brands are not as good and Roundtree's is just a childhood memory. I'm lazy and need instant gratification! 

Terranova47

USA

HOT CHOCCY ANYONE?

Working in winter means dark setting-offs and even darker homecomings. Its just dark in the UK. Dark dark dark.

The one things that cheers me up and warms my cockles when I get home is a hot chocolate.

There's just something about the creamy rich flavour of a cup of hot chocolate that makes me feel instantly better. Its a winter treat.

I always loved it as a kid and my Mum's brand was Rowntrees Cocoa, always served in a bone china cup. I think the only difference between cocoa and hot chocolate is sugar but Mum's pan-warmed cocoa was wonderful.

I'm not that fussed about the brand nowadays as long as its hot, chocolatey and made at least half with milk. I do it in the microwave and top up with hot water.

Do you partake in a hot choccy readers? What cheers you up on getting home in the dark of winter?

CADBURY'S CARDS

This lot of of cards on an old auction brought back memories.

Centre left are Cadbury's Strange but True cards. Remember them?

I recall these thin cards that were tucked inside chocolate bars.

Do you?

Do you have a set?

DRAGEES AND PASTILLES

I love munchies. I always have. Although square, to me they are related to the class of sweets known as pastilles, most of which are round.

One of my fave round chocolate pastilles are Marabou, which we get at Ikea. A whole packet of delicious milk chocolate discs. Yum.

But the King of pastilles has to be Droste. Now these are a cut above even Marabou. They may even be better called dragees than pastilles, although I'm unsure of the difference.

Droste are tops!

And then there are what are called chocolate drops, although i can't find a brand for these. They seem to be posher than the rest and bagged up bespoke by high-end sweet shops.

Do you like chocolate pastilles and dragees readers?

BAR SIX BLUES

I was eating a Kit Kat Me Too this morning from Lidl. Quite delicious and no doubt half the price. Can't recall the name, which for some reason doesn't matter. You just know its a Me Too.

Whilst chomping, I was lamenting the demise of the late Bar Six and Waifa, both favourite wafery chocolate bars of mine. Bar Six vanished years ago and Waifa may have lingered into the noughties but seems to have gone now.

I got to thinking that a Me Too version of these two treats would suffice, Lidl knockoffs with forgettable names like Snap Choc and Wafery. I wouldn't mind the names, its the look, shape and taste I'd be after. Bar Six was a vertical bar with six snap-off chunks. Waifa was square and again a snapper-offer.

But then I realised there'd be no point in these Me Toos. Like cuckoos, the whole function of a knockoff is to replace the popular original brand with a cheaper version that makes someone somewhere some money. Just not the original brand. We've seen it countless times in the Sixties and Seventies toy industries so we know it well on Moonbase!

Bar Six and Waifa don't exist anymore so why would anyone buy the Me Too versions? Big brands like Nutella and Mars Bar have their Chocco Nussi and Titan alter-egos and who needs Cadburys when you've got Dairyfine. Part of the thrill of Lidling is getting a bargain and these non-brands are cheap to say the least.

No, Bar Six and Waifa won't be cloned any time soon and I'll just have to be satisfied with my knockoff Kit Kat for my wafery kicks for now.

What do you think?

A STIR OF COCOA

I haven't seen my old Mum for 45 years. I've spent the vast majority of my life without her being around and now I'm approaching 60.

Its a weird feeling trying to remember her from so far back. My ability to recall my childhood and my youth is fading, certainly in any detail. There are just foggy snatches of recollections peppered with the inanimate objects that made up our lives back then.

This blog is an attempt to remember. Its probably to reconnect with my childhood. Dare I say it, its maybe even to reconnect with my Mum, who died when I was 15.

I've survived the loss but I wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else, which alas, it does all too often.

Occasionally I half-remember things, stirrings like undeveloped photos which just aren't clear anymore.

For instance this afternoon I made an instant hot chocolate drink.

I had a feeling that I drank them as a kid too.

More than that I saw the flicker of a brown box packet - maybe Rowntrees - and a white china cup and saucer. I think my Mum made me hot chocolate in a proper cup with a saucer.

But it wasn't like the Nesquik I've just quickly made. 

I sense that she warmed milk slowly in a saucepan on the stove and spooned in deep dark scoops of powder, stirring all the time with perhaps a wooden spoon.

It was cocoa I think. I think she called it cocoa too and not hot chocolate. 

The drink itself, swirling in the cup, was a rich gloss brown with a ring of froth on the top like a curl. She must have added sugar because I'm getting sweetness too.

I can almost hear the chink of the cup on the saucer as I sense drinking that delicious hot cocoa. It was quite scrumptious I think.

I may have to try to get a box packet of Rowntrees cocoa.

I have to try to re-create that drink I had 50 years ago!

Do you remember cocoa readers?

TERRY'S OF YORK 1767 CHOCOLATES: CHRISTMAS ASSORTMENT

If it was Christmas it was the 2lb box of Terry's 1767 with it's three layers of assortment!

Chocolate covered nuts on the top, small chocolate bars on the second and an assortment of truffles etc on the bottom. 

The holiday packaging made the selection look like an adults treasure trove. 

Attached are pictures of the last holiday box I had from the early 90's. It has been used to store miscellaneous picture cards from then. Also shown is the all important contents chart. 

Just picturing this box makes my mouth water for Terry's Spartan selection of hard centers. 

All that remains now of Terry's is the Chocolate Orange once Kraft Foods destroyed the very British Terry's. 

Terranova47

NYC

CHOCOLATES AT CHRISTMAS IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES

Chocs.

Ah, the food of the Gods!

Chocs and Christmas. A marriage made in Heaven. What do I remember of this beautiful union?

Selection Boxes: the very essence of my childhood Christmasses, the spirit of Yuletide in a plastic tray of chocolate bars. Mars. Flake. Bounty. Picnic. Crunchy. Curly Wurly. They were all there. Like a big thick postcard from Santa himself. Flippin 'Eck, how I loved those Selection Boxes and there was always something cool to do on the back too. Many were TV related! OMG!

And then there were Chocolate Oranges. These were a ball of choc in thick slices shaped like an orange. It was wrapped in orange foil. To 'open' the choc ball you tapped it on a table, at which point the slices would fan out and fall. Deelicious.

Just Brazils were just that, Big brazil nuts blathered in thick milk chocolate. I think the makers were Beech's. Biting into the coating was wonderful and the mix of chocolate and brazil was simply divine.

Boxes of chocolates were everywhere too. The exotic and dark Black Magic. The quirky Weekend. The reliable Dairy Box and the James Bond of chocs, Milk Tray. There were also huge flat boxes of chocs with puppies or similar syrupy image on the lid. When these were done there must have been a hundred small empty choc papers in the box.

Empty papers were also aplenty when Roses and Quality Street came out. I can still see the large round tin of Quality Street at the centre of everything at Crimbo, a tin emblazoned with Victorian Hussars and petticoated ladies enjoying themselves.

The last chocs, literally the last, were those still dangling on the tree on Boxing Day. The best ones had been scoffed by then so only a few well-hidden Santas and Snowmen wrapped in foil were left for the intrepid chocoholic.

Leaving choccy to one side, there were other delectables to be had in the Christmas household of the Sixties and Seventies if you looked closely.

Glass jars of glaced cherries could be raided. Whether these were real cherries I've no idea but I always had a few to keep me going. 

Similarly dubious as to whether they were real, glazed fruit slices that came in a box. These looked like fruit slices, like lemons and oranges, festooned in sugar and having a somewhat sickly taste. I can see the greenish box now!

Unquestionably proper fruit, dates were as much Christmas as the prize turkey. I don't know why we didn't eat them at any other time of the year, cos they were scrumptious. they were always Moroccan. Packed in a barge-like tray, they came with a long plastic spear or fork to aid eating. Like little fat leather cushions, dates were stickier than snail slime and couldn't really be handled, just eaten. For some bizarre reason, the discarded stones always ended up back in the tray next to the uneaten dates! Yuk!

Last and not least and a welcome return to chocolate and nuts, Walnut Whips were and are my fave Christmas treat. While my Big Bros were chomping on Uncle Joe's Mint Balls I was cruching through the thick mantle of a whip, biting into that fluffy white creme and taking in the walnut crown on the way. Perfection. I think my Mum got them from  BHS or M&S, their own home brands.

This is a tradition that's lasted and I always get a box of Walnut Whips on my December Birthday or on the Big day itself from my family. The supermarket house-brand from Tesco. Yum!

Which choc and sweets did you or do you scoff at Christmas