Day 095: Top 5 Candies That I Totally Forgot About

Well, I’ll be damned. There I was again, stuck in line at the grocery store. This ritual is becoming just as common as writing lists and complaining about bread being too dry. Not much had changed since last week, so I had nothing better to do but zone out at the candy. Surprisingly, there were quite a few objects on the shelf that I forgot even existed. It’s not that I have my finger on the pulse of the candy community, but I’m a little shocked that people are still buying some of this stuff. Here’s the Top 5 candies that raised my eyebrows:

5) Good & Plenty
Growing up, it was always on the bottom of the candy shelf, next to Mike and Ike’s. This was a really cruel practice that I was confused by. You would think that since they look the same and have a similarly structured name, they would taste at least somewhat similar. If you eat a Good & Plenty while expecting a Mike and Ike, you’re going to be in for bitter disappointment. I pretended to like them just to be contrarian, but then they slowly grew on me. I also eventually found the name to be really proper. If you consider them to be “Good”, then you can have “Plenty”. That’s because you’re guaranteed to never have to share them.

4) Symphony
I always considered Symphony to be the adult version of the Hershey Bar. They have the same exact ingredients but in different quantities. Therefore they are considered “Milkier” and “Europeanier”. You can’t find them in gas stations, but they’re still available in large sizes at grocery stores. I know this because my sister used to love them. But I haven’t lived with her in 18 years, so yeah, totally forgot they exist.

3) Krackel
This was Hershey’s answer to Nestle Crunch and it eventually didn’t work out well. It was discontinued in 1997, but they still make the miniature sizes in a mix with other Hershey’s “favorites”. So that’s probably the only extent of which you remember it from. Apparently, there’s also Jumbo Sizes. But not regular-sized. Krackel might be the only candy bar that can only be too small or too large.

2) 100 Grand
My sister had to sell these as some sort of fundraiser (marching band? I think?), so there was always a plethora of them in our freezer. And I only ate them when I was desperate for a sweet fix. To me, it was just a free candy bar. Nothing more, sometimes less. I was perplexed that people willingly spent money on them. And I guess I’m still perplexed, because they’re still for sale.

1) Rolos
I was sitting around bored with my cousins during some family holiday, a long time ago. Something pelted me in the face. I looked around and saw a slightly dented, individually wrapped Rolo on the ground. Looking up, the grin on my cousin’s face grew wide. He looked around to ensure that there were no adults present and exclaimed, “Bitch, you just got Rolo’ed!”. The three of us spent the rest of the day covertly Rolo’ing each other. It became one of my favorite holiday traditions. Nowadays, I didn’t think they were still sold. You never hear anybody talk about them. I would buy some to support the company, but I don’t think Rachel would appreciate getting pelted with chocolate. Because obviously, I can’t buy Rolos without throwing them. That’s what they’re for.

Before I could finish my nostalgia trip, I was egged on to move forward in line. Time may wait for candy, but it never does for zoned out humans standing in a line.

-TeeCoZee