When I was a kid Whoppers were made by Leaf who also made Sixlets, Rain-Blo bubble gum and a lot of different novelty type gums (like Hot Dog Gum). Mostly I knew Whoppers as a candy for movies, but like Sixlets, Whoppers came in a little clear cellophane sleeve, there were five of them and they were called Fivesomes.

Leaf had a couple of versions of Malted Milk Balls, their small ones were called Malt-ettes and were barely larger than an M&M if they were spherical and their largest version were called Whoppers. I feel like Whoppers were bigger when I was a kid, but I could be confusing the mockolate coated year-round version with the Robins Egg Easter version.

The Whoppers we know today weren’t always so grand. When they were first introduced in 1939 by the Overland Candy Company and called Giants. Leaf took over the brand in 1949 and changed the name to Whoppers. Hershey’s now markets them and calls them the Original Malted Milk Balls.

While they may have the same name as the original, I highly doubt that this is the original recipe: Sugar; Whey (Milk); Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil; Corn Syrup; Malted Milk (Barley Malt; Wheat Flour; Milk; Salt; Sodium Bicarbonate); Cocoa; Contains 2% Or Less Of: Soy Lecithin; Resinous Glaze; Sorbitan Tristearate; Natural And Artificial Flavor ; Calcium Carbonate; Tapioca Dextrin; Salt.

They’re nicely spherical, about the size of a Peanut M&M. The shell of mockolate is mercifully thin, more of a protective wax sealant for the crunchy malted center. The coating is always a little rancid tasting to me, not terribly sweet but grainy and only the lightest touch of cocoa to it. The center is what redeems Whoppers. They’re very consistent - a dense crunch with a sweet and milky flavor with a good dollop of malt in there. They’re salty, but not too much to make me thirsty.

I can’t say that Hershey’s ruined Whoppers, but they’re certainly never done anything to make them better.

Whoppers are sold in a lot of packaging different formats, little single serving packets, small boxes and the big theater box shown and a fun size usually available around Halloween. But really the only kind of Whopper I think is worth eating is the Easter or Christmas version, which has a hard candy shell ... and even that isn’t as good as some other brands that use real chocolate.

Related Candies

1. Target’s Market Pantry Malted Milk Balls
2. Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Malted Milk Eggs (Plus a Bonus)
3. Whoppers Reese’s Peanut Butter Flavored Candy
4. Whoppers Milkshake Strawberry
5. Brach’s Fiesta Eggs
6. Whoppers Twosomes
7. Bulk Balls

Trader Joe’s has been stepping up their introduction of classic candies lately. They have their gourmet versions of Milk Duds and Dutch Mints. I was quite shocked and delighted to see these Trader Joe’s Candy Coated Licorice a couple of weeks ago.

The box has a great, comforting design on it that conveyed everything I needed to know about the product. It’s licorice, it comes in pastel colors and it’s candy coated. But the really appealing part of this product for many people will be that it’s made without artificial colors or preservatives and contains no animal products. (It is missing the Trader Joe’s vegan symbol though I can’t find anything on the list of ingredients that would be considered non-vegan, except perhaps titanium dioxide, which is neither animal or vegetable, it’s mineral.)

If you were afraid that natural colors would be muted and bland, let me allay that fear. These are bright - a deep purple, bright yellow, brilliant orange and a clean white.

The candies are short little pieces, squat and with all the candy coating, rather rounded. They reminded me a bit of the Wiley Wallaby Outback Beans, made by Kenny’s Licorice. However, these have a few key differences. First, they’re made in Mexico and Kenny’s is made in the USA. Second, the Kenny’s had a rather soft shell to it. The Trader Joe’s Candy Coated Licorice is quite crisp.

The shell is thick and very crunchy. As with many natural or artificial colors, some taste different from others. The purple and orange candies have a light violet floral note to them. Otherwise the candy is all about sweetness, licorice and molasses. The candy shell provides a long, sustained sugar zap while the center is quite soft and has a slightly doughy chew. The molasses is a little bitter, smoky and woodsy. The licorice is light and sweet with a hit of anise as well as a grassy note of fresh fennel.

They’re a lot more affordable than the new Panda Candy Coated Licorice, which is also slightly different as the shells are flavored.

As much as these have going for them, first they’re dirt cheap at 99 cents for a 6 ounce box, I can’t say that they’re my absolute favorite candy coated licorice of all time. For me there’s too much shell and not enough intense licorice flavor. But the texture mixes are balanced very well. I’ve eaten three boxes so far, so these are definitely my go-to munching licorice. But I’d like an Extra Licorice version, maybe that has a little hint of anise in the shell itself.

Related Candies

1. Panda Candy Coated Licorice
2. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mints
3. Goetze’s Licorice and Double Chocolate Caramel Creams
4. Trader Joe’s Jelly Beans & Citrus Gum Drops
5. Wiley Wallaby Outback Beans
6. Sugar Coated Fennel
7. Boston Baked Beans
8. Good & Plenty (Fresh from the Factory)

Wonka has a strong tradition of sugar candies, as the brand originated with Sunline, makers of SweeTarts, Pixy Stix and Fun Dip (Lik-M-Aid). One of their legacy candies is Laffy Taffy. It’s just fruity taffy with the added bonus of a joke or two on the wrapper.

Back when I was a kid Laffy Taffy was known as Tangy Taffy and was sold in large flat bars similar to Jolly Rancher Stix (well, bigger than that). They came in intense and artificial flavors like Green Apple, Watermelon and Banana. After the Nestle takeover of Wonka they made some changes, like dumping Wacky Wafers (photo) and changing Tangy Taffy to Laffy Taffy.

Laffy Taffy still comes in bars, but the most common product I see are these little two inch long pieces. Each piece is about 35 calories and is two bites. They come in tubs and of course are a staple of pinatas and Halloween bags.

They’re soft and usually take on the shape of the package, but they’re very easy to get out of the plastic wrapper once opened. It’s a true taffy, there are no egg products in there like Bonomos or Doschers taffy have. There’s a touch of oil, so they’re not completely fat free (about a half of a gram of fat per piece).

Strawberry is pretty, very pink and fragrant. It’s like cotton candy or lemonade. The flavor isn’t very strong, lightly tangy and sweet with a well moderated fake strawberry flavor. There are little snaps of salt and tartness throughout. The chew is long and steady and quite smooth.

Banana - this is an intense fake banana candy. The banana is intense enough that it gave me a cool feeling on my tongue, similar to the effect of nail polish remover in both the tingling and the strange caustic scent. I like fake banana, so the sweetness and weird artificial flavor was fun for me. Your mileage may vary.

Sour Apple - if they called this green apple, I don’t think I’d have much of an issue. However, with the word sour in there, I have certain expectations, such as tartness. This was not sour. It was not even particularly vivid, just a mild fake green apple flavor. The texture is smooth and chewy and there’s a strange salty note to it that bugged me in this instance.

Grape is purple and the taffy version of a grape SweeTart. It’s zippy with a purely artificial flavor that’s a cross between grape juice, straight malic acid and pen ink.

The jokes on them are true groaners like “How do billboards talk?” (Sign Language!) and truly poorly written ones like “What kind of chain is edible?” (A Food Chain!)

I’ve grown out of these, for my fruit chews I prefer something a little tamer and friendly like Skittles. But these have the advantage of being vegetarian (no gelatin) over products like Starburst or Bonomos. They’re Kosher; there are no nut or gluten statements on the package.

Related Candies

1. Chewbies Liquid Taffy - Orange
2. Bonomo & Doscher Banana Taffy
3. Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy - Chocolate, Vanilla & Strawberry
4. Banana n Cream & Red Orange Mentos
5. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
6. Starburst
7. Doscher’s French Chew Taffy

I may be allergic to walnuts, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think they make great companions for chocolate.