Retro Sweets

THIS CONTENT IS MY OWN as are any mistakes or inaccuracies

Retro sweets treats make an extremely popular gift item which bridges the gap between confectionary aimed at children and confectionary aimed at adults.  Retro sweets particularly appeal to adults looking for a nostalgic trip back through childhood memories and who may also want to share the experience with their own children today!

The growing popularity of sweets and chocolates from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s is thought to be partly due to the fond memories of children growing up in these decades and who are now adults that want to relive the tastes, memories and stories.

Name: CADBURY FINGERS
Product Type: Biscuit
Launched: 1950s
Chocolate: Cadbury
Manufacturer: Burtons Biscuit Company

These crunchy biscuit fingers generously covered with Cadbury milk chocolate is one of the most recognised and popular biscuits in the UK today. Although the Cadbury fingers that we know and love in 2014 were launched in 1951 they did make an appearance in assorted Cadbury Biscuits from as early as 1897. Perfect to dip into as a snack with a cup of tea (some people like to bit off both chocolate covered ends and use it as a biscuity straw to soak up the tea) it is also extremely popular as a treat for the whole family to share. Cadbury Fingers have continued to grow and develop over the decades and are now also available in a wide range of flavourings such as Dark, Caramel and White as well as the new range of Fabulous Fingers!

Name: SHERBET STRAWS
Product Type: Sweet

Long thin, multi coloured plastic straws filled with tangy, fruity flavoured sherbet. They come in a massive range of lengths and widths with the sherbet often placed in a partially see through straw and with the different coloured sherbet layered in lines in a bright rainbow display. All sherbet straws are easily eaten by popping or snapping the top of the plastic straw and tipping it up to ‘drink’ the sherbet. Perfect for kids to eat on the go

Name: SHERBET DIB DAB
Product Type: Sweet
Manufacturer:  Bartlett

Very easily recognised bright yellow paper packets of sherbet with a small fruity lolly pop sealed inside in direct contact with the loose sherbet. Once licked and sticky the lolly was used to ‘dab’ into the sherbet and lick clean where the tangy sherbet would mix with the fruity flavour of the lolly. The round lolly could also be used like a spoon to scoop up the sherbet straight on to the tongue. Sherbet Dib Dabs were very popular with children who did not like the strip of long liquorice in the ‘Sherbet Fountain’ version also made by Bartlett.

Name: MARS
Product Type: Chocolate
Launched: 1930s
Chocolate: Mars
Manufacturer: Mars

A generous layer of chocolate nougat topped with thinner layer of soft caramel and completely covered with a thick topping of milk chocolate. The iconic Mars bar as we know it today was launched by Forrest Mars in 1932.  At this time in America, he was given money by his father along with the recipe for ‘Milky Way’ to help him launch a business in the UK. This chocolate bar is one of the best selling in the UK today and now comes in a wide variety of different shapes and sizes from Mini to King Size.

Name: GALAXY
Product Type: Chocolate
Launched: 1960s
Chocolate: Mars
Manufacturer: Mars

Made with its 100% pure cocoa butter recipe, Galaxy chocolate bars are famous for their smooth as silk texture. Galaxy is often seen as a luxurious chocolate bar which is hugely popular with the adult market. It now comes in a range of different sizes and versions and has also expanded its range into other chocolate varieties such as Minstrels, Ripples and Chocolate drinks.

Name: Gobstoppers
Product Type: Sweet
Launched: Approx 1970s
Manufacturer: Various including Nestle

Gobstoppers and Jawbrakers are popular ball shaped very hard sugar sweets usually around 3cm wide but can easily be found as large as 10cm. Gobstoppers are made from building up many extremely thin multi-coloured sugary layers and can sometimes be found with bubble gum in the centre. When the gobstopper is slowly dissolved in the mouth it will reveal each colourful layer underneath – often turning the tongue a matching colour in the process.  As there is usually chewing gum in the centre, GobStoppers are a long lasting sweet making them very popular with children. They come in an endless list of different sizes and flavours with Aniseed Ball, Atomic FireBlasts and the very famous Everlasting Gobstopper introduced by Nestle after Roald Dahls, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to name but a few!

Name: Wham
Product Type: Sweet
Launched: 1980
Manufacturer 1980s: New McCowans Ltd
Manufacturer 2011: Tangerine Confectionary

Long thin rectangle shaped soft raspberry flavoured chew bar, which has been sprinkled with small colourful pieces of sour sherbet. It is the sour sherbet pieces which would make the tongue tingle when the bar was placed in the mouth! Wham bars were a much sought after popular sweet with children and teenagers in the 1980s and it’s still widely sought after today. They can now be found in flavours such as Strawberry Cola and (Irn) Brew and Sour. Today’s wham bars are suitable for vegetarians and contain all natural colours and flavours.

Name: Black Jack
Product Type: Sweet
Launched: 1920s
Manufacturer: Barratts / Tangerine Confectionery

One of the most popular penny sweets through the decades these small soft black chews come individually wrapped in their distinctive waxy black wrapping. With their strong unique aniseed flavour they are most famous for temporarily turning your tongue jet black! Black Jacks and their counterpart Fruit Salad can often be found hand in hand as their individual and unique flavours complement each other perfectly. Black jacks are now also available in as a Black Jack Bar.

Name: Fruit Salad
Product Type: Sweet
Manufacturer: Barratts / Tangerine Confectionery

Small soft ‘penny’ chews with their characteristic raspberry and pineapple flavour combination each chew would be individually wrapped in a waxy paper. One half of the fruit salad would be orange coloured pineapple flavour and the other half would contain the deep pink raspberry flavour. Fruit Salads are often found alongside their famous counterparts Black Jacks and are also now available in as a Fruit Salad Bar.

Name: Flying Saucers
Product Type: Sweet
Launched: 1960s

A pastel coloured edible rice paper sweet surrounding a loose sherbet filling which is formed in the shape of a ‘UFO’ approximately 4cm wide.  When the sweet rice paper dissolves on the tongue it contrasts perfectly with the sharp/sour flavour of the sherbet contained in the middle. This extremely popular sweet often ranks in the top 10 of most popular UK retro sweets and is still widely available today.

Name: Sweet Peanuts
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Taveners

A small monkey nut shaped, hard boiled peanut flavoured sweet which contained a soft peanut butter flavoured middle. The peanut butter flavoured middle contains small peanut chunks making a delicious contrasting taste and texture to the hard caramel/peanut flavoured outer. These sweets were sold loose and dispensed into convenient small paper bags at the local sweet shop.

Name: Jazzles or Jazzies
Product Type: Chocolate
Manufacturer: Hannahs / Various

Small thin button shaped chocolate discs with multi coloured 100s and 1000s imbedded on the top.  (‘100s and 1000s’ are very small brightly coloured, hard sugared balls which are often sprinkled on the top of children’s cakes as decoration). When the chocolate melted in the mouth you would be left crunching the hard sugar 100s and 1000s. Jazzles come with either a Milk Chocolate or White Chocolate base and can be sold loose, or come in small packets. They are still found today and are available in a wide range of packaging choices from the traditional small button sizes to a huge single Jazzle often found at Christmas.

Name: White Mice
Product Type: Chocolate
Manufacturer:  Hannahs / various

Very sweet white chocolate in the shape of a small mouse is still a huge favourite with the sweet toothed today. White mice are often sold loose, and are now available in milk chocolate and strawberry flavours however the creamy white variety remains the most popular choice.

Name: Sherbet Fountain
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Barratt

Traditionally the Sherbet Fountain had a brightly coloured yellow cardboard tube with the black liquorice stick poking out (uncovered) from the top however it now comes hygienically sealed within a plastic tube – many people still prefer the original packaging. The easiest way to eat the sherbet in the tube was to use the long Liquorice stick – which was first licked then used to dip into the sherbet. Best of all when the sherbet was finished you could eat the liquorice stick!

Name: Sweet Necklace / Candy Necklace
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Various

Very small hard brightly coloured donut shaped sweets with a hole in the centre.  A length of elastic was used to thread lots of the sweets together to make them into a stretchy necklace or bracelet shape. When the necklace was worn the sweets could easily be eaten on the move!  These tasty and popular fashion accessories are still strung along strong elastic today. In the same theme you could also look out for pocket sized sweetie watches and lipsticks. Today these sweets contain all natural colours and flavours.

Name: Parma Violets
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Swizzels Matlow

These small round hard sweets have an iconic blue/purple colour and with their distinctive violet flower flavouring many people have a strong reaction of either loving them or hating them! The discs are stacked together and sold in small bundles rolled side by side in clear plastic, which is twisted at the end in a tiny cracker shape. These are one of the very few sweets around today which have a floral flavour.  They can also now be found in a Giant Parma Violet range of sweets.

Name: Fizzers
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Swizzels Matlow

Very similar to Parma Violets these colourful small round hard sweets come in a wide variety of fizzy fruity flavours (not floral like the Parma Violets). Discs of Fizzers are packaged in the same way that Parma Violets are – where they will be stacked together and sold in small bundles rolled side by side in clear plastic, which is twisted at the end in a tiny cracker shape.

Name: Love Hearts
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Swizzels Matlow
Launched: 1950s

These are probably one of the most recognisable sweets around today and come in a huge array of packaging options plus they have now moved into other non-food related merchandise! Love Heats are small circular hard sweets with a fruity taste and a heartfelt message or love sentiment written inside a heart on each one. They come in a range of pastel colours with matching flavouring but all have their distinctive red stamped heart silhouette on the top along with the message in embossed written inside placed inside the heart.

Name: Popping Candy / Space Dust
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Fizz Wiz

Popping candy takes you straight back to childhood memories with small sugar candy dust which pops and crackles in your mouth! Traditionally available in Strawberry flavour it can now also be found in Cola and Cherry flavouring. Probably the most popular brand of Popping Candy is Fizz Wiz which comes in handy pocket sized paper packets which can be emptied straight onto the tongue but now popularly used to jazz up baking products.

Name: Haribo
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Haribo

Haribo as a company are responsible for making an extremely popular confectionery range which appeals to a global population of people of all ages. Making a massive range soft jelly sweets which come in a mind boggling range of sweets from soft and chewy to squishy and tangy!  Most popular are Starmix, Tangfastics, Maoam and SuperMix which come in a range of sizes ranging from 10p upwards

Name: RAINBOW DROPS
Product Type: Sweets
Manufacturer: Swizzels Matlow

Small colourful sugar coated puffed rice and maize which are bought in handy small bags. Sweet and tasty these very popular pocket money sweets are also suitable for vegetarians and have no artificial colours