Some of this candy is just variation on terrible candy popular during other holidays, and yes they are as bad any other time of the year, so it’s a bit of a cheat. Like Peeps - I don’t like them at Easter either, and any other form they come in. They make great stop-motion animation characters, but they are terrible candy. Same goes for the xmas colored candy corn, cherry cordials and life savers (putting it in a xmas box doesn’t make it a xmas candy, in my book).
The ones I"m included to agree: orange chocolate and ribbon candy (questionable xmas association for me on these). I could never get the orange chocolate association, and ribbon candy looks way prettier than it tastes. Regular candy canes are fine, but the non-pepper mint ones are gross for sure.
I too like peppermint bark too! For some reason I tend to think of toffee and xmas, and I love toffee bark too.
Slightly off topic, but since ribbon candy is no longer very common, if you are nostalgic, you (or the kidlets) can make a fabric version. Figure out the length of ribbon you’ll need for a ribbon candy tree ornament suitable for your tree size. Buy lengths of various rich and glossy ribbon at a craft/fabric store, along with embroidery floss, small shiny beads, probably 6 and 10mm diameter, and a self-threading needle (this allows you to remove the needle from a loop of thread without cutting it). Use pinking shears to cut the ends of the ribbon. Thread the floss on a needle, knot the ends with a French knot. Put a larger bead onto the floss, then sew it through the ribbon loops. Top with a smaller bead and hang by the remaining floss.
The Lifesaver Books were great! I received them in my stocking as a kid, gave them to my kids in their stockings. The kids don’t want me giving them to the grandkids, " too much sugar", they say. The idea was to spread them out over months, not suck them all at once. Growing up in the SF Bay Area the packages usually melted in a month or so. We enjoyed all the flavors, but the five flavor rolls were my personal favorite. The peppermint and Wint-O-Green ones were great for making sparks in your mouth. We’d sneak a roll out to recess and have sparking shows. I see now the books come with the ‘gummie’ rolls.
I understand this very well. I will have queso, and chips with onion dip during the Superbowl and at no other time. Filet-o-Fish during Lent (I’m not Christian, so that’s extra weird) - one and done. Latkes on Christmas Day and that’s it.
What is wrong with people?! I like good cherry cordials and peppermint bark. It has to be good quality chocolate though. Last year we bought a tin of the mixed hard candies and the version we got was very good. They were mostly hard candy, but the center was slightly tangy and fizzy. I like candy canes especially if they are hallow enough to be able to sick them in an orange to use like a straw. An orange was always put in our stocking which I think is not unusual. I have never tried the chocolate orange. That is not a flavor combo I typically enjoy.
Your hard candy comment reminds me . . . no Christmas is complete without a can of Plantation Chocolate straws. I suspect these may be Philly-specific as they’re locally made and not carried by many stores. They also make (made?) Jingle Bits, which was a tin of mixed hard candy that my grandmother loved, but that love didn’t carry through the generations.
Peeps are a love it or hate it kind of thing. I personally love them.
The chocolate based candies on this list should come with some kind of disclaimer–cheap chocolate oranges or cherry cordials from the drugstore are nothing compared to higher end ones from a chocolatier or gourmet shop.
And what about the “chocolatey” Santas, snowmen, etc.? They essentially taste like cocoa flavored Crisco.
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