8 Old-Fashioned Candies That Definitely Deserve a Comeback

A taste of the past

Cruise down a commercial highway in West Allis, Wisconsin, and you might not notice Half Nuts. Hidden between a bait-and-tackle shop and an empty lot is one of the country’s last vintage candy shops. Step inside and you’ll see a store decked from floor to ceiling with hundreds of old-school sweets. Think Necco wafers, BB Bats, wax lips and lollipops the size of your face. And the shop has a pretty impressive selection of chocolates. (Got you drooling? Settle your sweet tooth with our favorite recipe for chocolate truffles.)

During a recent visit to Half Nuts, I had an opportunity to glimpse the Willy Wonka-esque arrangement and meet owner (and fifth-generation candy maker) Mary Ziegler. Shoppers often tell her they haven’t seen some of these candies since they were five years old. As a 20-something, I found these candies all but foreign. It was time for a sweet, sweet investigation. Itching to get a taste of the past, I asked the shop staffers to help me pick out some of the most popular candies. (Here’s what breakfast would be like if you lived with Willy Wonka.)

Read along as I unwrap a few sticky truths (and incredibly sweet factoids!) about some of the country’s most-beloved vintage candies.

from Reader's Digest http://ift.tt/2eJaeGs