Supposedly named after the sound babies make, the Goo Goo Cluster was created in Nashville in 1912. The first combination candy, it contained marshmallow nougat, caramel, roasted peanuts and chocolate. In the 1920s and 1930s it was marketed as "a nourishing lunch for a nickel" and it’s still so popular that Standard Candy produces up to 20,000 per hour.
One of the most popular sweets of the 20th century, there’s not much else out there like it. Bit-O-Honey, introduced by Schutter-Johnson Company of Chicago in 1924, is a creamy, chewy taffy bar that comes in six segments divided by wax paper. Although the packaging has changed and it’s now produced by Pearson's Candy Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota, it’s still available to buy.
Everyone’s favourite nougat, peanut and caramel chocolate bar was first invented in the US in the 1930s, sold under the brand name Marathon. The packaging was exactly as it is today except for the name. In 1990 it was changed to Snickers and it’s one of the most popular candies in the world with £1.6 billion ($2 billion) a year in global sales.
Today Kit Kats, the chocolate and wafer bars, are a tasty treat in their own right but when they were first introduced in the UK in 1937 it was to replace the much-loved Chocolate Crisp. It could no longer be produced in wartime due to milk shortages, so the Kit Kat was made instead and had blue packaging. Following the war, it returned to the original milk-based recipe and red packaging, but the new name stayed.
Introduced by the Goldenberg Candy Company in 1917, Peanut Chews were a popular addition to soldiers' rations during the Second World War, due to their high protein content. Available with a dark chocolate or milk chocolate coating, they contain peanuts and molasses. After the war in the late 1940s, the company ditched its other products to solely produce the nutty candy. Pictured: the post-war Peanut Chew packaging.
The man behind the Mars candy empire was inspired to invent M&M's to solve the problem of chocolate sales falling in summer – bars of chocolate would quickly melt on hot days. He created candy-coated M&M's and supplied the mini sweet treats exclusively to US soldiers during the Second World War. Following the war, M&M's also became available to the public and soon everyone was hooked.
Remember Saf-T-Pops introduced by the Curtiss Candy Company in the 1940s? They were designed with a cord loop instead of a stick which made them much safer for children. The candy was trademarked in 1942 and to this day it's still the only lollipop with this novel safety design. Pictured: a Saf-T-Pops advert from 1952.
From the same people as Bit-O-Honey, the Schutter-Johnson Company of Chicago, we were given Old Nick in the 1940s. It was a bar of fudge and nuts coated in milk chocolate, and featured the boastful tagline, ‘American’s Favourite Candy Bar’. Sadly it was discontinued in the 1960s.
In the late 1930s, the Sophie Mae Candy Co. in Atlanta began producing peanut brittle and it quickly became one of its top products. The brittle was made of peanuts blended with sugar-corn syrup and at its peak, the factory produced 3,000 cases in an eight-hour shift. Passers-by on the street would look in through the glass window and watch. Sadly, the factory has now closed. Pictured: a Sophie Mae advert from 1953.
“More malted milk content than a soda fountain double malted milk!” was the selling point of the first Milky Way bars, launched by Mars in 1923. They were huge in size, weighing 85g (3oz) in comparison to today’s 51g (1.8oz). By 1935, the confection had made its way to the UK without the caramel. These days the Milky Way generates more than £81.7 million ($100M) in annual sales. Pictured: a Milky Way advert from the 1950s.
This creamy coconut bar with a bittersweet dark chocolate coating is like the Bounty chocolate produced by Mars today. It was manufactured by Curtiss Candy Company who also made Baby Ruth bars and Saf-T-Pops. However, it's no longer available so today you'll have to stick with a Bounty to get your chocolate and coconut fix. Pictured: a Coconut Grove advert from 1953.
The classic nutty candy was introduced to a soon-adoring American public in 1954, 13 years after the chocolate version. At the time peanut M&M’s only came in a tan-coloured shell. Red, yellow and green arrived in 1960.
Oreo’s lesser spotted cousin, the Hydrox cookie was created in 1908 by Sunshine Biscuits. A game-changer at the time, it’s a dark sandwich cookie with a white cream filling. But when Nabisco released the Oreo four years later, it took over the market. However, some people stayed loyal to the Hydrox as they prefer its bitter taste and the fact it’s kosher. Pictured: a Hydrox advert published in 1957.
This flat milk chocolate bar filled with crisped rice was first introduced by Nestlé in 1928. The tagline was “More fun to munch!” but behind the packaging, it’s almost identical to the Krackel bar introduced by Hershey’s the same year. Crunch bars came to the UK in 1965 and they're still on sale today.
In the early 1960s, one particularly memorable brand of gum was Beech-Nut’s Fruit Stripe. Its strong yet short-lived five fruity flavours, brightly coloured stripes and Yipes the zebra mascot have been around ever since.
When the 100 Grand bar first came out in the 1960s it was called the $100,000 Bar and radio DJs played pranks on listeners, offering 100 grand for answering a question correctly. However, after one upset listener found out she was actually receiving the puffed rice and caramel chocolate bar, a Kentucky radio station was sued in 2005.
Twix was originally launched in 1967 in the UK and didn’t make it to American shores until 1979. The twin biscuits (hence the name Twix) with soft caramel and chocolate have done remarkably well ever since with the launch of variations such as Twix ice cream, mini Twix bites and even Twix spread.
When Starburst first launched in the UK in 1960, the chewy sweets were called Opal Fruits and the four original flavours were strawberry, lemon, orange and lime. Only when it crossed the Atlantic in 1967 it was renamed Starburst and in 1998 the name caught on in the UK too. Its flavours now include cherry, sour green apple and mango melon.
These colourful candies first appeared in the UK in 1963 and in the US in 1974. Made in shades of green, purple, red, yellow and orange, Skittles' tagline was “Taste the Rainbow”, one of the longest running advertising campaigns in history. However, it has been recently revealed Skittles all taste the same. Nonetheless, they consistently rank as one of America’s favourite candies.
When Pop Rocks went on sale in 1975, it caused a sensation among kids who were crazy for the crackling and tingling sensation they make when eaten. However, the product was taken off the market in 1983 and unfounded rumours spread they had caused a boy’s stomach to explode. It returned in 1985 under the name of Action Candy but is now Pop Rocks again.
The Jelly Belly jelly beans we know and love today were first sold in 1976, the recipe having evolved from mini beans made in the 1960s. The first flavours included grape, green apple, root beer and cherry. There are now more than 100 flavours, with official Jelly Belly recipes to enhance the tasting experience. For example, eating two green apple beans and one cinnamon bean at the same time results in candy apple.
A popular treat introduced in 1977, Ring Pops jewel-shaped candy rings from Topps were so big they made your hand ache. But they lasted for ages and came in amazing flavours such as cherry, grape and watermelon. They’re still available to buy today.
Launched in 1978, Reese’s Pieces are peanut-flavoured candies in an orange, brown or yellow crispy coating. The candy had a star turn in 1982 sci-fi film E.T. – a great example of successful product placement.
If you were lucky enough to try the Whatchamacallit in the late 1970s when it was first produced, you’ll remember it contained just peanut-flavoured crisped rice covered in chocolate. In 1987, Hershey’s added a layer of caramel and in 2009, the company introduced Thingamajig which swapped the puffed rice for cocoa crisps.
First introduced in 1907, Hershey's Kisses were supposedly named after the machine which produces them and makes a kissing noise as it dispenses chocolate onto the conveyor belt. At this time the little candies were hand-wrapped in metal foil. By the 1980s they had climbed to the fifth most popular chocolate brand in the US. Today, more than 60 million are produced each day.
Millions will remember eating Fruit Roll-Ups as a kid in the 1980s and the jingle: “real fruit and fun, rolled up in one”. But in truth it was fruit-flavoured candy with little to no nutrition which misguided people who were led to believe the snack was healthy. In 2011 General Mills faced a class action lawsuit regarding the issue.
When confectionery company Perfetti Van Melle launched AirHeads in the USA in 1986, we quickly fell in love with them. Sugar-coated, garishly coloured, chewier than taffy and in a multitude of extreme flavours, it’s easy to see their appeal. Have you tried cherry, blue raspberry, mango-chilli, maple, mint and limited-edition birthday cake?
This eye-wateringly sour candy was first introduced to the US by the Foreign Candy Company in 1993. They are highly acidic and come with a warning that eating multiple sweets can cause irritation to sensitive tongues. Nonetheless, kids loved them and would show off their ability to withstand their sourness at school. By 1999 they were a £32.6 million ($40M) brand.
Surprising to most people, this iconic candy brand was founded in Spain in 1958 when inventor Enric Bernat started producing the lollipops and their striped packaging. The original flavours were strawberry, orange, lemon, strawberry and cream, chocolate and vanilla, coffee and cream, and mint. By the 1990s they had grown close to world domination, on sale in 164 countries