old candy bars were called lunch bars?

[HudsonHawk]

So all this talk inspired me. Picked up sixers of both today:

 

[Stanley Doble]

Went in the McDonald's at Walmart while they were changing my tires. They have Rhubarb pies, never saw that before.

 

[BlueTrain]

Oh, my, what a thread. First off, we had rhubarb growing in the corner of the garden where I grew up. I don't remember anyone ever eating it. I thought it was some kind of wild plant. But we also had a sort of shrub that we called a Chinese apple tree that produced small and hard green apples, which probably were apples because it wasn't even a tree.

Yes, we, too, ate moon pies with RC colas. In retrospect, my father much have been more sophisticated than I ever gave him credit for, because his preferred snack for a while was Philadelphia cream cheese on saltine crackers. That was the extent of snacks at our house. He was a truck driver and on the road, he would buy little bags of salted peanuts.

I had an aunt (I had lots of aunts and uncles) who would occasionally make fried apple pies, which today I would call a turnover. They were awful. Easily the greasiest things I've ever eaten. She made apple butter, too, which was much better. I worked my way through college in a fast food place and they had apple turnovers, too. They were deep-fried in the same "fat" (lard) that was used for French fries, which would account for any similarity in taste. The various fried apple pies or turnovers available in supermarkets, usually glazed, are barely related. None contained an excess of apples. In another place I worked as a freshman in 1964, I made pepperoni rolls, which I later learned was something of a regional food.

The first place I ever saw Nutella spread was in a local store that sells imported (mostly) German foods, although all their breads are baked at bake shop just around the corner from where I live. The German specialty shop also had a room full of German wines and beers. Bitte ein Bit?

We could talk about when you eat dinner and when you eat supper, if you want.

 

[green papaya]

Goldenberg Peanut Chews

Peanut Chews were first introduced in 1917. The candies were originally developed for use by the U.S. military as a ration bar during World War I. The high-energy, high-protein recipe and unique taste made it popular with the troops.

In 1921 Harry Goldenberg introduced the first wrapped Peanut Chews candy for retail sales. In the 1930s the candy was converted from a full-size bar to small individual pieces.

 

[green papaya]

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^ Great advertising art - especially the Coconut Grove bar.

That bar sounds very much like a Mounds candy bar today (especially, the dark chocolate coating, when milk chocolate seemed dominant, and the "twin" bars which is what Mounds still does today). Does anyone know if they were competitors / did one buy the other and take the Mounds name?

 

[HudsonHawk]

^^^ Great advertising art - especially the Coconut Grove bar.

That bar sounds very much like a Mounds candy bar today (especially, the dark chocolate coating, when milk chocolate seemed dominant, and the "twin" bars which is what Mounds still does today). Does anyone know if they were competitors / did one buy the other and take the Mounds name?

Mounds were introduced in 1920, even before Baby Ruth came out in 1921. I'm not sure when Curtiss first made the Coconut Grove, but I think it was much later, 1950s maybe?. At any rate, Mounds is now owned by Hershey and Curtiss (Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, etc) is owned by Nestle. Not sure if they were ever owned by the same, but I don't think so.

 

[Fading Fast]

Mounds were introduced in 1920, even before Baby Ruth came out in 1921. I'm not sure when Curtiss first made the Coconut Grove, but I think it was much later, 1950s maybe?. At any rate, Mounds is now owned by Hershey and Curtiss (Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, etc) is owned by Nestle. Not sure if they were ever owned by the same, but I don't think so.

Thank you. Is the Coconut Grove bar still in production?

 

[green papaya]

the label says Candy enriched in Dextrose [food-energy sugar] they never advertise modern candy bars like that anymore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Dextrose was a big thing in the early 1940s -- it was recommended in federal food standards as a "quick energy" food for war workers. Every major candy bar that used it trumpeted its presence in advertisements.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Thank you. Is the Coconut Grove bar still in production?

I don't believe so. Nestle makes the Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Crunch, 100 Grand and Oh Henry bars, but I don't think the Coconut Grove is still in production. On a side note, Nestle also makes Sweet Tarts, Pixy Stix, Goobers, Raisinets and Sno Caps

 

[Fading Fast]

Only marginally related, but real time info, I saw this morning that Mondelez (the massive snack company that owns Oreo, Cadbury, Nabisco and a ton of other familiar brands) just made a takeover bid to buy Hersheys. More consolidation could be coming to the candy world.

 

[Fading Fast]

Dextrose was a big thing in the early 1940s -- it was recommended in federal food standards as a "quick energy" food for war workers. Every major candy bar that used it trumpeted its presence in advertisements.

Bet The Boys From Marketing jumped all over that one. It's amazing how once something gets any glimmer of goodness associated with it - the marketing machine revs up immediately and familiar brands get these label updates (like the little heart that Planter popped on its cocktail peanuts label some years back [I think it's been that long] because of the - at the time in vogue - "good vs. bad" fat science that favored peanuts).

Lizzie, as an aside, did you pick up a can yet to investigate how it is sealed? My quick-and-dirty guess is that they are doing some sort of vacuum packing "light" in that it doesn't seem to have the force of the old-style vacuum packing, but something does kinda "pop" the first time you open it and the cardboard sides of the "can" on the inside have some thin metallic coating.

 

[green papaya]

They still make a candy bar called "Bounty" it looks very similar to the Coconut Grove bar.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^Clearly, at some point, the market supported at least three coconut themed candy bars. Great ads, the Boys From Marketing know how to sell a dream in a small package.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I am very disappointed to hear that Mondelez is expanding. It's a company with a rotten labor record, and I may find myself looking for another product line to sell at the concession stand if such a deal goes thru.

We used to have a coconut product here called "Seavey's Needham," made by the "Lou-Rod Candy Company" in Lewiston, and they were better than any of the name brand coconut bars. The filling was a mixture of shredded coconut and mashed potatoes, coated in a really rich chocolate shell. They were sold only in Maine, in a distinctive orange-and-blue wax paper wrapper that hadn't changed its design since the Hoover administration, and there was nothing like them. The company folded about twenty years ago, and while there's recipes online for making fake Needhams at home, none of them equal the real deal.

I picked up a can of peanuts at the grocery store the other day, but I haven't gotten around to dismantling it yet. It does feel like there's more to it than cardboard, but whether it's some kind of laminated material or just a flexible inner lining remains to be seen.

 

[Fading Fast]

For what it's worth, Hershey's first reaction to the takeover offer was to reject it outright which could be (1) a strategy to drive the price up or (2) a true rejection as Hershey is owned by a charitable trust that, historically, has renounced takeover solicitations. Since the stock closed over the takeover price, the "markets" initial analysis is that Hershey is really in play this time and Mondelez or some other company will buy Hershey.

More importantly, now I want to taste a Seavey's Needham - sounds awesome.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Needham recipe *here*

 

[sheeplady]

We could talk about when you eat dinner and when you eat supper, if you want.

And those people from the city that "lunch" and "flush the toilet all day." (My parents nice way of saying "city slicker.")

So, I have a confession: I have never had Nutella.

I grew up on a farm and mainly ate whole foods (that came out of said farm) growing up. I never ate ramen until college and was about 25 when I had my first mac and cheese in a box. I had my first "frozen dinner" (a hot pocket) at 23. So processed foods are pretty foreign to me.

I am sometime tempted to buy some Nutella to try but darn it's expensive.

 

[Fading Fast]

And those people from the city that "lunch" and "flush the toilet all day." (My parents nice way of saying "city slicker.")

So, I have a confession: I have never had Nutella.

I grew up on a farm and mainly ate whole foods (that came out of said farm) growing up. I never ate ramen until college and was about 25 when I had my first mac and cheese in a box. I had my first "frozen dinner" (a hot pocket) at 23. So processed foods are pretty foreign to me.

I am sometime tempted to buy some Nutella to try but darn it's expensive.

I think it is something you had to grow up with to really like (like Marshmallow Fluff, which I grew up with and still love) as I didn't grow up with Nutella but tried it as an adult and thought, "it's okay, but don't care if I have it again." That said, give it a shot sometime when the budget allows for a small splurge and see for yourself.

A friend of mine's wife basically lives on Nutella and white wine and is not an alcoholic and functions quite well, she's a school principal in a very big NY area school district. It's just that she eats Nutella all the time and drinks a good amount of white wine every night (and never seems to get drunk). To each his own.