Bring It Back: 10 Vanished Candies Our Readers Miss the Most

Last month we threw a question out to the J. Carmels community: what discontinued candy do you miss most? We expected a few wistful replies. We got hundreds — stories of grandmothers' candy dishes, corner stores long gone, and at least three people who claim to still dream about a specific caramel chew from 1987.

We counted, we argued in the break room, and we tallied. Here are the ten vanished sweets our readers miss most, why they disappeared, and — where possible — how to get your fix today.

1. Retro Ribbon Candy

The glossy, crimped ribbons that filled holiday dishes in every Midwestern living room. Real handmade ribbon candy is genuinely difficult to make — the sugar is pulled, folded, and shaped while hot — which is partly why mass versions faded. The workaround: specialty confectioners (including several small shops we feature every December) still make it by hand, and vintage recipe books cover the pulled-sugar method for the brave.

2. Caramel Apple Pops

The lollipop that tasted like the fair. Readers report hunting them at dollar stores and gas stations for years, only to find them gone. The workaround: caramel apple flavoring concentrates exist for home candy makers, and honestly, a soft caramel wrapped around a Granny Smith slice gets you 80% of the way there.

3. The Disappearing Caramel Chews

Several readers wrote in about specific caramel candies from the '70s and '80s that no longer exist under any name. The common thread: real butter, real cream, no preservatives — formulas that didn't survive cost-cutting. The workaround: this is the easiest one of all. Small-batch caramel makers are making better versions than the originals. Check our shop features; you know where to find us.

4. Candy Cigarettes (Well, Sort Of)

We can't exactly champion these, but readers brought them up so often we had to acknowledge it. What people actually miss, we suspect, is the chalky pressed-sugar texture. The workaround: pressed sugar candy tablets still exist in other forms, and nostalgic candy shops carry similar chalk candies.

5. Bit-O-Honey's Lost Cousins

Bit-O-Honey survives, but readers mourned the honey-and-taffy hybrids that didn't. The workaround: honey taffy is a simple home recipe — honey, sugar, butter, pull until glossy.

6. The Original Peanut Butter Bars

Multiple readers named specific peanut butter bars from defunct regional brands. Regional candy is where the deepest nostalgia lives — the treat your specific corner store carried and nobody else's did. The workaround: regional candy revival brands have resurrected several old formulas; check candy specialty retailers.

7. Necco Wafers (On and Off the List)

Necco's saga — closure, revival, disappearance, return — gave readers emotional whiplash. They're back, sort of, in limited runs. The workaround: buy them when you see them. That's the whole lesson of this list.

8. Marshmallow Circus Peanuts (The Good Batches)

Technically still made, but readers insist today's version isn't the same. We can't verify the banana-flavored peanut discourse, only report it. The workaround: several heritage brands still produce them; fans recommend the orange ones, always.

9. Vintage Ribbon Bonbons and Filled Mints

The filled mints and bonbons that lived in every holiday tin. The workaround: European-style filled bonbons are the closest modern equivalent, and Christmas shops stock similar tins every year.

10. The Mystery Caramel (Write In If You Know)

One reader described a "square caramel in a red wrapper with a windmill on it" that we could not identify. If you know what this is, please email us. The J. Carmels newsroom is invested now.

How to Hunt Down Any Lost Candy

A few tips from readers who've turned nostalgia into a hobby:

• Old recipe box, new batch. Sites like the Internet Archive host scans of vintage community cookbooks, which are full of candy recipes from the era.
• Specialty and retro candy retailers. Several US retailers specialize in discontinued and heritage sweets, and their catalogs change constantly.
• Small-batch makers. If a candy is gone, someone is probably making a dupe. Ask your local confectioner — this is exactly the kind of project they love.
• Buy it when you see it. The single most repeated piece of advice from readers: the candy you love may not be there next year.

Cast Your Vote

We're keeping the poll open through the end of the month. Vote for the candy you'd most like to see brought back, and tell us your mystery candies — the ones we can't identify might just end up as a future deep-dive. And if you're shopping for the nostalgic person in your life this season, a curated box of heritage and retro-style sweets is about as thoughtful as gifting gets. We might know a place.