Food I Liked that is Gone Forever, part 1

I like food.   Who doesn't?   It's usually delicious, it comes cheap, and your stomach thanks you every time you send some down.   However, I have a problem - the foods I like are never around very long.   I must have the worst taste in food (as many of you will vouch for), because foods I like have a habit of disappearing from the market, never to be seen again.  I've seen it time and time again - breakfast cereals, beverages, fast-food sandwiches - If I like them, that's a sure sign that they are destined to oblivion.   My friends beg me not to try anything they like, in the fear that I will assign it the Kiss of Death by liking it.   In this new series, I'll write about some favorites of mine that have gone down the garbage disposal of history.

Summertime always brings back memories of my favorite candy bar of all time, the Milkshake Bar.   This bar came the closest to tasting like an actual milkshake, with actual malt flavor in the bar.   The Milkshake bar was first introduced in 1927 by the Hollywood Candy Company, founded in Hollywood, Minnesota.   The Hollywood Candy Company used real cocoa, butter and eggs in their chocolate, and was still able to sell their bars for cheaper than their competitors.   They also developed a synthetic coating for their candy bars that kept them from melting...  but also gave them an unusual taste and texture that made them unique.  They created a process to produce a fluffy nougat center for their candy bars, and the Milkshake bar was the first candy to utilize this process.   The Milkshake bar was a big hit and became very popular.   So popular, in fact, that other companies copied the recipe, most notable the Mars company and their Milky Way bar. 



Original milkshake candy wrapper from the 1930's. 

I'm guessing this wrapper is from the late 50's and the 1960's.   I remember buying this version.

In the 1960's the Milkshake bars became a very popular summer treat, and this is how I was introduced to them.   Many snack stands would keep their Milkshake bars frozen with the ice cream novelties.   Eating one was like eating a milkshake on a stick.  It would be to hard to bite at first, but eventually you'd wear it down and enjoy a creamy, chocolaty dessert that haunts me to this day.   I think most Milkshake bars sold in June, July and August were consumed this way. 

Late 1960's version of the Milkshake bar.

In the 1960's the Hollywood Candy Company was sold, and went through a series of owners before being bought by the Hershey Company in 1996.   Hershey still produces Hollywood's two most popular bars, Payday and Zero, but has resigned the Milkshake bar to oblivion.  Fans still bemoan the loss of the Milkshake bar, and several websites have sprung up (and Facebook pages HERE and  HERE) to honor the candy and fight for its return.  Even if Hershey would bring it back, it would never be the same.  That synthetic coating really added something that can't be duplicated.

The last version of the Milkshake bar from the 1970's or 1980's.  Leaf was manufacturing them at this point.  

Milky Way bars are as close as we will ever get to the old Milkshake bar, and trust me, it's not that close.

Another candy favorite were Fizzers.   These looked similar to Smarties candies (probably the worst candy ever) but that's where the similarity ended.  Fizzers "fizzed" in you mouth with a tart, tangy taste that put Smarties to shame.  I used to get both candies in my trick-or-treat bag at Halloween, and while the Smarties were snubbed the Fizzers were hoarded.  

 

Fizzer's haven't completely left us; they are just hard to get.   The original Fizzers were manufactured in Britain by Swizzels Matlow.  One family member came to America in the 1940's and founded Cee Dee candy, which manufactured both Smarties and Fizzers for several years.   Eventually, for some reason that can only be described as "blatant stupidity" they stopped manufacturing Fizzers and continued making those insipid Smarties. 

Swizzels Matlow still manufactures Fizzers in Great Britian.   However, shipping costs are prohibitive...   It would cost me $50 to get a shipment here.   I may be nostalgic, but I'm also cheap.  So, if anyone is going to Great Britain soon...   Can you help a friend out?   I'd be grateful...

For more discontinued candy, check out this checklist HERE.   You may cry...