For generations of kids, candy buttons have given a big bang for the buck in the sugar high department. Imagine little candy droplets adhered to a white strip of what basically looked like adding machine paper. Inexpensive, they were an easy choice for a kid to make – sugar domes in every color of the rainbow (or at least pink, yellow and blue.) And while they were marketed as being flavored differently, they really all just tasted like sugar – and there was certainly nothing wrong with that.
The trick was to figure out the best way to eat the candy. Some preferred to pick them off one by one. Others preferred to use their teeth, either scraping them off a few at a time, or nipping them off individually. Either way, there always seemed to be a bit of paper stuck to the backside – leaving kids with a choice… wait for the candy to dissolve and pick out the paper from their mouth, or go for broke and swallow it down with the rest of the candy. Most just swallowed the paper. Heck, most kids would swallow dirt, what’s a little paper among friends? In America today, candy buttons are a product of the New England Confectionery Company. You might know them better by the acronym, NECCO. That’s right, they are the same fine folks that bring us those yummy wafers and Sweethearts Conversation Hearts. And along with the teensy-weensy little candy button strips, one might say NECCO has achieved a nostalgic candy trifecta of sorts – candy that has stood the test of time and just keeps on giving.
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