A Hard Candy Christmas: Advent 2023, DAY 22

I've already mentioned the importance of Hickory Farms products during the holidays. Along with the Melty Mints, there's another candy that is synonymous with my Christmas time snacking and that's Strawberry Bon Bons.

In every Hickory Farms gift set, you would have several of these tiny red hard candies decorating the empty space. Each bon bon was wrapped in this red and green wrap that when twisted on the top, they looked like tiny strawberries. The red part of the wrapper was even decorated with these yellow dots to represent the seeds on the berry.

While made of hardened sugar, the middle was soft, containing a dollop of strawberry filling. You basically had 2 options with this candy - suck on them until you reach the center or you pull a maneuver like that owl in the Tootsie Roll Pop commercials and after a few seconds in your mouth, you just crunch into it.

Many of us grew up with grandparents who had a small bowl of these candies floating around the house during the holidays. With this history, the assumption could be made that Strawberry Bon Bons debuted sometime in the 1950s or 60s. However, researchers have found references to this candy dating back to the mid 1800s in France of all places. A food blogger found a recipe from 1861 mentioning these sweets as 'French Style' drop candies. No mention of when companies started wrapping them to look like strawberries. However, most agree that Hickory Farms was the ones who made that the definitive way to package them as dozens of confectioners have since followed suit.

I didn't realize this, but Swiss Colony includes Strawberry
Bon Bons with their gift sets too!

A Hard Candy Christmas: Advent 2023 DAY 4

Today's candy goes by a couple of different names. But no matter how you eat it, these treats are big deals if I'm ever going to eat anything from Hickory Farms.

Until about 1990, there were permanent Hickory Farms locations in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. Until I was 12 or 13, if someone on my dad's side of the family had a birthday or other special occasion, we had Hickory Farms. With the beef sticks, cheeses, and mustards, after you had your fill of savory, you finished things up with a handful of these sweet treats. I'm talking about Meltaway Mints.

I'm not really sure if the mints were made of white chocolate. But they were these creamy, colorful little pieces of candy that packed a punch of mint. Originally, Meltaway Mints looked like an oversized Hershey's kiss. But instead of being colored for Christmas, these guys looked like they were more suited for Easter as they came in pastels of green, pink and yellow. Yet, I can't recall a single Christmas Eve party at my Grandmama's house where these guys weren't a part of her massive spread. On the underside of each mint were these white sprinkles that always reminded me of the Asthma medication I used to take as a kid. But unlike Theo-Dur, these sprinkles were sweet instead of nasty ol' bits of bitterness.

For a brief time Hickory Farms discontinued the Meltaway Mints. Fans got vocal and they've returned to shelves- for a ridiculous price of $27.99 for 3 30oz bags. So, if you're okay with generic Melty Mints, which still retain the kiss shape whereas the revival name brand now looks like buttons, you'll actually save some money without losing any of the nostalgic taste. Some might say accept no substitute. I say if it brings back memories of happy times, I'm willing to buy off-brand!