The candy chronicles
Well if you’re on a diet it’s all over now. The day after Halloween with all the leftover candy piling in to work being dumped on desk tops all around you. And here you were excited about that lean cuisine 180 calorie lunch you planned to heat up in the kitchen microwave.
It would be easy if people just stuck to the candy corn but when Snickers and Kit Kat bars come into play all bets are off. Even Superman had his kryptonite after all.
We never think about, being adults and all, but large sacks of Halloween candy and the commerce that transacted on the day after, November 1, was often a child’s first foray into the world of capitalism. Whether it be with friends or siblings today is the day you’d lay out your candy and swap what you didn’t like for the sweet treats you did. It was cutthroat negotiations that would make Blackbeard the pirate shrink with fear as you and your friends argued over the value of a Reece’s peanut butter cup; the hold grail of free candy in my humble opinion.
Kids today don’t know what they’re missing and you probably shouldn’t tell them. These days children go to a handful of houses as a circle the block and then it’s back home to look at their bounty. Compare that to 30 years ago when kids trick-or-treated for three hours straight and came home with enough candy to stock their own store. Not that a single one of us needed that much candy or the cavities that came after. I recently lost a tooth the back of my mouth and I lay the blame on many Halloween nights from long ago.
I loved candy as a kid and it’s the one thing I never quite grew out of although I will say many of the treats you enjoy a child don’t taste the same now. I don’t know if the recipe changes that much or if it’s just us who change. Remember a couple years back when they told us Twinkies were going out of business? Many of us ran out to buy a pack for old times sake and bit into one for the first time in two decades. If we’re being honest they tasted like styrofoam with cream filling.
I still love chocolate but I prefer to eat a higher quality if I’m going to suffer the calories. In this general area there are two places I’ll stop if I really want to treat myself. Not far from my home is De-Annas Country Store in Sand Lake. I find her candy selection marvelous and the chocolate is high end. Krause’s and Uncle Sam also have yummy treats if I were making a short list. One of my favorites, by far, is The Chocolate Barn on historic 7A in Shaftsbury, Vermont. I daresay the couple running it are as sweet as the candy they sell. Every trip to Vermont requires a stop at the barn.
I grew up on Mann Avenue in Troy’s south end just a couple blocks from Kay’s corner store. For anyone under 30 reading this column you should understand that years ago people would take a portion of their actual home and turn it into a store of some sort. This was long before we had Stewart’s shops and Cumberland Farms on every other corner. They did the same thing with bars setting them up downstairs while they slept above. I guess it made the commute to work easy.
Anyway, Kay’s was a tiny set up yet it offered everything a 12-year-old boy would need including a case full of penny candy. On days when I didn’t have a penny to my name I would search the weeds below Kay’s store and fish around for the empty bottles people would toss there after they drank a soda. RC Cola and Nehi Grape were the most popular I frequently found. Once I washed the ants out of the empties I could score five pieces of candy for each bottle I traded in.
One of my fondest memories as a child was the old Montgomery Ward building in Menands. I believe it’s state office space now but back in the day it was a grand old department store and like all the best ones it had a huge candy section with 100 glass jars filled with everything from root beer barrels to maple creams. The nice memories don’t involve the candy but going there with my grandfather; Pa we called him. It’s funny how you have no idea as a child how important some small thing will be someday. You assume the best memories will be a trip to Disney World or something grand and expensive when in reality it may be holding a grandparent’s hand and walking through a store.
So enjoy your candy today be it something from a child’s sack or a treat your coworkers brought in. If you’re like me you’ll make a memory or two that proves sweeter than the darkest chocolate money can buy.