This is a sort of nostalgia post prompted by the announcement (which I posted on at the time) that White Lily Flour would no longer be made in the South.
Brand name food and beverage products are, what, about 150 years old? I know that Cadbury’s Cocoa started in the early part of the 19th century and H. J. Heinz started making its first big product, their chili sauce, just after the American Civil War. Jell-O was patented a little before the Civil War but it wasn’t marketed under that name until some time thereafter.
Lots of these old brand name products are no longer made. Some, like Coca Cola and Heinz’s Chili Sauce, continue to be made but their formulas have changed so that they’re really a different product. Coca Cola replaced sugar cane with sucrose years ago and today’s Coca Cola just tastes different than the stuff I grew up with. Until not too long ago Heinz continue to make their chili sauce using tomatoes, onions, etc. just as they did years ago. Now its made using processed tomatoes, dehydrated onions, etc.
Some products have actually risen from the grave after not being available for years. The IBC Root Beer and Schweppes Bitter Lemon are two products in that category.
Are there any old products that you miss? Examples I can think of are Pommac, an apple soda (Swedish?), that was distributed here briefly in the 1960’s and the old Busch Bavarian beer as it used to be brewed and sold in returnable bottles. That was only available in St. Louis and the only Anheuser-Busch product I’ve every really liked. I also remember with fondness the grapefruit-flavored Tang. I liked Postum, too.
My wife adds to the list Delaware Punch, chocolate-flavored Lifesavers, and Carnation Snowballs (an ice cream dessert covered with coconut).
Are there any products that are no longer made that you long for or think of fondly?
BTW, the original Jell-O flavors were strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon. Shortly thereafter chocolate (not pudding—gelatin), cherry, and peach were added. I’m not old enough to remember chocolate-flavored Jell-O.
In the 50’s, I enjoyed a candy bar call walnut crush. My favorite……no longer available?
I haven’t seen a Walnut Crush in decades. It hasn’t been made for a long time.
Has anyone seen grape jello recently? I had it in the 60’s. Cake yeast is a rarity, as it is quite a bit more perishable than dry yeast. Two supermarkets in my metropolitan living area were carrying it this year, but only in two of their locations.
I remember when the milkman would bring the Carnation Snowballs. They came with little ivy candle holders and little red candles. My Dad would light the candles and turn out all the lights. That made Christmas…
Orbitz the clear drink with little gelatin-like colored balls inside it that was kind of self sustaining! Oh and Zima what ever happened to that?
Haaa, Grape Jello, my favorite back in the day. And Fizzys. Lime, orange and root beer flavored tablets that you drop into a glass of water to make a soda like drink. Showing my age, how about Space Food Stix. “The snack that went to the moon”. Every kid in school begged their parents for those. Shake-a-Pudding. A powdered pudding mix you put into a special cup with a snap on lid, and shook the daylights out of. End result, pudding, and a little sister screaming that it was her turn. Or Chunky candy bars, twice the size they are now, for 10c. Nesbets Strawberry soda, Hires Rootbeer, Frosty Rootbeer, Ne-hi grape soda, Lyons sodas. Two more, Val-o-milk and Milkshake candy bars. Ok, enough for one night. A great list you have going here. It has brought back some memories. Time for a nice Hawiian Punch. Where’s my Crazy straw…
One more, and I for the life of me can’t figure out why they were discontinued. I may have the maker wrong, but I think it may have been the Mothers bakery, Ideal bar cookies. A chocolate covered peanut butter bar shaped cookie. My Father always kept a package in the freezer compartment of the fridge in his dark room. They were so good frozen. Wow, that brings back a memory. He’s gone now, and so are the cookies, but I will always remember sneaking into his freezer and raiding a couple of them, one for me, and one for my sister.
Sara mentioned grape Jello. I hadent seen that since I was a kid. Walking through the store yesterday, I spotted some. Not sure if it is a test market thing, but I bougjht two boxes. I can’t wait to try it!
Zima? Who cares?
Rootbeer hasn’t had actual sassafras root in it for decades.
7-UP has changed its formula many times, I miss the 1970s version, it had bite to it, now all the lemon lime soda pops are too sweet.
First Aid Cream, my sister somehow had some. When her dog scratched me I put that on it and it was healed by the end of the day. I tried to find a tube and discovered it hasn’t been made for years. Of course not it actually works.
My beer is Rheingold, the dry beer. It’s not bitter, not sweet, just (a something something) beer.