Today I tried a Chick-o-Stick for the first time and I have to say I thought it was delicious! Generally, I'm not so fond of toffee-like hard candies but this was a definite exception. The Chick-O-Stick is a candy product produced by Atkinson Candy Co., having been manufactured since the Great Depression (that's an oldy all right!) It is made primarily from peanut butter, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and toasted coconut, with colorings and preservatives added, and contains no trans fats. The crunchy outside is bright orange and dusted with ground coconut. The inside of the stick is honeycombed with peanut butter and the orange hardened syrup/sugar mixture that also forms the shell. When it is fresh, the candy is hard and brittle (as I said a texture I don't generally like). You can either bite off the whole stick or break into pieces. Either way it will be crumbly and messy! But hey what good candy isn't a little bit messy. Originally the candy wrapper featured a chicken but today's wrapper has been modernized and no longer has a cartoon.
I also picked up another old-fashioned favorite of mine, Sixlets! Sixlets are a small, round candy-coated chocolate-flavored candy. The chocolate centers are made from a mixture of cocoa and carob, giving them a "malted" taste. While the inside do have a definite cocoa flavor, it is not hard to tell that they aren't really chocolate but rather chocolate-flavored candies (a.k.a. mockolate). They are usually sold in thin cellophane packages that hold them in a tube-like formation. The ball-shaped candies come in a number of colors, including red, brown, yellow, green, and orange. In 2003, Hershey Foods Corporation sold their rights to the Sixlets brand name to SweetWorks, Inc. An Eastern version consists of pink, blue, white, orange, and yellow sixlets. I enjoy cracking the candy shell off with my teeth and then eating the chocolate. Or you can do what my mom does....gobble them up handfuls at a time. I swear my mom can practically inhale candy! I know I eat a lot but I certainly can't eat as fast as my mom can!
A little info on the Atkinson Candy Company. Atkinson Candy Company has a family tradition of making candy since 1932. Located in Lufkin, Texas, the company is known worldwide for its fine quality candy, including some of the best peanut butter and peppermint candies available. Other candies of theirs include Long Boys and Peanut Butter Bars.
Long Boys are chewy caramels blended with flakes of real coconut and rolled into logs. They actually originated in New Orleans (Woo).
Peanut Butter Bars are melt-in-your-mouth, crunchy, totally peanutty bars somewhat similar to the interior of chick-o-sticks.
if you like these candies (and other old-fashioned candies) you should check out a shop called "Rocket Fizz" they specialize in retro candies and soda in glass bottles. They're pretty fantastic. They also have a few stores in Southern California... They are totally worth making a trip to visit. :-)
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