Slog Comments
Today in Neccos: Still Totally Gross
3
Fun fact: Neccos were originally issued to GI's in WWII because they are virtually indestructible.
Fun fact: Neccos were originally issued to GI's in WWII because they are virtually indestructible.
5
Neccos, while, as wisely eluded to are inedible, make wondrous fine targets for toy projectile weapons. Get yourself a piece of waste plywood and partly hammer in two small brads horizontally spaced less than a Necco diameter. Then "tee up" the Necco, take seventeen paces backward and aim at the Necco with your slingshot, darts, pellet-gun, trebuchet, crossbow, or even paperclip and rubberband. Any hit will be rewarded with a happy little cloud of (inedible) dust. For extra credit, make many of these dual-brad props all over the plywood in such a fashion as to approximate the shape of an anti-R71 voter (fill in the details with a sharpie). Endless hours of: "dude! you totally got his left eye" can thereby be assured and all for the price of a roll of happy Necco wafers.
6
Agreed with @4. Plus, without NECCOs, how are Catholic kids going to play Mass? "NECCO of Christ?" "Amen!"
7
Fun fact: the campus of MIT used to smell like NECCOs, from the smokestacks of the New England Confectionery Company's factory next door...
8
I used to cycle past that factory on my way to work. Wonderful smell, wonderful candy. You people are philistines. The clove flavor alone is better than all of the shitty candy bars (Twix, vom) in the 7-11.
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@8 I will never understand your palette. Were you to invite me to a dinner party, I fear we would come to blows. I savor the occasional Twix bar.
11
Every mid-to-late-November, plastic jack-o-lanterns once full of trick-or-treaters' loot sit on kitchen and living room tables, now home only to a couple of sad stray Necco wafers and the occasional Bit-O-Honey. Who buys them? And why do they hate children so?
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Whatever you think of the taste, it's great that these are using natural flavors and colors. "Artificial colors" are mostly derived from coal tar and insects, and cause proven health problems (scientific ones, not conspiracy theory ones). Don't buy products that list "artificial colors" or "FD&C dye" on the ingredient label. Natural colors use ingredients like turmeric and beet juice.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/663407…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/663407…
14
The new ones taste like the way-too-sweet weight training supplement I took a while back that was a great boost but made my teeth hurt.
17
NECCO wafers are one of the oldest candies still available in America dating back to well before the Civil War.
Fun fact -- all the NECCO wafers sold today were produced during the Civil War. Due to a clerk misreading an order from the War Department the candy manufacturer made more than a bajillion extra packets of the crunchy little wafers.
They've been selling off the overstock for 156 years. Based on current demand they are down to about one year supply left on hand. Hence the reworking of the recipe in anticipation of the first production run since Antietam.
So if you've ever wondered why NECCO wafers taste like dusty little rounds of a dead mule's ass, now you now. And speaking of mule ass -- who knows where gelatin, a key ingredient of these mini-frisbees, comes from?
Fun fact -- all the NECCO wafers sold today were produced during the Civil War. Due to a clerk misreading an order from the War Department the candy manufacturer made more than a bajillion extra packets of the crunchy little wafers.
They've been selling off the overstock for 156 years. Based on current demand they are down to about one year supply left on hand. Hence the reworking of the recipe in anticipation of the first production run since Antietam.
So if you've ever wondered why NECCO wafers taste like dusty little rounds of a dead mule's ass, now you now. And speaking of mule ass -- who knows where gelatin, a key ingredient of these mini-frisbees, comes from?
19
Here, here @7/@8 - Whenever I'd go into Cambridge for shows at the Middle East or T.T. the Bear's, I'd park near the NECCO factory. Such sweet smells at 2am.
20
I saw the Television Personalities at T.T. the Bear's. Ah, good times.
Hernandez, if I ever invited you to a dinner party, you'd put on your bib and attack the smoked brisket and pork butt like everybody else. And you'd like it. If you knew what was good for you.
Hernandez, if I ever invited you to a dinner party, you'd put on your bib and attack the smoked brisket and pork butt like everybody else. And you'd like it. If you knew what was good for you.
21
I'm with Hernandez. Fnarf is always espousing his love of terrible food and hatred for good food. Cyndie's anyone?
22
Oh man, I love Necco....but then, I'll be the first to admit I am a fan of any chalk-like candy. But the green...they were always the fucking WORST of the neccos, so I say good day to them.
24
@20 Yeah, I probably would, until you start chastising me for seasoning my food with something that does not meet the rigors of your condiment orthodoxy. Then we, full of meat and righteous anger, would come to blows. Our wives would have to pry us apart with oars.
26
gelatin ... ick, no thanks. i don't give a hoot what they taste/look/smell like. gelatin is disgusting.
27
@7,8,15,19,
Not to say you weren't smelling Necco wafers, but it's quite likely you might have been instead savoring the much stronger aroma of Junior Mints, which were (still are, as of about four years ago) made in a unmarked generic-looking factory in the same neighborhood, roughly across Mass Ave from a huge "Fireproof" brick warehouse. When Cambridge and Somerville de-industrialized in the mid 20th century, the candy factories somehow managed to hang on. At least through my childhood there in the 60s there was Necco, Nabisco, and at least two others, maybe Fanny Farmer and I want to say Sees, maybe? Those factories were the beloved field-trip destinations for Cambridge public school kids.
Not to say you weren't smelling Necco wafers, but it's quite likely you might have been instead savoring the much stronger aroma of Junior Mints, which were (still are, as of about four years ago) made in a unmarked generic-looking factory in the same neighborhood, roughly across Mass Ave from a huge "Fireproof" brick warehouse. When Cambridge and Somerville de-industrialized in the mid 20th century, the candy factories somehow managed to hang on. At least through my childhood there in the 60s there was Necco, Nabisco, and at least two others, maybe Fanny Farmer and I want to say Sees, maybe? Those factories were the beloved field-trip destinations for Cambridge public school kids.
28
@8, 15, 19: Ever catch Little Joe Cook and the Thrillers, house band at the Cantab? "Sexy Lady from the Beauty Shop/ You make my heart go bibbertybop". Or was it maybe at the Plough and Stars I saw you through the bottom of a pint glass?
29
@28 Dancing at the CanTab to Little Joe Cook and the Thrillers was the one and only time I've ever been 86'd from a bar. And @27 is right - the aroma that wafts from the corner of Main St. and Mass Ave. is one of chocolate mint, not Necco wafers. That was the favorite block of my daily walk to work in Kendall Square. And I'm with Fnarf, the clove Necco wafers are uniquely delicious.
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@17: I believed you for a minute! THAT IS HOW TERRIBLE NECCOS ARE: THEY TASTE OLDER THAN DEAD!
But Necco history is kind of fascinating. It starts all old-timey and cute: "1864: Daniel Chase, Oliver's brother, goes to Chicago to use the Chase Lozenge Machine in the new, growing Western territory," "1872-3: Oliver Chase has his building destroyed in the Boston Fire, and takes in as a partner, T. Pickering Drown, a merchant who has made a fortune in the China trade on teas and silks." And then it becomes awful and modern: "2007: NECCO becomes a portfolio company of American Capital Strategies, Ltd. The purchase became complete on December 21. This partnership will allow for renewed focus on core competencies that will continue to grow NECCO into a leader in the confectionery business. NECCO will focus on several areas of growth--through acquisitions, expansion of existing product lines and introduction of new products." I hope they're also driving efficiencies.
But Necco history is kind of fascinating. It starts all old-timey and cute: "1864: Daniel Chase, Oliver's brother, goes to Chicago to use the Chase Lozenge Machine in the new, growing Western territory," "1872-3: Oliver Chase has his building destroyed in the Boston Fire, and takes in as a partner, T. Pickering Drown, a merchant who has made a fortune in the China trade on teas and silks." And then it becomes awful and modern: "2007: NECCO becomes a portfolio company of American Capital Strategies, Ltd. The purchase became complete on December 21. This partnership will allow for renewed focus on core competencies that will continue to grow NECCO into a leader in the confectionery business. NECCO will focus on several areas of growth--through acquisitions, expansion of existing product lines and introduction of new products." I hope they're also driving efficiencies.
33
@28! Little Joe Cook!
Thank you! I miss LJC. Can't remember how many nights I spent at the Cantab. Which, in and of itself, is sad.
Thank you! I miss LJC. Can't remember how many nights I spent at the Cantab. Which, in and of itself, is sad.
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