My Tricks or Treating years fell around the time that people first started worrying about candy tampering. You’d read the occasional newspaper story about kids finding needles or razor blades in apples, but the move toward well-sealed store-bought treats had only just started. My friends and I still got apples. Homemade popcorn balls and cookies. And every so often, coins. Pennies, mostly–I lived in a small town with a store that sold penny candies, so we didn’t turn up our noses at the things. But sometimes you were given a nickel or dime, which got you an entire candy bar or box. Necco wafers–those things were weird. Zero bars, with polar bears on the wrappers. At least, I think there were polar bears.
I loved Bit O’Honey. Those wacky wrappety-wrapped pieces. I still like it, but the stuff seems softer now. Between Bit O’Honey and Bonomo Turkish Taffy, I’m lucky I still have teeth.