For those ‘of a certain age’ this kind of cut rock candy was once a standard holiday season treat. One usually purchased at any old corner store by mom and put out in her special Christmas candy dish sometime around the first day of winter. As I recall, at our house Santa always got a few of these nuggets with his milk and cookies and reindeer carrots on Christmas Eve.

This year in a burst of nostalgia we ordered the two-pound bag, and they came just in time for the holidays. And they were….all right. Ok. Pretty good. Not bad at all. Not, however, as delicatable as we recalled them tasting. I particularly remembered the flavors being somewhat different, and I’m very positive there was no watermelon flavor in the old days at all. On the other hand, we decided the main difference in the candy then and the candy now is that we’re not 6 years old any more.

But that’s all right. The grandkids were enchanted by the designs on the end of each piece hinting at its flavor, the hard-rock chunks taste OK, and they still look great in mom’s old candy dish. What more could you hope for? As candy, I’d say these rate maybe 3 1/2 to 4 stars–like I said, they’re not too bad; however,I gave them a full 5 stars on sentimental value alone. If you simply want to satisfy your sweet tooth, hit the candy aisle of any grocery store and don’t waste your time or money on these things. But if you want to summon up the friendly ghosts of Christmases Past, order up a couple pounds next December.