Planters is jumping back into the retro/nostalgia market, bringing back Planters Cheese (I mean cheez) Balls and Planters Cheese (again, I mean cheez) Curls. Look for them in July wherever snacks are sold (so pretty much anywhere.....grocery stores, convenience stores, inconvenience stores (where they put stuff up on REALLY high shelves)).......
Are we seeing a retro revolution? Are companies finally realizing the amount of money they can make by tapping into our youth and our wallets? What other retro grocery items would you love to see return from the dead?
Ah, Sooper Kookies.
Who duesn't reemembr thees wunderfull kookies from Nahbisko?
"I doent", I'm shure yore saing.
Whitch is funne, becuse I sayd the saim thing.
Alright, I can't do it. I can't keep spelling this article wrong on purpose.
You see, I had this whole bit I was going to do based on the purposeful misspelling of the words "Sooper Kookies", but I just can't do it. Between you, me and spellcheck, it's just really starting to hurt my head.
So instead I'm going to do some real hard research................................................
Other then a few images from Dan Goodsell and poptartsbox on Flickr (check em both out!) I couldn't find much of anything. I did media searches over the last 50 years on newspapers, hoping to dig up an advert or something, but didn't find squat. Not a mention. All I know is they came in at least 3 flavors: Fudge Cream, Chocolate Cream, and Vanilla Cream. They were sort of a pop-tart, more or less. And that's about all I know.
They remynd me uv a cros beetween kookies and.......I can't do it. I just.....can't.....do it.
So I'm gonna pull the ol' "throw it back on the readers" trick, where I hope you can help me fill in the blanks.
Anyone remember these? Were there other flavors? Did they last more then one year?
Let me know in the comments below! Until then I'll file these under another mystery product without much history top be found.
Product: Slimmons Snacks (Various)
Company: The Richard Simmons Living Trust
Years: 1996-?
Only 6 years after the trainwreck known as Richard Simmon's Salad Spray (which I covered here), Mr. Simmons decided it was time to work out a new product and hopefully make some money while at the same time making people healthier. So in 1996, he rolled out his line of "Slimmons" snacks.
I must admit, I had never heard of these until this last weekend while stumbling across an image of the Buttery Toffee Popcorn online:
But as I dug a little deeper, I realized that Slimmons wasn't just popcorn, but an entire line of different healthy snacks (9 different items according to internet news clippings).
I dug around and found that one other item was Devil's Food Cookies, and my friend Jason Liebig over at CollectingCandy.com actually had a box:
But that's only 2 items of a supposed 9. There is also a photo of the Sourdough Pretzels floating around online......But what were the other items? This is what I could dig up:
1. Buttery Toffee Popcorn
2. Devil's Food Cookies
3. Sourdough Pretzels
4. Some sort of Cheese Flavored Puffed Corn (looking for image)
5. Some sort of chocolate candy bar (looking for image)
6. Rice Cakes (looking for image)
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
From what I can gather these did not last very long in the market, and some items may have been regional. So I'm asking all you Honorary Stock Boys and Girls to help me out. If you know of any other Slimmon's treats, or better yet have a scan or an image of the packages, let me know!
Product: Dizzy Grizzlie Cookies
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1996-199?
Teddy Grahams were a good cookie. Bite sized, snack-able, delicious.
But they weren't one thing.
They were not.......EXTREME!!!! (Loud screeching guitar solo).
Yes, like many of the products in the mid 90's, Nabisco felt the need to take their successful snack cookie and crank it up to 11. They made the cookies larger, frosted them, and for good measures, added sprinkles.
Extreme enough for you? No? Well, the bears aren't just calmly standing around anymore like those "lame" Teddy Grahams were.....these new bears are TO THE EXTREME! (loud screeching guitar solo).
Skateboarding!
BMXing!
Rollerblading!
They're so EXTREME they grabbed you by the throat and yelled "HEY, YOU THINK YOU ARE EXTREME ENOUGH TO EAT THESE COOKIES, KID!!????!"
"ARE YOU???!!!!!" (Even louder Guitar solos).
I was not extreme enough for these cookies back in the day. I remember seeing them on the shelf and thinking that I was more of an indoor kid...you know......eating regular Teddy Grahams while playing Super Nintendo instead of eating Dizzy Grizzlies and base jumping off the nearest cliff.
And lots of kids must have though the same, because these were only around for a few years.
Product: Snap Cookies
Company: Nabisco
Years: 70's - maybe early 80's(?)
Hope everyone is having a fun summer! I know I haven't posted much lately, as family is dictating most of my time. Kids are busy creatures, so I spend many of my hours at the baseball/soccer fields and traveling too and from the baseball/soccer fields. But enough about me, lets talk about NABISCO SNAPS COOKIES!!!!
You know what?
I don't remember these.
The boxes are WAY cool, and I imagine I was around (as in living, not fat) when these cookies were around, but I just plain don't remember them. They came in 4 flavors, Chocolate, Chocolate chip, Ginger, and Vanilla.
Yep, Nabisco Ginger Snaps have a Facebook page. (I'm pretty sure they would just send me annoying game requests, though, so I didn't friend them. No I won't play Farmville with you, Nabisco.)
Oh, shoot, I have to get my 12 year old to baseball practice ASAP.......talk amongst yourselves about these sweet treats from the 70's (and maybe 80's? Anyone know???)
If I could go back in time, these would certainly be on my list of must try treats.
Until next time, shoppers............enjoy your summer!
Who remembers these? I sure as heck didn't, when alert reader Gerald Logue emailed me and said "What about Cajun Spice Ruffles?", to which I was like "Cajun Spice Ruffles? Now you're just making stuff up!", to which Gerald was all like "Un-uh - they're real!", and I was like "No they're not"................this went on for days.
Finally, I remembered Gerald had said something in the initial email about Justin Wilson, the Cajun Cook, so I looked it up.........and holy s%*t, I found the commercial on Youtube, and bam, I remembered. (Well, I remembered the commercial, anyway....) Justin Wilson was the pitch person for these delicious, Cajun flavored chips.
Justin Wilson was from Southern Louisiana. He was a cook, a recording artist, a writer, a humorist, and best known for his catch phrase: "I gar-on-tee!"
In the mid 80's, Cajun cooking was all the rage (much in the way Sriracha is today). Every brand of chips and snacks around this time had to have a cajun flavor, and Ruffles had a hit on their hands with their version. Problem is, like every other fad, people lost interest pretty quick, and these chips were discontinued after only a few years.
I do now remember liking these back in the day....I've always been a sucker for new potato chip flavors, and Cajun Spices have that kick I dig.
So if someone starts a petition to Ruffles to bring these back, I'd gladly stand in line to sign it.
I gar-on-tee!* *Yep. I went there. It's been a long week, cut me some slack. He's dead, I hope he doesn't sue me for catchphrase infringement. Is that even a thing? I mean, I could spell it a little different, then it should be ok, right? Right???
Product: Flings
Company: Nabisco
Years: Late 1960's - 1980's (?)
Dear Nabisco,
Stop trying so hard. We get it already. You can turn anything, no matter what the flavor, into a delicious chip, snack, or cracker. Here at Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries, we stumble across something new (old/new) from you almost every day, and honestly, I've almost stopped keeping track. You are good at what you do, Nabisco, so why spread yourself so thin? Pick a core group of products and make those products the best damn products we have ever seen....and maybe, just maybe, you are already starting to do that. But in the 60s, 70s and 80s.......well, lets say you were snack aisle whores. You put it all out there year after year, every flavor.....every shape. "Don't like Curls? We have Sticks? Don't like Sticks, we have cones? Don't like cones? We have a goddamn chip shaped like a platypus. "Well that's random", you say? Goddamn right it is, because we're Nabisco, and we can make these chips/snacks and crackers into any M%#$@R F^&%ING shape we want? Got it......GOT IT???"
"Oh, and you can get that Platypus shaped cracker in 5 flavors, Cheese, Ranch, Papaya, Dandelion, and New Car Smell. "But New Car Smell isn't a Flavor" you say.....look, do you want me to lose my shit? Because Nabisco can lose it's shit REAL easy, and one day, when you wake up, all these shape and flavors will be gone.....and all you'll have left are Triscuits, Wheat Thins, and Chicken in a Biscuit. So don't push it, pal."
I'm almost certain Nabisco would say something like that if confronted. Maybe.
Box picture from Dan Goodsell
Flings were a chip that looked similar to today's Cheese puffs, and came in 3 flavors: Chicken, Cheese, and Ham and Swiss. These were mostly around in the late 60's/early 70's, but I did stumble upon a newspaper ad from 1984, where it appears Nabisco tried to bring back Flings, this time in a bag instead of a box.
Like the other hundreds (possibly millions, or possibly less) of Nabisco Products that have appeared on store shelves over the last 50 years, I'm going to guess that very few of you readers out there remember these. I don't. Which is pretty cool when you add it onto the vast sea of groceries that have filled up store shelves over the years...these could have been someones favorite snack to curl up with on a Saturday night. People have a weird nostalgia towards food, especially discontinued food (which is why I started this blog), so it's neat to find stuff like this that might bring someone a smile.
"How'd you like a poke in the mouth?" I thought to myself upon seeing
these packages for the first time, thinking I was being clever and a
bit dirty.
But then I did a little bit of research, and I found that Kellogg's did indeed use that tagline.
"A Poke in the mouth makes a hit in the tummy", to be exact. Great (dirty) minds think alike, I guess.
Image/Boxes by Grickily
So this is what I know about Pokes:
1. They came in 4 flavors. Corn, Cheese and Bar-B-Q were the original 3 flavors, and Potato Pokes were added sometime shortly after.
2. These were "Tasty little Snack Baskets", which look like they just took some Chex and opened up one end....a clever snack shape I don't think I've seen before (Bugle's are pretty similar in execution)
3. The boxes are AMAZING. I mean...LOOK at them. The Potato Pokes have an Irish Potato creature on the front! The Corn Pokes have a crazy looking Indian corn creature on it! The Cheese Pokes have a smiling hunk of (alpine?) Cheese on it! The Bar-B-Q Pokes have a ........cowboy looking......what is that.....a hunk of coal? Ok, that one I'm not sure about. But the boxes reek of the late 60's, and I would love to have a set for my collection.
4. The Reason I don't have them in my collection is because they are Rare, and Expensive if you do find them. A Corn Pokes box sold on Hakes Auctions last year for $600. My wife would kick me out of the house if I spend $600 on ANY box (unless there was a diamond ring inside of it, for her).
5. I'm not sure if these were sold in the US and in Canada or only in Canada. The only advertising I could find for them was in the Montreal Gazette, and it says on the Coupon "Kellogg's Company of Canada, 1968". I know there are Kellogg's cereals that you can only get in Canada, so maybe this was along the same lines? I never had there while they were in stores, so maybe someone can confirm for me.
I couldn't find a lot of info on these, like many of the slightly less popular brands of the 60's-70's. But an important addition to the shelves of Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries none the less.
Leave a comment if you remember these awesome yet slightly creepy looking snacks!
At some point in our lives we all need to make hard decisions. Go to college or travel the world. Buy a SUV or buy a minivan. Eat that meatball you found under the couch or not eat that meatball you found under the couch. We make them every day. But the good people at Frito Lay (and I am not saying that to get free samples, Frito Lay......though you do have beautiful eyes. You know that, right? (That is for the free samples)) took it upon themselves back in 1995 to say "Why Choose, bitches? You want Doritos, but at the same time, you also want some delicious cheesy Cheetos. You are high as a goddamn kite, and we're not one to judge you, so lets take the choice out of the equation....and make......CHEETO FLAVORED DORITOS! BOOM!"
Well, as great of an idea as it was, I have to say I certainly don't remember them. And I was in college at that time, so I was, well, lets just say I was their target demographic. (There's a time and a place for everything kids, and that time and place is called College). After scouring the interwebs trying to find a picture of the package, all I could find is this article about them testing this product. Most everyone who tried them loved them, though some said they were too cheesy. And then there is Bill (the single guy). His objection to this product? "Just who is this Chester Cheese guy? Is he really that famous? Why couldn't they just call these cheese flavored Doritos? And what does a cheetah have to do with cheese or tortilla chips?
Well Bill, the reason you are still single is because you ask too many questions.
And Chester Cheese Doritos, the reason you are still not available in stores is because people like to make hard decisions. You either want a Coke or you want a 7up, you don't want a Coke flavored 7up.
And the same goes with your chips.
Oh, and because they are (according to the taste test) way too cheesy, but in a good way?
I kind of wish these were still around, if for no other reason to see what other kinds of mutated Island of Doctor Moreau style chip inventions they would come up with.
Funyun flavored Fritos?
Dorito flavored Pretzels?
The world will never know.
Product: Buenos Tortilla Chips
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1981-1983
Wow, I actually remember these. Which is weird, because they didn't last very long. I don't remember the taste, I just remember the package.
Made from real stoneground corn, these chips came in 2 shapes, round and triangle. Seriously, it was the same freaking chips, just in 2 different shapes. So all the equipment that was used to make and package these chips had to be doubled, one set for the rounds, and one set for the triangles. Which is probably why they were discontinued. It was expensive to produce the same basic product in 2 shapes.
I'm guessing old people bought the round chips because they were safer....no sharp edges, very friendly looking. Almost like a smiley face, minus the face. The triangles were what the kids ate....3 sharp points, almost like a knife, not so safe for those kids who loved to live on the wild side and roll the dice while eating their chips. Will I stab my mouth or not? Who cares, I'm young! *Crunch*
If you hurry you can rush out and get yourself a bag with the attached coupon, assuming you have a time machine. Expires 9-30-83.
They came in traditional and Nacho cheese flavors only. Back in simpler times, when 2 or 3 flavors were perfectly ok. Not like now when to be a successful chip company you need to have at least 87 flavors.
Product: Krazy Glazy
Company: Nabisco
Years: Early 70's
Once upon a time, Pop Tarts weren't the only breakfast toaster pastry on the market. You had a choice to make while strolling the cereal aisle. One such item that I'd like to highlight today was a little remembered pastry called Krazy Glazy (with a K, because it's gangsta.)
Total disclosure: I hadn't heard of these before either until about a week ago when I stumbled upon this ad in the Spokane Daily Chronicle from November 28, 1973.
Krazy Glazy came in 4 flavors, Apple, Cherry, Strawberry, and Blueberry. The rest, as it turns out, is a mystery. I contact Nabisco/Mondelez and got nowhere. Nobody had any information or even remembered these (as it usually goes with large companies that have a vast history of products and have changed ownership at some point). How can these companies have no library of products? Or do they, and they just don't like to share that information. If they don't, it's kind of sad, actually.
The thing that struck me most about this product is the box. As a collector of vintage packages, I tend to gravitate towards silly characters and colorful boxes that have a distinct feel of the era they were created. And this box certainly hits all those marks. I've never seen an actual box, but if anyone out there has one to share, let me know. I'd love to see it! It has a Crazy (sorry, Krazy) looking Pastry dude on the front...with a massive head wound! I mean, why is he smiling?! He's seconds from death!
Other then the above, I couldn't find any information about this product, so I'm guessing it must have been a flop that wasn't around very long. The only information I could find was a few stills from a Krazy Glazy commercial that was never aired. You can read that interesting little story about that experience here.
And that's it. I would love to get more info on this product. I would REALLY love to get one of these boxes for my collection, or a scan of a box even so I can reproduce it. Surely someone out there must have one. Or has this product already been forgotten? I hope not. So I'm going to do my part to stop that from happening by adding it to the shelves here at Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries.
Products: Koo Koos, Razzys, and Googles
Company: Dolly Madison
Years: 70's
I love the Peanuts Gang. I also love junk food. When you put the 2 things together, you get 8 year old me quickly handing over his hard earned allowance money to buy Zingers and fruit pies with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Linus, and the rest of the gang adorning the packages. (you also get fat, but that's a tale for another time).
Starting in the 60's and working through the 70's and 80's, Charles and Dolly have been working together to promote their cartoons and snacks to kids. Everyone loved Charlie Brown. Everyone loved cream filled snack cakes. It was a win/win for both of them (and a win/win for this fat kid too).
But the snacks I'd like to focus on today are the cupcakes: Koo Koos, Razzys, and Googles.
I am not sure the exact timeline for these snack cakes, as I've heard anywhere from early to mid 70's, but like 95% of all the great food items, they seem to have been discontinued right around the time of my birth. And before you go blaming me, my therapist keeps telling me, "It's not my fault", and I tend to agree with her.
Koo Koos were essentially Ding Dongs, or King Dongs, or Big Wheels (if you will). Chocolate covered chocolate cakes with a cream filling. Charlie Brown graced the package. Yum.
Razzys were a Yellow cake version of the Koo Koos, covered in a raspberry flavored coating. Lucy was on the front of this package (and it looks like she's bitching about something ......again).
Googles were.........well.........I have no idea. I can't find a single thing about them when I searched Google (yes, I Googled Googles). Did these actually exist in the wild? Were they cut from production lines before they made it to store shelves? Supposedly they were a yellow cake in a white frosting, the albino brother of the Koo Koo. I can't explain why the frosting looks like camouflage. Could you only eat Googles while hiding in the woods? Is this why I've never seen one? Anyone? And what IS the true meaning of Christmas? Linus?
If anyone out there knows anything about Googles, please let me know. I'd also like to hear your memories of these or any other delicious Dolly Madison snack cakes. This is the kid of stuff I miss from my youth. And if Doc Brown ever comes back with that time machine, I promise you that I will go back to the early 70's, fill a bathtub with Koo Koos and Razzys (and possibly Googles), and lounge in it.
Oh shit, I was trying to be clever and I think I might have actually given Nabisco a good idea.
I mean, they've tapped out every other Oreo flavor combination in the last 2 or 3 years.
"It's like dipping a warm piece of bacon into a glass of Chocolate Milk!®"
Short post today. I've got a bad head cold and feel pretty crummy. I need a bowl of chicken soup and some crackers to make it go away.
That's my segway into the post. Crackers. Yup, pretty crummy I tell you.
Nabisco makes crackers, that's their thing. And I'm guessing over the last 50+ years they've had hundreds of crackers I've never heard of and have never seen. That's why it's always fun to stumble upon a long gone flavor, such as the Chit Chat Crackers.
What a 60's sounding name.
I just picture people sitting around their horribly decorated apartments talking about how awesome the last episode of "Gidget" was. Then someone would say "hey, lets go down to the drive in and get some burgers!", to which someone else would respond "We don't have to, I've got a box of new Chit Chat Crackers, by Nabisco!", to which the first guy would then respond in a really whiny Richie-from-Happy-Days-voice "But I wanted a Cheeseburger!"
Then they'd all start to dance. Probably the Twist......no, no...the Mashed Potato.Yeah. That's it.
So, yeah, I don't really know much about these crackers. Other then the Nabisco trademark of the name "Chit Chat" expired back in 2005 and is still available if you're bored and/or starting a fledgling cracker company.
That's all I got today. I need to go blow nose and drink a bottle of NyQuil.
And don't lie, you've never heard of these crackers either.
Product: Fruit Wrinkles
Company: Fruit Corners
Years: 1986 - ?
Raisins.
That's right.......raisins.
The original Fruit Wrinkles. I guess Nature forgot to get a patent.
In 1986, Fruit Corners wanted to expanded it's Fruit Roll-up line of kid's snacks and try out some new stuff. In my head, I picture a team of people in lab coats testing such items as "Fruit by the Mile" (the grandfather of todays "Fruit by the Foot"), or "Fruit Injections!", which would be small syringes filled with liquid fruit, which you shoot into your veins. Then, while eating lunch one day, Barry (the most useless of all the lab technicians) reached into his lunchbox for some fruit and pulled out, you guessed it, a banana. He peeled it and slowly started to eat it, and just then, for whatever reason, he started thinking about that old California Raisins cartoon that used to be on. You know, the one that was done in claymation? That's the one. Maybe he had heard Marvin Gaye earlier in the day, and that's what made him think about it. He wasn't sure. But thinking about that cartoon made him wonder how they could base an entire kids show on a piece of wrinkled fruit. "Wrinkled Fruit?" Barry thought to himself. "I've got it!" he shouted, and ran back to the lab. And you know what? For once, everyone listened to Barry. Todd stopped compiling data and listened. Mary put down the test tubes and took in every word Barry had to say. He had done it....he had finally earned his spot on the team. They respected him as an equal.
As a big "Thank You" for coming up with such a brilliant idea (which he stole from nature), Fruit Corners gave Barry the parking spot closest to the door for a week, and a 1.5% increase in pay, which after taxes didn't really amount to much. Which is probably why his girlfriend broke up with him and he turned into a raging alcoholic.
That's what I imagine in my head, anyway. I tend to be wrong from time to time.
Fruit Wrinkles were small, wrinkled pieces of fruit (Cherry, Lemon, Orange, and Strawberry) that came in small packets. You'd tear off the end and pour the wrinkled contents into your hand, then enjoy the juicy, wrinkled goodness.
Like many of my childhood favorites, I remember these fondly and could swear they had been around longer then they actually were. But we had some good times together.
I could eat a box of raisins, or handful of fruit snacks, but it's just not the same.
I wish nature could help us out on this one and bring them back, but I know it can't.
We need to find Barry. He holds the key.
If he hasn't offed himself already. (he was pretty depressed after that break-up, guys).
Product: Screaming Yellow Zonkers
Company: Lincoln Foods
Years: 1969-2007
Sometimes in life, you are aware of certain things without ever getting to experience them.
I am aware of White Castle hamburgers, but there aren't any remotely near where I live, so I've never had them.
I am aware of perms, but unless I lose a bet or get paid a LOT of money, I'll never have one.
And I was aware of Screaming Yellow Zonkers when they were around, but for whatever reason always passed. And now, it's too late. (for the Screaming Yellow Zonkers, not the perm, but I'm still gonna pass on that one).
Screaming Yellow Zonkers was a popcorn snack produced by Lincoln Foods in the 60's-2000's. It had a very sweet, sugary glaze over them. No Peanuts. No prize at the bottom. Just a sweet, sweet popcorn snack.
Doesn't sound so interesting, does it?
Well, the real draw of the Screaming Yellow Zonkers was not what was inside, but what was on the outside: one of the most brilliant packages ever. The box was a striking black box (claimed to be one of the first black packages on the market) with all kinds of cool, goofy illustrations and text around the box, including tips on "How to Wash your Zonkers", or "How to Mate Your Zonkers". On the bottom of the box, a quick guide was printed explaining how to determine if it were indeed the bottom: “Open the top, and turn the box upside down. If the Zonkers fall out, this is the bottom. If they fall up, this is the top. If nothing happens, this box is empty.”
The box was brilliantly created by Hurvis, Binzer and Churchill, a young start up ad agency out of Chicago. Artists such as Charlie White and Seymour Chwast illustrated the boxes with imaginative drawings that just scream all kinds of awesomeness.
Box Photo by Jason Liebig
And what makes the boxes even cooler is that they would frequently come out with new boxes full of other goofy stuff. Brilliant, just brilliant. Had I been paying attention, the collector/hoarder in me would have been thrilled.
Unfortunately, in 2007, Lincoln Foods was bought out by Conagra, and the Screaming Yellow Zonkers were discontinued, leaving me, like a fool, wishing I had picked up a box or 10 or 100 while I had the chance.
Instead, I'm left alone to eat my Poppycock and Cracker Jacks. Peanuts and all.
Product: Peanut Butter Boppers
Company: General Mills/Nature Valley
Years: Mid-Late 80's
Yep, two Peanut Butter related posts in a row. Oh, yes I did. I guess for me, Peanut butter is the ultimate snack ingredient - goes with so many different things, salty or sweet. It's the alpha ingredient. Maybe that's why so many beloved snacks of today and days gone buy contained the wonderful gooeyness of Peanut Butter. Today, I want to highlight one of them. Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you Peanut Butter Boppers.
Box image by daniel85r on Flickr
Nature Valley (General Mills is their parent company) came up with the idea to take Peanut Butter logs (from Peanut Butter trees in the Peanut Butter Forest, I'm assuming..................) and roll it up in other delicious things, like oats, rice crispies, chocolate chips, and whathaveyou.
They even had Peanut Butter rolled up and covered with chopped peanuts.
Holy crap. They may as well have included an EpiPen in the box, because if you had even the slightest hint of a peanut allergy, Peanut Butter logs rolled in peanuts would have been like putting a shotgun in your mouth. A delicious Peanuty shotgun. But I digress....
But there were more varieties then just "Death by Peanuts" - there was also Fudge Chip, Honey Crisp, Cookie Crunch and Fudge Graham, so you had plenty to choose from.
And who could forget about the cool 50's looking graphics that dressed up the box? It certainly stood out on the shelves, that's for sure. Unfortunately, it didn't stand out well enough, as their popularity left just as quickly as it came.
I'm not sure if these will ever return, but there are petitions online (like with so many childhood favorites) to get Nature Valley to go back into the Peanut Butter forest and start chopping some more Peanut Butter logs. Because we're hungry. Hungry for a snack that's 0% nutritious, but 100% delicious. Bring Back Boppers.
They had a good thing going and they let it slip through their fingers. Probably because they have little fingers. It's hard to hold onto a bag of delicious chips (I know... they aren't chips) with such small fingers.
O'Boises were one of those snacks that you wanted to call "A chip", though they swore up and down that they aren't a chip. (those elves swear a lot too, guys......usually complaining about the tiny fingers...). They were a baked chip like shape that had small air pockets all over, giving them a very distinct crunch. Very salty....very delicious.
I keep wanting to compare them to Tato Skins, but I don't think that would be fair. But I'm not sure what else to compare them to, so I will. Are you picturing Tato Skins? Good. They look kinda like that. But not really.
They came in 3 flavors: Regular, Sour Cream and Onion, and BBQ. And each one was delicious. I was always a fan of the Sour Cream and Onion.
And then one day - *poof* - they're gone.
Nobody really knows where O'Boises disappeared to, but my running theory is that one of the elves fell into the machine that peeled the potatoes for O'Boises Chips (I know they're not chips) and as part of the lawsuit settlement the machine had to be removed from the factory/tree and as a result it just took too long to peel all the potatoes by hand, and they decided to shelf the product and focus on other areas (namely cookies).
Or maybe they were discontinued because of poor sales. That might be why, too. I'll check with the elves.
What do we want? FUDGE! When do we want it? NOW!!!!
Seriously, was there actually a time when people were saying "Man, I could go for some fudge right now, but I don't even have 5 minutes to wait for it....I wish someone would come out with a product that could satisfy my fudge urges."
Now, I'm not sure if Salada is the original company and was later bought out by Kelloggs or what (as you can see below by the coupon), but as far as I can tell, it's a miracle this product lasted in stores for more then 4 minutes.
Here are some product reviews from the Lakeland Ledger, November 12, 1975 :
"I sure didn't have fudge in 4 minutes, I had a soupy mess" - Karel Hammer
"The texture is not smooth .... it takes 15 to 20 minutes to make this fudge, despite what the label says. My Grandchildren did not like the candy, they said it was too grainy." -Doratea Addison
So if this stuff was so bad, why was it still being sold until at least 1980? Did they reformulate the recipe? Or are people just suckers for fast fudge, even if its not fabulous fast fudge.
This product is gone, and this one might be forgotten too. Correct me if I'm wrong.
