9 Nostalgic Candies from the ’60s We’d Love to Taste Again

The ’60s were an amazing decade. Humankind advanced in leaps and bounds in terms of both civil rights and the space race. And on a lighter but still undeniably significant note, the decade also gave us great music and some unique fashion. Believe it or not, the ’60s are also legendary among candy lovers. Over these ten years, favorites like SweeTarts, the 100 Grand Bar, Now and Laters, Cadbury Creme Eggs, Lemonheads, Swedish Fish, Razzles, and Starburst were released in stores across the nation, and sometimes beyond. But while these sugary treats are still going strong today, many others haven’t survived the march of time.   

Whether due to low sales, high production costs, or being deemed unsafe for human consumption, many candies and sweets created during this time are no longer being made or sold today. If we could build a time machine — or find a candy company who’d be willing to bring these back (and make them safe to eat, in some cases) — here are some of the ’60s candies and other sweet treats we wish we could try, either because of their appealing ingredients or the delightful novelty involved in eating them.

In 1965, the Connecticut-based Peter Paul Candy Company released its Caravelle candy bar. Consisting of caramel, crispy rice, and Brazil nuts covered in milk chocolate, the bar must have been delicious and had an interesting texture experience as well. According to the Naugatuck Historical Society, the Caravelle bar was so delectable that it was named “best new candy in 1967.” You’ll find lots of people online who say they loved the Caravelle bar and look back on it fondly. Many fans also talk about the pretty jingle in a commercial for the bar that came out in the early ’70s. Soft and folksy, it’s still fun to listen to today.

With its yummy ingredients, accolades, and memorable jingle, you’d think the Caravelle bar would still be around. But it was not to be. In 1978, the Peter Paul Candy Company was bought by Cadbury Schweppes, and the Caravelle bar was discontinued. In an interview with The Morning News, candy expert Steve Almond explained that when small candy companies are bought out by larger ones, candies similar to the larger company’s offerings are usually taken off the market. That’s what happened to the Caravelle bar.

Details of Fruit Stripe Gum’s history are as chaotic as the crazy, colorful stripes printed on each strip of this famous treat. Many sources claim it was introduced in 1969. Others say it was the early ’60s, which seems to be backed up by an article on Retroist, which features print ads from as early as 1963. Whatever its exact origins, Fruit Stripe gum was known for its five fruity flavors. These changed over time but were most recently Cherry, Wet n’ Wild Melon, Peach Smash, Orange, and Lemon. 

Each was visually represented on the gum’s colorfully striped strips. But despite putting its flavors so flagrantly on display, Fruit Stripe gum was often fondly joked about because it lost its flavor surprisingly fast. Still, it was a sweet, chewy part of many fans’ lives for decades. It even had a mascot known as Yipes the Zebra and, by the ’90s, a fun catchphrase, “Yipes! Stripes!” 

But like so many good things in this world (including its flavors), Fruit Stripe gum wouldn’t last. In 2023, the Ferrara Candy Company, the gum’s manufacturer, released a statement (per AP News) announcing that in a decision “not taken lightly,” it had decided to discontinue Fruit Stripe Gum due to falling sales and changes in consumer habits. USA Today described the public’s reaction to the news as “nostalgic despair and plenty of jokes,” which sounds right. It may not have provided a long-lasting flavor experience like the best gums should, but this ’60s-born sweet was a constant presence for many of us. We’ll miss those brightly colored sticks.

Pudding isn’t candy, but when it comes to beloved sweet treats born in the ’60s, Shake-A Pudd’n is often listed among them and it’s easy to understand why. Like many candies and other snacks from this era, a lot of the reason for its success was novelty. Instant pudding mix existed before the 1960’s. Still, it usually involved a bit of preparation. But Shake-A Pudd’n, released by Royal around the mid-1960s, made things so easy that even kids could prepare it -– and have fun while they did. Shake-A Pudd’n came in a box that contained packets of instant pudding powder as well as cups and lids. 

To prepare your “pudd’n,” you’d pour a packet of powder into one of the cups, then fill it with water. Next, you’d put the lid on the cup and shake it. After letting the shaken mix sit for about five minutes, it was ready to eat. You can watch several cute vintage commercials online featuring kids making their Shake-a-Pudd’n, usually in a party setting.

Shake-A Pudd’n was such a success that rival companies released similar products. Still, despite this, Royal discontinued its fun product in the early 1970’s. Some alternatives persisted for a while, including Jell-O’s similarly named Shake A Pudding until they, too, disappeared from the market. Unfortunately, while you’ll come across fans reminiscing about Shake-A Pudd’n and its variations online, there isn’t any clear information about when or exactly why they aren’t available today. At least there are lots of recipes for homemade versions of Shake-A Pudd’n out there so that you can still experience a bit of the magic. That said, they don’t include a neat little kit, and the end results probably won’t taste the same as the original.

At the dawn of the ’60s in the U.K., a new candy bar quickly became a beloved alternative to chocolate bars. First produced by the candy company Mackintosh’s in 1959, the Caramac bar gets its name by combining “caramel” and “Mackintosh’s.” As part of that name suggests, Caramac bars were creamy, caramel bars. Their main ingredients weren’t fancy, just caramel, sugar, powdered milk, and vegetable oil. But they were lovingly enjoyed by many people in the U.K. and Ireland for decades.

In 2023, Nestlé, who had bought out the company that previously owned Mackintosh’s, announced that it was retiring the Caramac bar. Caramac fans were upset enough for Nestlé to take notice and try to appease them by temporarily re-releasing it in 2024. Since then, there’s still hope for those who love this candy bar. As of March 2025, Caramac is still being produced on a limited scale. 

Fans in the U.K. can find them at the supermarket chain Heron Foods. That said, Great Britain News cautions that no one knows how long the bars will be available. With that in mind, many people who loved the Caramac think Cadbury’s Caramilk bar is a good alternative. Still, we hope Caramac will permanently go back into production – and come Stateside –- so that we’ll have a chance to try one!

The delightfully named Incredible Edibles are another ’60s candy with a novelty element. These candies were what you’d end up with after you made them using a toy set containing molds you would pour a mixture called Gobble-Degoop. You’d then put the filled molds into a heated press, often in the form of a psychedelic clown head that looks creepy today.

Some sources say that Incredible Edibles were first released in 1967, but others claim 1966 was the start of the fun candy goodness. Adding to this confusion was the fact that there were several variations of Incredible Edibles, including different molds and ingredients and even some sets that made non-edible toys. Whatever their origin, like many trends, Incredible Edibles seem to come and go. 

They were discontinued sometime in the late ’60s, then made a brief comeback in the ’90s, with themed sets inspired by pop culture figures like the Power Rangers. Some themed sets were released in the 2000s and as recently as the 2010s, but their presence doesn’t seem to be consistent, and the molds in recent kits aren’t the same as those in the classic ones. You can find some original Incredible Edibles molds on sites like eBay, but we wouldn’t recommend trying any leftover Gobble-Degoop. Luckily, while it’s not the same, fans of the toy on Reddit say you can use Jell-O instead.

Created in the U.K. in 1963 by the candy company Mackintosh’s, the Animal Bar had a little bit of novelty, but on a much less exciting level than something like making your own sweet treat. It also didn’t have a particularly unique taste, as it was a simple milk chocolate bar. That simplicity, though, reflected the tastes of young children, its target market. What made the Animal Bar stand out was that it consisted of two squares that featured a picture of an animal and its name. 

It’s easy to imagine the simple joy many kids must have experienced when they opened the wrapper to see which animals they’d gotten. The Animal Bar continued to be made and cherished for an impressive six decades. Then, in 2023, Nestlé, who’d acquired Mackintosh’s in the ’90s, announced that it was discontinuing the Animal Bar due to declining sales.

Nestlé discontinued Caramac, another former creation and feature on our list. Like Caramac fans, fans of the Animal Bar were upset about the news of their favorite chocolate bar’s upcoming disappearance from store shelves. Sadly for them, while there may be some hope for the Caramac bar’s future, it doesn’t seem like the company plans to rerelease the Animal Bar. 

The ’60s were a golden age for lots of things, including children’s soda fountain toys. These toys let kids create sugary sodas in various flavors from a packet of powder mixture and water. But they did it in style, with plastic set-ups reminiscent of old-fashioned drugstore soda fountains. The two most common soda fountain toys were the Kenner’s Whiz Fizz and the Hasbro Fizzies Fountain (not to be confused with the similarly named Wizz Fizz, an Australian candy).

For the Kenner’s Whiz Fizz, kids would pour the soda powder into the “soda fountain” dispensers, then release one of the powders into a cup of water, which they could fill using a reservoir and an air pump. The powder and water would mix to create soda. The Hasbro Fizzies Fountain had a similar but simpler design, consisting of two upside-down squeeze bottle dispensers. Both of these were filled with water and a flavored dissolvable soda tablet. The Kenner’s Whiz Fizz and the Hasbro Fizzies Fountain were both discontinued. This seems especially disappointing considering how many people on online forums remember loving the sets – and thinking the sodas they made were delicious.

But as far as the Hasbro Fizzies Fountain goes, this decision was for the best. According to Toy Tales, some chemicals in the kit’s soda tablets were found unsafe for human consumption. Incidentally, a similar product, effervescent soda tablets called Fizzies, released nationwide in 1962, met the same fate. You can still make your own soda today, whether with a soda maker like SodaStream or entirely from scratch.

Most of the candies on our list seem worth trying for the taste, but Wowee Whistles are one we’d like to try more for curiosity’s sake. Wax candies in the shape of whistles or a harmonicas were popular for a while, so Wowee Whistles were an iconic part of growing up in the ’60s for many people. You’ll find tons of blog posts, forum threads, nostalgia sites, and videos dedicated to the Wowee Whistle and its variations. That said, not everyone who tried them as kids remembers these candies tasting good. This makes sense since they were made of flavored, petroleum-derived wax. No wonder one Reddit commenter compared eating Wowee Whistles to “eating a candle.” However, some people enjoyed the flavor, with another commenting on the thread, “I remember it tasting like wintergreen.” 

Questionable taste and ingredients aside, how fun it must have been to play an instrument for a while and then EAT it (or throw it away, as some fans on Reddit say they used to do). It’s like something out of a cartoon. Today, you can find wax lip and wax bottle candies, but no one is making things like working wax candy harmonicas today.

The space race and eventual moon landing were a hot topic in the ’60s. They influenced everything from architecture and design to candy, including Astro Pops. Created in 1963, Astro Pops are a colorful, sticky sucker candy that has a conical shape inspired by a rocket. A three-stage rocket, to be exact, which is why each Astro Pop has three colors and flavors: red for cherry, green for passion fruit, and yellow for pineapple. Not only is their look inspired by the space race; their creators were actual rocket scientists who quit their jobs to make candy instead. 

With their cosmic look and origin story, as well as their flavorful fruity taste, Astro Pops lifted off to success that would last nearly four decades. Then, around the turn of the 21st century, they began to be considered potentially dangerous for kids. They weren’t up there with the Hasbro Fizzies Fountain’s tablets, but some adults worried their pointy tip could cause injuries. Astro Pops experienced a brief, safe redesign where the stick was now at the tip end, but they were discontinued in 2004. That was until Leaf Brands bought the rights to the Pops and started producing them again in 2010.

This was more challenging since Astro Pops were made with a special mold that no longer existed. Fortunately, Leaf was able to make a duplicate. This means that Astro Pops are one of the few candies on our list that you can still buy today. However, according to Leaf, they’re in short supply for now.