Good and Plenty
by Hershey's
Desserts category pick for the week of 1/14/08
When we saw Good and Plenty's tell tale purple, pink and white package at Gutter's vending machine, we just could not resist. None of us had tasted the candy coated licorice treats in quite some time and, though I'm sure I've had a couple since, I remember them most vividly from elementary school. Some of the older girls would pretend they were drugs and or birth control pills and stuff their mouths with them. I didn't know what to think, but my guess at the time was that both birth control pills and drugs were mysterious, cool, and needed to be consumed by the mouthful once I was old enough.
Historically, on a non personal level, Good and Plenties are the oldest branded candy in the entire United States. Eventually they were advertised with Choo Choo Charlie as the mascot, an imaginative boy who fueled his make-believe train with the pink and white candies.
As an interesting side note that may turn you off to the candy (but only makes it cooler to me), the red coloring comes from Carmine, which in turn comes from boiling dried insects in water.
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