The oldest mass-produced candy product that has been continually produced in an unchanged form is probably the NECCO wafer. This does not mean, however, that the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) is the oldest candy company, although it may be the oldest mass producer of candy. This distinction is always important!
NECCO was formed from the merging of several companies in 1901, but the company traces its roots to the original founding of the Chase and Company of Boston, founded by Oliver Chase in 1847 and run by him and his brother, Silas Edwin Chase.
Since this article was originally published, the NECCO company shut down in May 2018. The company changed hands a couple of times before ending up with the Sprangler Candy Company, makers of Dum Dum lollipops. by September 2018, Sprangler had restarted production of certain products like NECCO Wafers and Sweethearts. The Clark Bar was sold to Boyer Candy Company.
NECCO Wafers and Sweethearts
The company is responsible for such old-fashioned candy classics as Sweethearts, those little candy hearts with romantic messages on them, and the once-famous and still sought-after NECCO wafer.
The company also sold, for some curious reason, the same NECCO wafers under a different name, called “Hub Wafers.” These were the same product, except they were wrapped in a transparent paper wrapper instead of a glazed one, like the NECCO wafers. At this time, the company sold over three hundred sweets, many of them chocolates or hard candies, which were in those days called “penny candies.”
Sweethearts first appeared in 1902 and were originally called Conversation Hearts. They are still the best-selling Valentine’s Day candy. NECCO Wafers are disks of various flavors, such as peppermint, wintergreen, cinnamon, and chocolate, in different colors, that come packaged in rolls. These were introduced in 1912 and were originally called Peerless Wafers. Both Wafers and Sweethearts are made from the same basic recipe.
Other favorites from NECCO
- Clark Bars
- Sky Bar
- Mary Janes
- Candy Buttons
- Banana Split Chews
- Canada Mints
- Mighty Malts Malted Milk Balls
- Mint Julep chews
- Peach Blossoms
- Slap Stix
Early NECCO Advertising
Early advertising for NECCO focused on popularizing the trademark, as applied to all their products in general, but focusing on the NECCO brand as a guarantee of quality, and the “NECCO seal,” which appeared on packages. Few individual products were advertised, except for the wafers.
Although this may seem like a strange strategy by today’s standards, it makes sense if you know that most of the company’s products were packaged in bulk and did not reach the customer in their original packaging.
Only a few products, where candies were packaged in convenient multi-packs of some kind, were suitable for individual advertising, and among these, the NECCO wafers were the most appropriate.
In 1937 the company rolled out the Sky Bar, with an over-the-top air-writing campaign. The candy bar came in four different sections, each with a different flavor, and was called the “Candy Box in a Bar.” The flavors were caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge. The company also produced the Bolster Bar, a peanut crunch bar covered in chocolate.
The company’s Mary Jane products were the result of its acquisition of Stark Candy Company in 1990. NECCO bought the Clark Bar in 1999. Several other important acquisitions have been made, and today the company consists of three divisions: NECCO Candy, Stark Candy, and Haviland Candy. 1Kimmerle, Beth. Candy: The Sweet History. Portland, OR: Collectors, 2003. 132-135.,2Harris, Patricia, and David Lyon. Food Lovers’ Guide to Massachusetts: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants and Events. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2010. 133.,3Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007.,4“Necco – An American Classic.” NECCO®. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. <https://www.necco.com/>.
If you have fond memories of these NECCO products, but can’t find them where you live, don’t worry, you can still order NECCO candies online.
NECCO Products (Original and Acquired)
- Banana Splits
- Mary Janes
- Canada Peppermints
- Canada Wintergreen
- Candy Buttons
- Mint Julep Chews
- Clark Bar:
- Milk Chocolate Clark Bar
- Dark Chocolate Clark Bar
Haviland:
- Original Thin Mints
- Double Chocolate Thin Mints
- Orange Thin Mints
- Raspberry Thin Mints
- Bridge Mix
- Chocolate-Covered Raisins
- Double Dipped Peanuts
- Nonpareils
- Haviland Wintergreen Patties
- Mighty Malts
- Sky Bar
- Slap Stix
- Squirrel Nut Zippers
- Sweethearts:
- Sweethearts
- Dazzled Tart Sweethearts
- Chocolate Sweethearts
- Sugar Free Sweethearts
- En Español Sweethearts
- Wafers:
- NECCO Original Wafers
- NECCO Chocolate Wafers
- NECCO Tropical Wafers
Do you have memories of these iconic NECCO candies? I remember candy buttons, Clark Bars, and Mary Jane’s, but, sadly, I never had Squirrel Nut Zippers until I grew up.
The Oldest Candy Company
While NECCO wafers may be the oldest recognized candy product in the United States, NECCO itself is clearly not the oldest candy company, as some sources attest. It is hard to be sure which candy company is the oldest. After all, the oldest “candy company” may well have been operating quietly on some unknown street in an unknown city without ever calling enough attention to itself to get in the history books or to be nationally recognized.
One company that claims to be the oldest, and may well be, is Ye Old Pepper Candy Companie, operating continually in Salem Massachusetts since 1806. Notice the archaic spelling of the word company!
You can read the company’s history on its website. According to Food Lover’s Guide to Massachussets, from 2003, it is claimed that their signature product, the Gibraltar, never spoils. The authors say there was a jar of candies on the counter that were made in 1830.
The Gibraltar, according to the company, is the first commercially made candy in the United States. They also claim their Black Straps candy is the first candy made from Blackstrap Molasses. I highly doubt either of these statements to be true and making candy with molasses is not exactly an original idea. Today, the Ye Old Pepper Candy Companie has branched out and sells many other products such as chocolates, fudge, brittle, hard candy, and taffy. 1“Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie.” Web. 19 Sept. 2012. <https://peppercandy.net/>.
Image credits: Many thanks to Evan Amos for providing these great candy images, and much more. Visit Evan’s wikimedia page for free public domain images and also his Flickr page, chocked full of candy package images.
