discontinued/hard to find items...

...I am interested in.I was at Food 4 Less today and they had a display mentioning nostalgia.They were selling old time gums like Clove,Beechman's and Black Jack.

I saw these at the white henny penny near work and almost gagged--literally. My mother forced me to chew blackjack gum on long car trips as an anti-nausea cure--didn't work, but still apparently has a tremendous evocative response.

HI,

When I was a kid, I really liked chocolate milk. Still do actually, now I rarely indulge. I never liked the premade chocolate milk from the dairy. I liked Nestle's Quik and Ovaltine. The best combo was Nestle's Quik stirred into my milk and the Ovaltine crystals sprinkled on top. I would suck up the crystals and crunch them between my teeth before they absorbed too much milk and dissolve. Yes, it was quite a race.

Sometime in the 1980's, Ovaltine changed their formula from crunchy crystals to chocolate powder balls similar to PDQ. These Ovaltine balls were like having your Nestle's Quik rolled in balls, hardly unique like their crystals. I will occasionally check out Ovaltine to see if they changed their formula, but alas no.

Stores which are stocked for immmigrants also sell imported Ovaltines produced in other countries. Luckily, these import versions make the crunchy crystals. I made this discovery initially in Moscow years ago. I have continued to periodically buy import Ovaltines here from time to time for my review and consumption. Just love those crunchy crystals!

Another fun fact for the trivia box...

Oh, Cathy2, it's so funny, I'm the opposite. I liked ovaltine for the flavor, but didn't like the crystalline texture. I've been searching for PDQ for a long time, but I suspect it's gone forever. I like the "chocolate powder balls", and as a kid it was the best thing with vanilla ice cream. I might start drinking milk again if PDQ were involved.

girlmoxie wrote:I've been searching for PDQ for a long time, but I suspect it's gone forever.

Yeah, but now you can check out Ovaltine at Jewel or Dominicks. The domestic version is definitely those powder balls!

Thanks!

The gum that you refer to is Beemon's.

The company that produces all of those gums reintroduces them about every 5-10 years. They place a few ads in magazines like Reader's Digest and go with it,

Cathy2 wrote:Sometime in the 1980's, Ovaltine changed their formula from crunchy crystals to chocolate powder balls similar to PDQ. These Ovaltine balls were like having your Nestle's Quik rolled in balls, hardly unique like their crystals. I will occasionally check out Ovaltine to see if they changed their formula, but alas no.

C2,

I definitely prefer the crystalline version.

Ovaltine used to be manufactured just west of Elmhurst, where I (mis)spent most of my youth, and I had two friends who worked at the Ovaltine factory carrying huge racks of cocoa composite and setting them in glowing ovens for heating and crystallization. The vision they conjured was something out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, only more chocolate-y.

Hammond

The vision they conjured was something out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, only more chocolate-y.

Or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? That is still one cool movie, which I understand has evolved into a camp classic. I have heard there are now audience participation viewings of Willy Wonka like there are for Rocky Horror Show or Sound of Music.

I think we need to seek out a location where there is a midnight show of Willy Wonka.

Cathy2 wrote:I think we need to seek out a location where there is a midnight show of Willy Wonka.

Or the remake, starring Johnny Depp, that's currently in production. (Eventually.) I hear they're making the video game adaptation out in the Chicago suburbs, too.

Or the remake, starring Johnny Depp, that's currently in production.

Ugh. I can only hope the funding drops out and it is never made.

Cathy2 wrote:

The vision they conjured was something out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, only more chocolate-y.

Or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? That is still one cool movie, which I understand has evolved into a camp classic. I have heard there are now audience participation viewings of Willy Wonka like there are for Rocky Horror Show or Sound of Music.

I think we need to seek out a location where there is a midnight show of Willy Wonka.

The sign over the door of the Lunt-Fontanne Theater reads “Wonka Chocolate Factory.” But at the concession stands inside, there are no Wonka Bars to be found.

As a musical adaptation of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” settles in for an extended run on Broadway, the candy at the center of Roald Dahl’s perennial children’s best seller has gone missing, vanished in a haze of marketing missteps, shifting strategies and corporate indifference.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/thea ... -ipad&_r=0

I miss Snap-E-Tom. A quick Google search shows that it is still available but I haven't seen it in the Chicago area in a while. Long enough that I have stopped looking.