What's the Worst Candy?

[Zapranoth]

Dots, Peeps, black licorice.

I would have to say that I can eat a peep, or a dot.  But I start to gag at the flavor of black licorice.

Now, TWIZZLERS, on the other hand...  :D

[Silverlady]

I don't like sweetarts, redhots,  or gummy anything.  I LOVE chocolate, but don't like dark chocolate.  I hate non parels ... those little chocolate wafer-like things with the little white sprinkle candy on top. I also don't like the fruit flavored gums ... strawberry cheezecake, pina colada  .... Blech!

[Leah]

I would say anything with peanut butter, but I fear that I would be killed for that  But I do hate Sweet tarts, Red Hots, and anything cinnamon flavored.

[Raffine]

Those little PEZ dispensers are a collector's dream but the actual candy taste like sweetened soap.

Sugar Daddy seem like a good idea, but that rock hard caramel slab has no real flavor but overpowering 'sweet' plus it is guaranteed to remove any fillings or other dental work in your mouth. You will also be digging Sugar Daddy boogers out of your teeth for days.

I agree on those Necco Wafers. I remember in middle school when working in the consession stand at ball games we'd use packs of Necco Wafers to kill roaches.

[JaseSF]

Popeye cigarette sticks are pretty bad.

[retrorussell]

Wax lips are gross.
Never liked candy corn.
Sixlets taste weird to me.
Not too crazy about Necco Wafers either.

[ghouck]

I LOVE circus peanuts.

Worst I would have to say is white chocolate. That crap is disgusting.

Why didn't we do this thread in the 'Top 100 list' format. I liked those threads. ..

[claws]

black licorice and gummi bears.
They are both nasty in my opinion.

[Paquita]

Licorice Snaps!  My mom could eat buckets of them, but even she admits the pink ones smell and taste like perfume.  My uncle wrote the company to complain that the pink ones taste awful and got a letter back saying they're trying to perfect the recipe for the pink ones because they found out they have to be made at a different temperature than the others.. or something like that.  They're all terrible.

[tracy]

Candy I truly cannot stand:

Bit-o-Honey
Chic-o-Stic
Black licorice

[Mofo Rising]

Okay. The worst "candy" I've ever eaten is something known as salmiakki. If you follow that link, you'll know more than me going in.

Anyway, here is the train of events.

I showed up to the break room of my place of employment to find a mysterious tin. It was a round paint tin covered in Cyrillic lettering (the Russian alphabet), and the only indication of what was in was a stylized picture of a man breathing fire. Being a far too curious sort, I pried open this tin (literally pried open the tin like a paint can) to see what was inside. What was inside was a pile of hard diamond shaped candies that smelled strongly of black licorice.

Now, a normal person would or should have stopped there. Me, I popped one of these things in my mouth.

A lot of people don't like black licorice, but I'm okay with it. These were the most overpoweringly black licorice things I've ever eaten. But that's not enough. The reason there was a picture of man eating fire on the tin was because the candies were loaded with citric acid. That's right, they weren't hot because they were loaded with capsaicin, they were hot because there was so much citric acid in them that they would literally demolish the mouth of anybody eating them.

So the already objectionable black licorice was made much worse by being loaded with acid. Yes, literal acid. But it gets worse.

Like any hard candy, there reaches a point when you're sick of it and you simply bite down and crack it open. I reached that point, and as soon as I did I reached the final kicker of the candy. The liquid core of the candy was concentrated ammonia. I don't know if you've ever found yourself in that situation, but surprising ammonia is never pleasant.

So, yes, black licorice, an overload of acid, and ammonia. That is the candy that is known as salmiakki.

The only reason I know so much about it is because I was literally worried that I had just poisoned myself.

I sent out a strongly worded email about "who the hell left the ammonia-based licorice fire candy in the break room?"

Turns out my boss had been visited by some librarians from some Scandinavian country, and they had brought her these candies. Naturally, she thought they were terrible, so she inflicted them upon us without telling anybody.

Apparently, salmiakki is a candy people enjoy there. Not me. It boggles my mind that anybody would find them enjoyable. But people do.

For me, it's not only one of the worst candies I've ever had, it's one of the worst things I've ever eaten.

Salmiakki is the worst candy. The worst.

[Newt]

Turns out my boss had been visited by some librarians from some Scandinavian country, and they had brought her these candies. Naturally, she thought they were terrible, so she inflicted them upon us without telling anybody.

Apparently, salmiakki is a candy people enjoy there. Not me. It boggles my mind that anybody would find them enjoyable. But people do.

For me, it's not only one of the worst candies I've ever had, it's one of the worst things I've ever eaten.

Salmiakki is the worst candy. The worst.

Oh, I don't know: after a good feed of lutefisk it might come off quite well.   

[The Burgomaster]

Wax lips are gross.

When I was a kid, I used to buy these quite frequently.  I guess they were much more popular around 1969/70 than they are now.  It was great when you pulled them out of your mouth along with a 12-inch-long cable of saliva.