185 replies to this topic

[Syl]

I remember Nibbets , I loved them.
The little teddy bears what they sell today are about the nearest I can find
taste wise to Nibbets.

I discovered the teddy bears Pom Bears and bought them for my grandson but ended up having to buy some for me after finding out that they were like Nibits. mmmmmmjust melt in your mouth and back to childhood

[DaveH]

Can anyone help with this one. Tiny pieces of concentrated liquorice, came in a little square tin, called something like Imps? Possibly sold as a laxative rather than sweets, they were so strong!

Liquorice has well known laxative properties and it was used in some laxative tablets, although it has now been largely replaced in favour of senna pod preparations.

Some of the older laxatives like Ex-Lax used to contain liquorice extract and syrup of figs and were quite potent, although they were usually just referred to as "shitters".
Are you sure these were actually sweets and not just a tin of laxatives?

[ukelele lady]

Liquorice has well known laxative properties and it was used in some laxative tablets, although it has now been largely replaced in favour of senna pod preparations.

Some of the older laxatives like Ex-Lax used to contain liquorice extract and syrup of figs and were quite potent, although they were usually just referred to as "shitters".
Are you sure these were actually sweets and not just a tin of laxatives?

I remember buying Little Imps, loved em. I think you can still get them at specialist sweet shops.

No they're not a laxative, never did anything for me.

Years ago the chemist at the top of Weston Street used to sell the black hard liquorice in big chunks.

He would break it with a small hammer like they did the toffee and it would fall apart into what looked like pieces of shiny coal.

It was very strong though.

[DaveH]

I remember buying Little Imps, loved em. I think you can still get them at specialist sweet shops.
No they're not a laxative, never did anything for me.
Years ago the chemist at the top of Weston Street used to sell the black hard liquorice in big chunks.
He would break it with a small hammer like they did the toffee and it would fall apart into what looked
like pieces of shiney coal.
It was very strong though.

Well,

As Bertie Bassett will tell you

Liquorice comes in allsorts

[Bayleaf]

Liquorice has well known laxative properties and it was used in some laxative tablets, although it has now been largely replaced in favour of senna pod preparations.

Some of the older laxatives like Ex-Lax used to contain liquorice extract and syrup of figs and were quite potent, although they were usually just referred to as "shitters".
Are you sure these were actually sweets and not just a tin of laxatives?

There's a scene in a Goon Show between Eccles and Bluebottle. Eccles needs a stick of dynamite and askes Bluebottle if he's got one. "No" says Bluebottle "but I've got a stick of likorish"." I need an explosive" says Eccles." Likorish is an explosive" says Bluebottle.

[brian dany padley]

What about the large biscuits called Dundee"s . I remember having them at breaktime at school . They were like a large digestive biscuit with chocolate on one side and DUNDEE printed on the other. They were around 4" round and 1/2 " thick and seemed huge as a akid. I think most schools sold them at lunchbreaks , but you couldnt buy them in shops.

...they were a foot wide!!...as I recall

[Bayleaf]

While hunting out a cultural clip for HD, I came across this.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Jg9I0a6f0N4

[DaveH]

While hunting out a cultural clip for HD, I came across this.

A lot of those 1970's chocolate wrappers have either a printed price or a price ticket on them.

A bar of chocolate for less than a shilling!!!

Oh well, such are the effects of inflation I suppose

[Bayleaf]

I remember buying piglets and hedgehog crisps for my kids. The hedgehog crisps were on sale at Holland and Barrett of all places! I have to go with UKL and Nibbets as my personal all-time favourites though! I've never come across anything quite the same.

We used to visit my gran most Saturdays when I was a kid. She lived on Clarence Street, and after tea I'd go along with her, jug in hand, to the local off-licence. It was only tiny, but I remember the polished wooden counter, which I could barely see over, and a row of hand pumps with decorated ceramic handles. And it was there I was introduced to Nibbets.

Can anyone help with this one. Tiny pieces of concentrated liquorice, came in a little square tin, called something like Imps? Possibly sold as a laxative rather than sweets, they were so strong!

I posted this a few days ago, then at the weekend I heard someone talking and realised she never called it the off-licence, it was always 'the dram shop'!

[DaveH]

I posted this a few days ago, then at the weekend I heard someone talking and realised she never called it the off-licence, it was always 'the dram shop'!

Is "dram shop" a Scottish expression for an off licence?

Off licences sell alcoholic drinks away from a main public bar more like a shop would.

So in Scotland would a dram shop sell "a wee dram" meaning a single measure of spirit such as Scotch whiskey

A dram is an old unit of mass and also of liquid volume related to fluid ounces. In the context of alcoholic spirits a dram is 30ml which would be about the right volume for whiskey measures.

[ukelele lady]

I know this is nothing to do with sweets but what ever happened to blood oranges ?

All we seem to see today are satsumas which are full of pips even
the pipless ones get plenty in them and most of them are so dry.

Blood oranges were so juicy with a taste of their own.

Why were they red in parts was this "man made? "

Awaiting Daves response.

[RichardB]

Remember Dundee biscuitswell, I'd give a fiver for one right now !

...they were a foot wide!!...as I recall

[DaveH]

I know this is nothing to do with sweets but what ever happened to blood oranges ?

All we seem to see today are satsumas which are full of pips even
the pipless ones get plenty in them and most of them are so dry.

Blood oranges were so juicy with a taste of their own.

Why were they red in parts was this "man made? "

Awaiting Daves response.

Blood oranges are a variety of orange, native to Italy, with a blood red centre rather than the normal orange colour of oranges.

The red segments are caused by a pigment which is common in red coloured plants but not that common in the centre of citrus fruits, hence the unusual colouring of this particular variety of orange.

The same red pigment may also be responsible for their distinctive taste and flavour.

You need to get small imature satsumas to avoid the pips, they quickly develop above a certain size.

[ukelele lady]

Blood oranges are a variety of orange, native to Italy, with a blood red centre rather than the normal orange colour of oranges.

The red segments are caused by a pigment which is common in red coloured plants but not that common in the centre of citrus fruits, hence the unusual colouring of this particular variety of orange.

Thank you Dave. I wonder why they don't sell them here anymore?

[DaveH]

Thank you Dave. I wonder why they don't sell them here anymore?

No idea on that one, and to be honest I haven't seen or eaten one for years now that you mention it.

However, with all fruit and vegetable crops, new varieties and hybrids often replace older ones and things do change.

[THYLACINE]

Can anyone help with this one. Tiny pieces of concentrated liquorice, came in a little square tin, called something like Imps? Possibly sold as a laxative rather than sweets, they were so strong!

Definitely do remember them, always regarded them as 'grown-ups lollies' used to disguise the smell of cigarettes on the breath or something. Even the little flat tin was like carrying a snuff box. They were the choice of would-be intellectuals, the other kids sucked polo's or chewed fruit gums.

[DaveH]

Definitely do remember them, always regarded them as 'grown-ups lollies' used to disguise the smell of cigarettes on the breath or something. Even the little flat tin was like carrying a snuff box. They were the choice of would-be intellectuals, the other kids sucked polo's or chewed fruit gums.

That sounds like a terminal cycle for smokers.

1 ) Smoke a cigarette, often in the toilet
2 ) Take a laxative sweet to remove the smell of cigarettes
3 ) Need to use the toilet due to the laxative
4 ) What else do you do in the toilet while being purged by the laxative, oh yes, light up another cigarette, and so back to step 1 )

[THYLACINE]

That sounds like a terminal cycle for smokers.

1 ) Smoke a cigarette, often in the toilet
2 ) Take a laxative sweet to remove the smell of cigarettes
3 ) Need to use the toilet due to the laxative
4 ) What else do you do in the toilet while being purged by the laxative, oh yes, light up another cigarette, and so back to step 1 )

vicious cycle!

[DaveH]

vicious cycle!

Terminal cycle

Smoking can seriously damage your health

Smoking can cause death

Smoking can cause lung cancer

I have never smoked but in Britain all cigarette packets carry warnings with this type of wording by law.

I suppose with the widespread and well known dangers of smoking these days that is probably true in Tasmania and most of the rest of the World

[THYLACINE]

Terminal cycle

Smoking can seriously damage your health

Smoking can cause death

Smoking can cause lung cancer

I have never smoked but in Britain all cigarette packets carry warnings with this type of wording by law.

I suppose with the widespread and well known dangers of smoking these days that is probably true in Tasmania and most of the rest of the World

Yes we get all those messages on cigarette packets, the anti smoking lobby is very active here and we get new and stricter regulations being introduced on a regular basis. The latest proposals are for plain packaging on all tobacco products and a smoking ban in vehicles where children are present.

I'm a non smoker so its easy to say I'm not affected but I have a son who smokes so every one of those messages and images is a painful reminder to me.

[Barbara M]

Is "dram shop" a Scottish expression for an off licence? Off licences sell alcoholic drinks away from a main public bar more like a shop would. So in Scotland would a dram shop sell "a wee dram" meaning a single measure of spirit such as Scotch whiskey A dram is an old unit of mass and also of liquid volume related to fluid ounces. In the context of alcoholic spirits a dram is 30ml which would be about the right volume for whiskey measures.

When we kept our first pub in the east end of Sheffield in 1971, the public bar was called the " dram shop " !! Also a saying of my grandmother's , if the family were all talking at once was " be quiet , it sounds like a dram shop in here " .

[DaveH]

Yes we get all those messages on cigarette packets, the anti smoking lobby is very active here and we get new and stricter regulations being introduced on a regular basis. The latest proposals are for plain packaging on all tobacco products and a smoking ban in vehicles where children are present.

I'm a non smoker so its easy to say I'm not affected but I have a son who smokes so every one of those messages and images is a painful reminder to me.

Also a non smoker and always have been, and very much convinced that I lost my father and grandfather prematurely (although they were both in their 70's) due to smoking related illness,

Very similar proposals have been made in Britain too.

[DaveH]

When we kept our first pub in the east end of Sheffield in 1971, the public bar was called the " dram shop " !! Also a saying of my grandmother's , if the family were all talking at once was " be quiet , it sounds like a dram shop in here " .

So a dram shop could be anywhere that sells intoxicating drink then, - even a pub.

[busy lizzy]

Jap desserts anyone?

[ukelele lady]

Jap desserts anyone?

They were one of my favourite.

You can still buy these  at various outlets but like most of them they never taste the same.

 

I've bought jab desserts , sherbert lemons which are too sweet now and not half as acidy as

they used to be.

      Butter scotch peanuts which are shaped like a monkey nut and once had a peanut inside

at each end, not anymore.  It's just the shape of a monkey nut now minus peanuts.

 

They don't make em like they used to.

[busy lizzy]

I agree they don't make them like they used to.

Then again everything tasted better in my childhood memories.

Looking at savory snacks can anyone remember Cheesies?

They were gorgeous savory crispy biscuit latticed outer shells that contained a tasty cheese filling.

These were the ultimate cheesy snack but not many people remember them nowadays