- 2 minutes ago
Brace yourself for a sugar rush as we revisit the wildly sweet snacks that made our childhoods feel extra chaotic. From edible paper strips to fizzy powder explosions, these throwback treats were as fun as they were toothachingly intense. Some were messy, some were weird, and all of them packed enough sugar to keep us buzzing for hours. Which classic candy do you miss most?
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00:00Oh my gosh! Smile dip! I thought this stuff was banned in America!
00:05Maybe they had a good reason!
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the sweetest, not-so-healthiest snacks
00:12we can still feel in the backs of our collective molars.
00:16Cookies on one side, frosting on the other, the creamy taste will drive you wild!
00:22Number 10. Candy Buttons
00:25These tiny, colorful dots of hard sugar attached to long paper strips were an absolute staple of childhood convenience stores.
00:32While they offered a fun, interactive snacking experience, they also came with an inevitable price,
00:38eating almost as much paper as actual candy.
00:41Now usually, you pull these off, depending on which one, you've got a piece of paper with it.
00:51Made almost entirely of sugar and food coloring, Candy Buttons provided very little flavor beyond pure, unadulterated sweetness.
00:59Yet we spent endless afternoons painstakingly peeling each stubborn dot off the sheet with our teeth.
01:05Oh, God.
01:07Half the time.
01:09I gotta tell you, they're good, though.
01:11But I'm getting more paper than, than dot.
01:14It was a tedious process, but the sheer, instantaneous sugar rush was always worth the minor taste of paper pulp.
01:22Number 9. Jelly Babies
01:24Jelly baby, officer?
01:27Jelly baby?
01:28Just take it.
01:36Soft, dusted with starch, and shaped like tiny infants, Jelly Babies have been terrifying dentists and delighting children for generations.
01:45While they might look innocent enough, these soft gummies are packed with high fructose corn syrup and gelatin,
01:51offering a surprisingly dense, sugary bite.
01:54But the very best thing about jelly, gurgled baby Bonnie, is that it's so juicy.
02:01That's its Jelly Babies.
02:03They're in a wibbly, wobbly world of their own.
02:05Kids loved the morbid delight of biting off the heads first,
02:09completely ignoring the fact that each piece was essentially a concentrated drop of flavored syrup.
02:14Their signature powdery coating gave them a unique texture.
02:17But make no mistake, eating a handful was the equivalent of downing several sugar cubes in one sitting.
02:24Would you like a jelly, baby?
02:26Shut up!
02:30Simple enough, thank you, would have been sufficient.
02:32Number 8. Candy Cigarettes
02:35Ah, the 1980s and 90s, when pretending to smoke chalky sugar sticks was considered peak playground cool.
02:42Oh, hi!
02:44Um, I was, uh, smoking a cigarette.
02:47I know what you were doing.
02:49I'm 21 years old.
02:50I'm a man.
02:52Oh, okay.
02:57Candy Cigarettes were essentially pure, compressed powdered sugar held together by a prayer and artificial flavoring.
03:04Some versions even featured a dusting of powdered sugar that allowed kids to blow a small puff of smoke.
03:09Oh, there you go.
03:11This one came out.
03:12So, again, you get one shot, and that's it.
03:15They had a distinct chalky texture that dissolved almost instantly on the tongue, unleashing a direct hit of sweetness to
03:22the bloodstream.
03:22Looking back, the concept was wildly inappropriate.
03:25But as kids, we were far too busy enjoying the rapid sugar high to care.
03:30Candy Cigarette?
03:30I don't want a candy cigarette. I want our Annie.
03:33Yeah, we blew it.
03:36Picked a long week to quit.
03:38Hey, do you know what's also habit-forming, but way safer than playing around with candy cigarettes from a different
03:44time?
03:45The Ms. Mojo Livestream.
03:46A 24-7 place where all of our lists give you that sugar rush without any added crash.
03:52Click the QR code to check it out.
04:01I can quit any time I want.
04:04Number 7. Push Pops.
04:06Don't push me. Push a push pop.
04:09Push a push pop.
04:10Hey, don't push me. Push a push pop.
04:13That iconic commercial slogan lived rent-free in our heads while the actual candy glued our fingers together.
04:20Housed in a plastic tube with a clip for your pocket, this hard candy rod allowed you to save your
04:26sugar fix for later.
04:33In reality, saving it just meant capping a spit-covered, sticky cylinder that would inevitably seal itself shut.
04:41Formulated with corn syrup and hard sugar, a single push pop took forever to finish,
04:46delivering a prolonged, relentless bath of sweetness directly to your tooth enamel.
04:51You push it. You lick it. You cap it. You save it.
04:53You got the push. You got the power.
04:56Number 6. Zots.
04:58Zots were the ultimate playground challenge long before viral food dares existed.
05:03On the outside, they seemed like standard, fruity hard candies.
05:06But the moment your teeth broke through the outer shell, a chaotic chemical reaction took place.
05:11I'm still not getting these sours.
05:19The center was packed with a fizzy combination of malic acid and baking soda that erupted into a sour, sugary
05:26foam upon contact with saliva.
05:28The experience was equal parts horrifying and thrilling as your mouth overflowed with carbonated sweetness.
05:34It was unpleasant, but it was a good fizz.
05:37The fizz is what these are about, though, isn't it, as well?
05:39Like, especially when you're a kid, you're waiting on the...
05:42It was a mad scientist's dream masquerading as a confection, delivering an unforgettable, jaw-tingling rush.
05:49Number 5. Dunkaroos.
05:52The absolute crown jewel of the 1990s lunchbox exchange, Dunkaroos prove that more is definitely more.
05:59Super duper deep dunk.
06:01Hmm.
06:02Yeah?
06:04The long-distance dainty dunk.
06:08The concept was delightfully simple, yet diabolically sweet.
06:11Tiny cinnamon or chocolate cookies meant to be slathered in a tub of rainbow sprinkle frosting.
06:17While the cookies were sweet on their own, the frosting was pure, unrefined icing sugar.
06:22Here's Billy with his over-the-shoulder on the rim deep-diver dunk.
06:25Look at the frosting.
06:27Let's look at that again.
06:28Naturally, every kid ignored the recommended cookie-to-frosting ratio,
06:33scooping massive dollops onto a single cookie until the tub was scraped completely clean.
06:38It was the ultimate schoolyard flex and a guaranteed ticket to a mid-afternoon hyperactive crash.
06:44So how do you do your dunkaroos?
06:46You're an amazing, flying dunk.
06:50Dunking dunkaroos, you can dunk them for as much or as little frosting as you want.
06:54Number 4. Candy Necklaces.
06:56Part fashion statement, part elastic-bound sugar supply, candy necklaces allowed kids to wear their dessert directly around their necks.
07:04Composed of powdery pastel sugar rings strung on an elastic band, they offered immediate access to a snack wherever you
07:12went.
07:12It's one of those harder-than-a-sweet tart, lots-of-sugar flavor, can't tell if you're getting a specific
07:21flavor.
07:22The downside? The elastic quickly became soggy with saliva as you bit off each piece, snapping back against your neck
07:28with sticky precision.
07:30Made almost entirely of dextrose, these wearable treats were a constant source of chalky sweetness that left a permanent ring
07:36of colorful dust around your collar.
07:38They had a bad dream. Could I sleep in your bed?
07:42No.
07:43I'll give you a candy necklace.
07:50Climb aboard.
07:51Number 3. Fun Dip.
07:53You rip that like that.
07:54Oh my gosh!
07:55Oh my gosh!
07:56Okay, okay.
07:57Fun Dip!
07:58That was not a part of the tutorial, but it's gonna work anyway.
08:01Why bother turning sugar into candy when you can just eat the raw powder directly?
08:06Fun Dip cut out the middleman entirely by giving kids pouches of flavored sugar powder accompanied by an edible chalky
08:12sugar stick known as the Lick-A-Sticks.
08:14The ritual was simple.
08:16Lick the stick, dip it into the neon powder, lick it clean, and repeat.
08:20Lick your stick, and then...
08:23It's kind of gross sharing one of these, am I gonna lie?
08:25But they put two sticks in it.
08:27By the time you finished, your fingers were dyed, bright blue or red, and your tongue was completely numb from
08:34the sheer volume of citric acid and sugar.
08:36It was chaotic, messy, and totally delicious.
08:40Ugh.
08:41Maybe I've had too much.
08:44What do you think?
08:48Number 2. Pop Rocks.
08:50When Pop Rocks hit the market, they didn't just offer flavor.
08:53They offered a full sensory experience that spawned urban legends about exploding stomachs.
08:58Made by trapping pressurized carbon dioxide gas inside tiny hard sugar crystals,
09:04Pop Rocks literally sizzled, popped, and snapped the second they hit your wet tongue.
09:08So what happens in your mouth is that the saliva dissolves the candy and releases the carbon dioxide gas
09:15that was put in there at the factory.
09:17As the sugar dissolved, the trapped gas escaped with surprising force, creating a crackling explosion in your mouth.
09:25They provided very little actual substance, but the combination of high-intensity sweetness
09:30and physically violent popping made them an absolute legend of the candy aisle.
09:35Introducing Pop Rocks Cracklin' Candy.
09:37They'll burst all over your mouth in cherry, grape, and orange.
09:40Pop Rocks, keep at it tonight.
09:43Pop Rocks!
09:44The Cracklins, what's happening?
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10:13Number 1. Pixie Stix.
10:15Taking the number 1 spot is the absolute purest form of sugar delivery ever devised for children,
10:21Pixie Stix.
10:21Aw, it's okay.
10:23There's no sugar in Pixie Stix.
10:25Trust me.
10:26Okay.
10:29Don't hug it all, smelly head!
10:31Go to hell, zit face!
10:32Originally created as a powdered drink mix,
10:35the manufacturers quickly realized kids preferred eating the raw mix straight from the paper straw.
10:40Containing virtually nothing but sugar, citric acid, and artificial flavors,
10:45opening a Pixie Stix was like opening a miniature conduit to pure energy.
10:52Yep, just how I remember it.
10:53It'd be a little sweeter than I remember it.
10:55How did we eat a whole thing of this?
10:56Kids would tilt their heads back and pour entire straws directly down their throats,
11:01resulting in instant sugar rushes and colorful powder dusted across their faces.
11:05It remains the ultimate undisputed king of diabolical sugar treats.
11:10Uh, is my carton of Pixie Stix in?
11:12No, it hasn't come in yet.
11:14Dammit!
11:15When they come in, you call me at this number.
11:189-1-1?
11:19Which one of these candies are you craving right now?
11:22Let us know in the comments.
11:26Adios