Tuesday 6 July 2010

Shopping For Sherbert

With it being the school holidays an' all, I'm more likely than usual to say yes when I hear Can we buy one of those? But even I didn't need much persuading when The Small One spotted these yesterday:


How long is it since you had a Sherbert Fountain? They were never my favourites (actually I think I only ever had one); but just one look now reminds me of the sunny 70's - the sugar, the e-numbers, the weird feeling when a sharp bit of spangle cut the top layer off your tongue - ahh.

Rhubarb and Custard chews, colour changing Spacedust (wasn't ever allowed that one), Tutti Fruttis: recognise any of these? "Budgetary constraints" (not enough pocket money) usually meant that Penny Chews were at the top of my list. Or Highland Toffee I'm not sure if my teeth would be up to either of those delights anymore; but in case yours are, the Small One set to work this morning and came up with a few sources. Roll up, Roll up, Get Your Pear Drops Here..
If you fancy making some retro Edinburgh Rock, you can find my recipe here

Today I'm Loving..if you like creating better than chomping, I've got a brilliant mailorder woolshop today. Jannette sells bargain end-of-line and hard-to-get-hold-of yarns and I've found her service excellent.


20 comments:

Rachel said...

I love sherbert fountains, what a blast from the past.

humel said...

Oh, yes :-) I remember all of those! The joy of taking my 10p to the shop and making it go as far as possible....

scrappyjacky said...

Not to mention the Sherbert Dabs and Black Jacks....I think the Sherbert Fountains were even around in the 60s.....they were one of my favourites.
And have you noticed all the 'old fashioned' sweet shops springing up.....they even weigh them out of the old jars!!!
No wonder us oldies have teeth problems!!!

Cheri said...

Must be native to your country - I have never heard of any of those candies!

Rachel Brett said...

Great post Sian, this makes me want to immediately go and buy sweets!!

Maria Ontiveros said...

I'm afraid I'm in the dark with Cheri! LOL!
Rinda

Sian said...

Ah, you don't know what you're missing you Statesiders We need a volunteer to do a return post about your favourite childhood sweets

Jennifer Grace said...

Mmm, I love sherbet fountains. We buy them occasionally for a treat - you can get them in Tescos! I don't like liquorice though, but that's fine by my husband as he gets both of the liquorice sticks!

We have an 'olde worlde' sweet shop in Wareham, and I have to walk on the other side of the street to stop myself popping in for strawberry laces! x

debs14 said...

I liked the sherbert,but not the licorice strip that went inside! Rhubarb and custards were my faves, and also that lemonade powder that made your tongue yellow. And the shrimps you get now are only half the size and harder than I remember. Of course, when I was young it was all 'old' pennies, none of your decimals that Mel remembers ;-)We have an old fashioned sweet shop in town that does a roaring trade of the oldies.

Scrappi Sandi said...

I remember when you could actually suck the sherbert up through the liquorice tube...now it seems it's just a solid stick!! My all time fave sweet was 'Buttersnap'..no longer availabel, the closest I've found is Dime Bars...close but not quite!! Thanks for the memories!! Oh & those links of course!!

This West London Life said...

Oooh, Spangles! In the late 1980s they were still turning up as the sweet element of RAF 24 hour Ration Packs! And I remember going to buy a quarter of ... from Mrs. Leary at the corner shop, or maybe just 2ozs of ...

JO SOWERBY said...

oooh sherbet fountains with the liqourice stick yummy. i used ti get sweeties from the local shop for 1/2 pence.........showing my age. u'd get 4 little chews. on the way home from brownies we'd get fizzers and those sweets which crackled on ur tongue. also gobstoppers!!!
Jo xxx

Cheryl said...

Ooo sherbet fountains did not care about the sherbet but loved the licquirice. My favourite sweets were pink shrimps, fizzy cola bottles and penny caramel logs

alexa said...

Oooh yes, I remember these! Different outer wrapping then, though similar colours. Are you too young to remember fruit salad (four a penny, and that's 1D, not 1p) and black jacks? Not to mention spangles...

Clair said...

I can still buy most of these from my local corner shop - neato! :)

Tinkertaylor said...

My tongue is tingling just thinking about all those delicious childhood sweeties

Amy said...

We've just recently introduced the kids to moon rocks and sherbets as well - too funny - watching their little faces all screwed up with the crackle and pop in their mouths!

Alana said...

Ooh now don't get me started....cough candy, black jacks, fruit salads, sherbert dib dabs, tooti fruitis, jelly tots, drumsticks, love them all.

Real retro def the spacedust. say ahhh!

Carrie said...

I don't know what a Sherbet Fountain is but my ONLY purchase from the Ice Cream Truck was the "Push Up" (orange sherbet) - yum so refreshing! Love coming across candy from youth!

Rachel Brett said...

Hi Sian, thanks for your comment about the collages. There is a tutorial on my blog now if you wanted to give it a go : )

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