Licorice Wheels memories... I was about six years old and I walked to the corner grocery store. I wanted a black licorice wheel. My mother gave me a penny for every piece of glass that I found in the yard. That was her way of getting the yard cleaned up. I made enough for my favorite candy. There was only one problem. The smell of the licorice made my mother terribly sick. That meant that I had to sneak the candy. I usually hid under my bed to enjoy the candy. If she caught me with it she would make me throw it away. I went to extreme measures to hide the candy and cover up the smell. Well, like I said earlier I went to the corner store and purchased a black licorice pinwheel. Apparently, I was anxious because I took off on a run through the store and I tripped and fell on a cardboard box. I cut my forehead open. The lady cashier grabbed me and carried me towards home. My mother heard me screaming and came running. She rushed me to the doctor's office where I received 14 stitches. When we left the office and were in the car she asked me what that smell was and I opened my hand and there was the black licorice pinwheel. It looked like a black glob. She laughed and told me that if I hung on to it that long then I really wanted it badly. Believe it or not she let me eat it right in front of her! Thinking back on how bad I wanted it, it was worth it. I still carry the scar on my forehead! ~ Kim from Michigan My favorite candy as a child was licorice wheels. I loved the black ones and my brother liked the red ones. We had gone on an extended vacation one year and when we got home my parents gave each of us a dime to go to "Taylor's Variety Store" to buy ourselves a treat. Back then for a dime we could get ten pieces of candy. I know what I wanted to get, my beloved licorice wheels. When we got there they didn't have any. I was crushed and had to settle for red ones and some licorice pipes, and listen to my brother tease me. If that wasn't bad enough, when they did finally get some in they had raised the price to two cents. That was enough to break a child's heart. ~ Janice from South Dakota As a kid we had a little store near us we called the "Five and Dime" and it was just down the road and up the block as I remember. In it, it featured in their front glass case lots of penny candy and some nickel candy. One of my favorite penny candies was the red and black licorice wheels. The elderly woman who owned the place would add these little tiny white jaw breakers in the middle of the licorice wheel wrap. I would buy fifteen cents worth of each flavor and eat the licorice by unrolling it and then eat the jaw breaker, usually at the Saturday morning movie. That licorice was the best. The taste of that licorice seemed so much more intense then that of the sticks, and was just more fun to handle. Sorry Mom, but I did play with my food. ~ Paul from Maryland |
