Do you have a favorite
"candy you ate as a kid" story?
Share it here.The childhood candy passion I've had the opportunity to indulge in over the years is salt water taffy. I first tasted it at the Santa Cruz (California) beach and boardwalk when I was nine and newly moved with my family from the mid-west. It was war-time (when seemingly the whole country was moving too!) and when adults working six-days-a-week had little time to indulge their children.
Still, one Sunday, my mother boarded a bus for Santa Cruz with my brother and me. We were, she said, to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time and, if there was time before we had to catch a return bus, to take a boardwalk ride or two. My brother, 12, and I decided to ask for tickets for the Tilt-a-Whirl and the merry-go-round, where it was possible to lean out toward a dispenser and try to grab a brass ring. Having come just a few months before from a small town with not much happening, we were goggle-eyed and ecstatic! The outing ended too soon, but not before a final treat: a bag of salt water taffy.
Many years later, my daughter attended camp in Santa Cruz, and in those summers she never failed to mail her mom a box of the same concessionaire's salt water taffy. Today, when I'm in any seaside location, I indulge my taste for (and lovely memories of) salt water taffy. It's great that you make it available without the necessity of a seaside visit! ~ Norm from California
