Even though I am parsimonious some days and cheap other days, I have refused to quit buying candy canes even though I really cannot stand the red-striped candy canes. After buying the 12/$1 pack, I put one for each of my grandchildren in with their Christmas gifts. I open one, either tasting or consuming the cane, and confirm that, "no" I really still do not like candy canes.
This year, I was given candy canes, so I just used those for grandchildren and children--watermelon candy canes. Just thinking about it was yucky. When I broke down and tasted one, I discovered they were delicious.
I am all about traditions of my childhood that were passed on to my children, but this peppermint candy cane is for the birds. When I have the 3-inch little ones in the cellophane pouch, I offer them to people after Christmas, all year long if that is what it takes. I never throw them out. One time I offered them to a charity that was pleased to get them.
At my home people are so polite and take just one even when I insist they take more. Finally, around June I start insisting that people who will get one, get all in the covered candy bowl. One seventeen-year-old was here with an adult friend. He was embarrassed when I dumped the bowl contents into his hands. However, he could not hide the joy in his eyes. I assured him that I hated them. That was one happy kid with siblings who probably like candy canes, too.
At any rate, these watermelon candy canes are delicious. Try them. They are just not red and white! Holly in my yard is brutal with needles on the leaves. It is so painful and causes my allergies to act up.
Your turn
Do you really like peppermint candy canes or, like me, just eat them because of the tradition or that they are there? Have you ever tried watermelon candy canes? Have you ever dumped a traditional sweet from your family traditions, a tradition you long observed?
I loathe and detest peppermint candy canes - and luckily they were never a tradition in our family.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note - I sent a link to Patsy Cline's trip to see Santa to my partner's sister who is a chook obsessive (she had a rooster who used to sit in her lap in the evenings and watch TV with her). She loved it the Santa trip. Thank you from us both.
EC,
ReplyDeleteIf my grandchildren like the watermelon canes, they may replace to peppermint ones.
Oh, I am so glad you liked it and sent it to a chicken lover. You are most welcome. Did she put a diaper on it for the TV watching and in-the-house sessions? I am considering diapers for Patsy Cline.
No diaper. Nappies here. She had an old sheet spread across her lap. She lives in a suburb, and neighbours complained about the crowing, so in the end she fostered him out to a farm - and visited him whenever she could.
DeleteShe has hens now, who have a palatial run and she spends time with them outside.
EC,
ReplyDeleteRight! Nappies. She could have left him in a cage at night in the house. Some people actually build a soundproof rooster house where they spend the night outside.
I feel sorry for her rooster, being ripped away from her. Maybe he is happy with new hen companions. My hens are not housed in palatial conditions. lol
My family and I only like the peppermint ones! It's too bad, because we hang the candy canes on the tree in the family room, to be taken off to eat (rather than have the kids rustling in the pantry.) The other flavors are very pretty, and would look great on our tree! But, red end white (sometimes red white and green) it is.
ReplyDeleteMy mother didn't allow us a lot of sweets, even at Christmas. But a tin of sardines was always placed in our stockings. Blech!!!! I do not continue that tradition.
Meg B.,
ReplyDeleteCandy canes were in my children's stocking. There was no candy before Christmas morning. Sardines? Where did she get that idea? Was it leftover from people not having much food at all, so food was a good thing to have around, a treat? Uh, I don't blame you.
I prefer the look of red and white.
I have no idea where she got the idea. Our stockings were left on our beds late on Christmas Eve after we were asleep. That way, should we wake at say, 4 a.m., we could enjoy the contents of our stockings without waking anybody else. (6 kids...this was a sttoke of parental genius. This tradition I continue.) Perhaps the sardines were breakfast? I did like opening them with the key, and loved how the cats would bound in my room when they heard the tins being opened. My kids each get a plastic candy cane filled with M&M's. Ii guess this is a sweet tradition I imposed on them. A neighbor gave me one on Christmas morning, when I was about 8. I had never had anything like it, and thought it was amazing...such a wealth of chocolate! Also, my kids each get a chocolate stuffed Advent Calendar for a similar reason. I had a friend who had one when I was about 8 or 9, and admired it greatly. My kids cannot escape this
ReplyDeletetradition even though my eldest is going on 13, and leaves days worth of doors at a time unopened. He says the pictures are cool, but the chocolate a bit waxy.
Meg B.,
ReplyDeleteThat is funny about the cats coming in. I would never want my children opening sardines in their bedroom. I can barely keep the fishy oil from spilling in the kitchen and on the counter.
It is interesting where we get our traditions and how we form new ones to add to the old.
What I remember is that my sister and I received a tangerine and a few walnuts and a roll of a square candy called CHARMS. There must have been more in those stockings but I can't recall what. Santa actually visited our church every year. We all knew it was Mr Black...and we were okay with it. We each whispered our wish to him and received a box of candy. The box was blue and was covered in nativity pictures. It was rather like those lifesaver books. Inside the books we would find ribbon candy, some of those raspberry filled candies and a few of those little chocolate covered /mountain/ drops. Think about that..... All if the candy was unwrapped, Thinking about ribbon candy....I haven't seen that stuff in years. have you?
ReplyDeleteJanet,
DeleteMaybe you only remember candy you liked or never got except in the stocking.
I was thinking about unwrapped candy, but there was none unwrapped in our stockings.
Isn't it interesting the things we vividly remember--blue box.
I buy ribbon candy every year, but not this one. I put it in a covered candy dish and eat about three pieces. It is another candy that I give away mid-summer. Look in CVS or Walgreen's and ask. When I do entertain, I have lots of candy for people, mostly traditional, store-bought candy. Some is expensive; most is not.
I do not like peppermint candy canes, nor have I tried the watermelon flavour, but the butterscotch ones are pretty tasty. I love that you gave that young man all those candy canes. You probably made his day.
ReplyDeleteBarley toys were one tradition in my family of origin that I have given up. It seems really difficult to find good ones now, and if they aren't on a stick like a sucker, they are really sticky and messy! I can't believe my mom let us have them. She must have just loved Christmas that much. :-)
Sue,
DeleteButterscotch? That seems like a good candy cane. I don't think I have ever seen a butterscotch candy cane.
I could not bear to throw candy out! He was a very subdued happy.
Is a barley toy something regional? lol...she probably loved you that much. When mine were little and in the drooling candy all over stage, they made messes sucking on candy canes...chocolate...everywhere we went people gave them stuff without asking.
Oh, goodness! I didn't think of that (loving us that much). That just made my day. :-)
DeleteYou may know barley toys as barley candy. It was a popular treat in Victorian times. It's a transparent, coloured, hard candy made with sugar and barley water and molded in all sorts of fanciful 3-D shapes. I remember getting a bright red one once shaped like a horse rearing up. It was about 6" tall. That's a lot of candy any way you look at it! :-D
Sue,
DeleteI have never heard of what you are talking about. It might be what I call a sucker since you say it is on a stick. I have seen shaped suckers before, still not sure.
I HATE candy canes, or peppermint candy at all really. When I was a little girl my baby sitter wasn't watching me and I ate a whole bowl of them. Naturally, it made me sick. Now I can't stand the taste.
ReplyDeleteIs that a pomegranate I see though? If so, I looooove those!
tlc,
DeleteNo wonder you don't like peppermint. it's good you only ate candy. I hope your parents never got her again!
Yes, a pomegranate. I tried to make a pretty picture. Since you are a photographer, I am sure you can see my mistakes!
I dislike peppermint candy canes. As I child, I would eat one if someone insisted on giving me one, so I can't say I truly hate them. (I truly hate liver. I can't even eat it to be polite. It's blech.) These days, peppermint anything gives me acid reflux, so I just politely decline them.
ReplyDeleteBut the blueberry candy canes--those I love! I'll have to look for the watermelon, though--I have a feeling that I might like those, too.
jhl,
ReplyDeleteI will take liver over candy canes...lol. Acid reflux? I thought peppermint calmed the stomach--not for you, obviously. Maybe I can find some blueberry candy canes after Christmas and try those. Thanks for the tip.
I've heard that about peppermint, too, but it's my throat that burns, never my stomach. I think that's still acid reflux, though. I've never had it formally diagnosed--I just drink ginger water or take an OTC generic alternative to Pepcid. I can drink spearmint tea with no problem, but not peppermint! I know our local Dollar Store sells the blueberry ones. The stripes are shades of blue, so they kind of look like Hanukkah canes!
ReplyDeleteOh, I wanted to add:
DeleteMerry Christmas! Also, thank you for blogging! I get great tips from you and much delight from your chicken stories and pictures throughout the year.
jessnhalinda,
DeleteMerry Christmas! Thank you! I am so glad you do like my chicken stores and pictures. The tips are part of what I know and do, mostly.
It probably acid reflux. I was shocked that my low blood sugar was almost completely solved as a result of the doctor prescribing an acid reducing med. Yes, and my sore throat is mostly gone.
DeleteOne time, I could not swallow well, and it was getting worse. I thought I had a sore throat. It turns out the doctor found a large growth behind half my thyroid. It was a growth that will become cancerous eventually. The growth was so large and the doctor assured me it was tiny. She was shocked at what she found.