The Retro Sweets Revival

Nov 10
13:30

2015

Lisa Jeeves

Lisa Jeeves

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All over Britain, chocolate suppliers are racing to recreate the classic sweetshops of yesteryear.

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On the shelves of sweets sellers and chocolate suppliers all over Britain,The Retro Sweets Revival Articles a curious thing is happening. Old favourites like sugar mice and flying saucers are back, their bright colours and whimsical shapes beckoning the young and the young at heart from the shop windows. Old-fashioned sweets’ surge in popularity is indicative of a veritable retro renaissance in the world of British confectionery, and chocolate suppliers are racing to meet demand.

The Appeal of Retro Sweets

For many people, nothing brings back childhood memories quite like the smell of liquorice or the crunch of candy necklaces. The well-stocked sweet shops of old were crammed with confections of every conceivable colour and flavour imaginable. Nostalgic buyers might remember spending their pocket money on sweets as a child, or trading for their favourite sweets at school.

The association between taste and memory has been studied for years, and much has been written about the subject in both science and literature. Most famously, Marcel Proust chronicled the involuntary memories triggered by dunking a cake into a cup of tea. These kinds of cues can cause us to recall experiences from our earliest years, and that is exactly what retro sweets do for so many people.

Out With New, In With the Old

To satisfy customers' yearning for the flavours of decades past, chocolate suppliers are rolling out revivals of classic sweets, complete with retro packaging and “ye olde sweet shoppe” signage. Back again are the rows of glass jars lining the walls, filled with goodies of every shape, size, and colour. Bags of sweets tied with bright ribbons draw the eyes, while under the counter rows of bonbons glisten temptingly. Chocolate suppliers cashing in on the vintage trend are seeking not just to revive the taste of old classics like gumdrops and cinder toffee, but also to recreate the classic sweet shop experience. A few old-fashioned touches in display and packaging can easily bring the casual shopper back to his or her childhood.

Classic Favourites

The retro trend in confectionery has led to a revival in the kinds of sweets you might have found in your grandfather’s pockets as a child. Peppermint creams, pear drops, and coconut ice are back on the shelves, eagerly snapped up by sweet-eaters keen to revisit those long-ago flavours. Pontefract cakes (black liquorice sweets native to Yorkshire) are now at least 200 years old, and have even been used as flavouring on the most recent season of the hit programme, The Great British Bakeoff. Nut brittles, fizzy cola bottles, jellybeans, and sherbet lemons have also been revived to satisfy the growing market in vintage sweets.

The current boom in retro treats reflects consumer desire to revisit the simple pleasures of times gone by. Whether it’s the fizz of space dust, the squidgy delight of fruit jellies, or the richness of clotted cream fudge, these flavours return us to a deliciously sweet past.

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