Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Necco

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

If you think Necco Wafers are the most disgusting candy on the planet, you are not alone. But it turns out there’s a rich history behind those chalky discs that make them fascinating, if horrible. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and this is Neco Wafers,

short stuff on Neco Wafers, the wafers from Neco. Go ahead and ask your question. Chuck. Chuck. Have you ever thought about putting a Neco Waffer in your mouth? Oh boy, that was good. Good drama. You know, I've never had one of these. I haven't either. I've gone my whole life about them. Oh really? Oh yeah, no, no. Can we pledge to never have them or now do you want to? I don't know. It could go either way. That's a really good question.

Like, I could see going your whole life, like getting that engraved on your tombstone, like it never had a Neco Waffer. So what we're talking about is a candy. It's referenced pretty prominently in some movie in a line and I could not think of what it was, which really bugged me. But that's sort of where I even heard of Neco Wafers was I think just through pop culture. It's not something, not only have I not had one, I don't know anyone who's ever had one. Like I've never been with someone who was just chowing on Neco Wafers or had a family member that was a Neco enthusiast. No, it's typically, and I don't mean to be agist,

but it's typically viewed as kind of like a grandma candy, you know? Like Saltwater Taffy, even though I know you love that. Oh, dude, it's so good. Saltwater Taffy is just so good when it's done right. I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying it's a bit of a grandma candy. Okay, sure, sure. I'm with you. Our grandma's. God rest their souls. Exactly right. But no, it has just kind of that whole doily kind of aura around it, you know what I'm saying?

Sure. You got to, I think, when you buy Neco Wafers, it comes with the doily. It does. You just unroll the wax packaging. So, if you've not seen this, you probably have. If you don't know what we're talking about, you probably have seen it. It comes in like a kind of a wax paper roll. Tube. Yeah, tube. And then the wafers themselves are a little bigger than the size of a quarter maybe, and they're dusty, chalky, weirdly colored. Two of the colors are brown and gray. Not a good candy color.

No, not at all. But they're like a multi-colored roll of this chalky, dusty, multi-flavored candy that they're not complimentary flavors either. It's a mess. Neco Wafers are a big, giant mess. I'm just going to say it. They're a 170-year-old mess. Yeah, I guess we'll just go ahead and mention those flavors. You've got the lemon yellows, the lime greens, the orange-orange. Light purple is clove. Do not ever get one of those near my mouth. Cinnamon is white, a little weird. Winter green is pink, also weird. Licorice is dark gray. And then there's a chocolate flavor, which is brown, and I guarantee you it does not taste like chocolate.

No. And I was like, you can look at Neco Wafers and be like, I know what that's going to taste like and I'm not going to like it. Yeah, I agree. But you and I have had basically Neco Wafers because the Neco Company, we should say the name is kind of an acronym. It stands for New England Candy Company, right? They also are the makers of conversation hearts. You know those little hearts that say, be mine, I'm yours. That makes sense. Those are differently shaped Neco Wafers. It's the same exact thing. So those things, when you've tried them before and been like, these are absolutely horrible, you would think the same thing about Neco Wafers. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So it's just a

it's a Neco Wafers, just a thinner sort of coin-like version of those. Yes, that don't say something like be mine or I'm yours. Apparently the ones these days say, email me or grab a glass of water. Right. This is going to be terrible. All right, let's take a break here. We'll talk a little bit more about where they started and why they're still around right after this. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new I Heart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would

Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. This, I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so my husband, Michael, um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that Michael and a different hot, sexy teen crush boy band are each week to guide you through life step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general can get messy. You may be thinking, this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on

the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikular. And to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, Major League Baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop. But just when I thought I had a handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology,

my whole world came crashing down. Situation doesn't look good. There is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. If we got back on the way back machine and went back to 1901, we would see Neco Wafers being cranked out from the New England Candy Company, even though apparently they were around since 1847. I didn't quite get that. Yeah. One of the co-founders of New England Candy Company invented this lozenge machine,

the machine that basically popped out these little wafers. And one of the first things they did was use it to make Neco Wafers. So Neco Wafers actually predate Neco itself. And they used to be called Hub Wafers. And Hub was like an old-timey name, like slang term for Boston. So they were Boston Wafers originally, but they predate the company that made them famous. And they predate virtually every popular candy that we know of. I think Hershey Bar officially came out one year prior, but every other sort of candy bar that she knew in love came around the 1920s and 30s, as far as the classics go, M&Ms in the 1940s.

But the Neco Wafers in 1901, they pack it in soldiers' rations in the Civil War, which should be your first, like, stay far away from this candy in 2021, sort of warning. Like if they put it in Civil War rations, you probably don't want to be eating it today. Also, so that's debatable whether it actually was in the Civil War. Like that's a long-standing thing that Neco's been saying for a while. But I think some historians that have looked into it are like, nah, I'm not 100% sure about that. But it definitely was in the rations of American soldiers in World War II, because the government actually took over the Neco factory and requisitioned like a sizable portion of their production to give to soldiers, because they don't melt,

they're really portable, and it's like a high calorie dense snack. Yeah. And the Civil War was over in 1865. So it had to have just been that first version, the whatever they were called. The hub, the hub ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So at any rate, they're made from sugar and corn syrup. They are, like you said, super chalky. And if you take a survey or see a survey even online for candies, it's usually kind of right at the bottom. I feel bad because we're doing nothing but bagging on this classic candy. Some people love them. Really? From what I've seen, from one of the company's spokespeople. Yes, some people love them. Get a sweet tart if you want something like that. Or a spree. Sprees are

even better. Spree. What is a spree? Oh, it's like the shiny slicker version of sweet tarts. It's not at all powdery. It's got a slick, shiny coating, and it's vastly superior in taste as well. And smell. I never really loved those. Really? They look like game pieces. Yes, they did. So it was a lot more fun to eat them because you'd be like, I'm not supposed to be eating this, I'm supposed to be playing, and TS, I'm going to eat it. Well, and that's a nice transition, actually, because as far as Nica wafers go, people sometimes buy them and use them for kids to train them on communion, edible poker chips, shingles for gingerbread houses. That's a nice application. Yes. Or place markers. So there is actual evidence that some people do enjoy the

taste of them because the current company that owns them is Spangler from Bryan, Ohio. It's a family-run outfit that's, I think, over 100 years old. That's great. And Spangler very appropriately also are the ones who make circus peanuts, which is a lot of people's second most hated candy. So poor Spangler's putting out a lot of stuff that people don't like, but whatever. Hats off to them for staying at it. But I guess Spangler did, or no, pre-Spangler, the company that owned them, changed the recipe to make it a little less artificially flavored and colored. And there was a 35% drop in sales as a result. So they went back to the original recipe. So that does mean that people out there do actually eat Nica wafers. They don't just use them as poker

chips like you were saying. Yeah. And hats off to the Spangler company. We love these small, kind of old school, family-run candy companies. I don't think that us saying that we probably won't try Nica was going to hurt their sales. Hopefully this shines a little light on that company. Yeah. But they did a survey last year in 2020 that found that 73% of Americans are familiar with or at least had Nica wafers. Okay. Pretty good coverage there. Yeah. It's 73%. Baby Boomers and Gen X obviously lead that pack, but 71% of millennials know about Nica wafers. Yeah. And whatever is it, what's behind it? Is it Gen Z? Z. Is that 18 to 23 year olds? Or is that even something else? I think they fall within Gen Z. Yeah. We need to do that generations

podcast at some point. All right. But apparently they obviously are sort of bringing up the rear with 40% awareness. Nica awareness is what they call it. Nica awareness. But I mean, that's still pretty respectable for the 18 to 23 set. Not bad. You know what I mean? Yeah. And how much could these, I mean, what do they cost? What's the two of those cost? I genuinely don't know, but I will tell you that there was a dark time where they were not around. Nica wafers were purchased by Spangler in 2018 and they went offline and reissued them in 2020, but now I guess they're here to stay. All right. Well, I just looked it up out of curiosity. Apparently you can get them delivered during COVID, which is great. Okay. You can get a

six pack of Nica wafers for about 1850. It's about $3 a tube. Wow. I did not expect that. Did you expect like 59 cents? No, I expected it to hover more around a dollar price point. Yeah. An American classic, the original in bold letters, candy wafers since 1847. That's great. What's cool about collecting them too, there's a lot of people who clearly collect like the old nostalgic Nica wafers is you can eat them and they'll taste exactly the same today as they did when they were first made back in the 18th, 19th century. Does not surprise me. That's great. I made that up by the way, but it was just a joke. That doesn't surprise me either. Okay. Well, since Chuck's not at all surprised and I think we've

reached the end of this episode, I say Chuck, short stuff is out. What do you say? Agreed. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.