Pop, Fizz, Bang!
My father is British. He has lived in Australia for twice as many years as he spent in England but still shows a particular fondness for anything stereotypically British, HP sauce or Antiques Road show that kind of thing. So recently when we somehow found ourselves in ‘The British Lolly shop’ my Dad was literally like a kid in a candy store. With a grin to rival the Cheshire cat he fussed over Thornton’s Toffee, Pontefract and Kendal Mint Cakes as well as an assortment of Bon Bons (all of which are very Harry Potter-esque if you ask me) and made me realize all my childhood lollies of which the majority have alliterate or rhyming titles (think about it), the sweets I will fondly reminisce over in decades to come, appeal not for their rich flavour or luxurious texture but for the novelty of Popping, Fizzing and/or Banging.
A brief synopsis;
Push Pops: I remember when these first came out, they had a great advertising campaign with slogans ‘Don’t push me, push a push pop’ (pro anti-bullying?) and ‘Isn’t time you pushed a Push Pop’ (promoting great grammar) but honestly who would have thought to encourage kids to save their lollypops for later (I know I certainly never saw the need to do so)? Truth be told whilst the purple one was my favourite they never really tasted that great especially when compared to Rosie Apples or Chupa Chups but the fact that you could clip them to your pocket while you went rollerblading or played Super Nintendo was compensation enough.
Whistle Pops: The Australian answer to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Toot Sweets. Watermelon was and remains the all time greatest flavour of these. I loved how they used to come with sheet music and you could actually play a solid tune, that is until the pop started to dissolve and slowly but surely each note would become deeper and deeper. I spent hours playing with these and whilst they did have a tendency to become very sticky, very quickly and the plastic stick you pulled to differentiate the notes would often fall out, many musical competitions were battled in my household with these babies.
Hubba Bubba: available in packs or in tapes is the world’s greatest bubble gum no? Does anyone else remember in trying to learn how to pop gum, instead of forming wonderfully round bubbles spitting your gum half way across the room? Who hasn’t somehow ended up having to get bubble cut out of their hair? The Strawberry flavour always reigned supreme even though the flavour disappears literally after three chews, the novelty continues until you either swallow the gum (Did anyone else’s mum tell them if they swallowed gum it would clog their insides?) or have to eat so like Violet Beauregarde stick it behind your ear.
Pop Rocks: who could resist Pop Rocks? Nowadays are incredibly hard to come by but still just as good as ever. I loved the sensation of popping candy, something literally exploding in your mouth, sounding like someone was stamping on crunchy leaves but really it was just candy. Wonderfully clever and oh so fun, when we were little we used to have these baked into cookies, so you would have these wonderfully buttery cookies start exploding in your mouth. It was awesome.
That said, honorable mentions go to:
Whizz Fizz: both the individual packets (I loved that they come with there own spoon) and the crazy shaped lollypops.
Fizzers: My brother and I used to get these from the local servo, three for five cents and freeze them, pink for him green for me- no gender stereotyping in this household.
Double Dip: A staple of any school swimming or athletics carnival. They come with three sections, cherry flavoured sherbet, orange sherbet and a stick you licked and dipped with, I never could work out what the stick was made of.
Ghost drops/Warheads: evoked more mouth explosions. The blue was always my favourite and would stain my tongue for hours.
Fruit Tingles: Tingly as ever, everyone still secretly wants the multi-coloured ones which honestly have a suspicious brown tinge.
Lastly, those sherbet lollypops that look like spaceships and tasted like chalk but were available (and still are) at every amateur sporting field canteen.
I love how reflective a country’s candy is of their culture. Having left the British Lolly shop with a full bag of sweets I am now quite familiar with English treats and am proud to say just as their assorted ‘cakes’ emit the air of traditionalism and practicality Britain is known for, our candy is an accurate summary of the surprising, refreshingly fun nature of Australia. More, I love the power lollies have to bring happiness. It truly is the little things.
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