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Short Stuff: Necco · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: there's Chuck and this is uh Neco wafer short stuff
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on Eco wafers, the wafers from Echo. Go ahead and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: ask your question, Chuck. Uh huh have you ever thought
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: about putting a necko wafer in your mouth? Oh? Boy?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: That was good, good drama. Uh. You know, I've never
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: had one of these. I haven't either, I've gone my hole. Really.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I know. Can we pledge to never have them?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Or now do you want to? I don't know. It's
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: it could go either way. That's a really good, good question, like, um,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: like I could I could see going your whole. I
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: like getting that engraved on your tombstone, Like, yeah, it
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: never had an Echo wafer. So what we're talking about
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: is a candy. Um. It's referenced you prominently in some
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: movie in a line and I could not think of
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: what it was, which really bugged me. Um. But that's
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: sort of where I even heard of Neco wafers was.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I think just through pop culture. It's not something. Not
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: only have I not had one, I don't know anyone
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: who's ever had one. Like I've never been with someone
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: who was just chowing on Necco wafers, or had a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: family member that was an eco enthusiast. No, it's a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: it's typically and I don't mean to be a just
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: but it's typically viewed as kind of like a Grandma candy,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you know, where, like saltwater taffy, even though I know
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: you love that, Oh dude, it's so good. Saltwater taffy
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: is just so good when it's done right. I'm not
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: arguing that. I'm just saying it's a bit of a
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Grandma candy love with our grandma's God rest their souls
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: exactly right. Um. But no, that it has just kind
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of that whole um doily kind of aura around it,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Sure you gotta. I think
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: when you buy Nicco wafers, it comes with the doily.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: It it does. You just unroll the wax packaging. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: so if you've not seen this, you probably have. If
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you don't know what we're talking about, you probably have
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: seen it. Um. Uh. It's like it comes in like
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a kind of a wax paper roll tube tube um.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: And then the wafers themselves are um a little bigger
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: than the size of a quarter maybe, Uh. And they're dusty, chalky,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: weirdly colored to the colors are brown and gray. Um,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: but they're like, no, not at all. But they're like
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: a multi colored roll of of this chalky, dusty um,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: multi flavored candy that that they're not complimentary flavors either.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: It's a mess. Neco wafers are a big giant mess.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say it. They're a hundred seventy year
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: old mess. Yeah, I guess we'll just go ahead and
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: mention those flavors. Um. You've got the lemon yellows, the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: lime greens, the orange orange, U light purple is clove.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Do not ever get one of those near my mouth.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Cinnamon is white, a little weird. Um, winter green is pink,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: also weird. Licorice is dark gray. And then there's a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: chocolate flavor which is brown and I guarantee you it
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: does not taste like chocolate. No. Um. And I was like, like,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: you can look at Eco wafers and be like, I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: know what that's going to taste like, and I'm not
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: going to like it. Um. But you and I have
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: had basically Neco wafers because the Echo Company, um, we
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: should say the name is kind of an acronym. It
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: stands for New England Candy Company, right, m hm um.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: They also are the makers of UM conversation hearts, you know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: those little herds to say be mine, I'm yours. Those
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: are differently shaped Eco wafers. It's the same exact thing.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: So those things, when you've tried them before and been
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: like these are absolutely horrible, you would think the same
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: thing about Neco way first, Yeah, that makes a lot
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of sense. So it's just a it's neck away fer.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: It's just a thinner, sort of UM coin like version
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: of those yes that don't say something like be mine
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: or I'm yours. Apparently the ones these days say email
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: me or or grab a glass of water. Right, this
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: is going to this is going to be terrible. Alright,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: let's take a break here. We'll talk a little bit
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: more about where they started and why they're still around.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Right after this, all right, let's if we got back
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: in the way back machine and went back to nineteen
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: o one, we would see Neco wafers being cranked out
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: from the New England Candy Company, even though apparently they
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: were around since eighty seven. I didn't quite get that. Yeah,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: one of the UM one of the co founders of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: New England candy company UM invented this lozenge miss machine,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the machine that basically popped out these little wafers, and
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: one of the first things they did was use it
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to make Neco wafers. So Neco wafers actually predate predate
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Neco itself, and they used to be called um Hub wafers,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and Hub was like an old timey name, like slang
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: term for Boston, so they were Boston wafers originally. But
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: they predate the company that made them famous. And they
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: predate virtually every popular candy that we know of, and
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I think Hershey Bar officially came out one year pre prior,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: but um every every they're sort of candy bar that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you know in love came around the nineteen twenties and thirties.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: As far as the classics go, uh Eminem's in the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: nineteen forties. UM, but the neck a way for in
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: nineteen o one, they pack it in soldiers rations in
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the Civil War, which would should be your first like
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: stay far away from this candy in one sort of warning,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: like if they put it in Civil War rations, you
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: probably don't want to be eating it today. Also, so
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: that's debatable whether it actually wasn't the Civil War, Like,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: that's a longstanding thing that Neco has been saying for
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: a while, but I think some historians I've looked into
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: it are like, no, I'm not a hardy percent sure
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: about that. But it definitely was in the rations of
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: American soldiers in World War Two because the government actually
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: took over the Neco factory and requisition like a sizeable
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: portion of their production to to give to soldiers. Because
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: they don't melt, they're really portable and it's like a
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: high um calorie dense snack. Yeah, and the Civil WARLD
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: was over in eight so I had to have just
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: been that first version that whatever they were called the
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: hub the hub ones. Yeah. So at any rate, um,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: they're made from sugar and corn syrup. Uh, they're, like
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: you said, super chalky. And if you um, if you
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: take a a survey or a see a survey even
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: online for candies, it's usually kind of right at the bottom.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I feel bad because we're doing nothing but bagging on
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: this classic candy. And people love them really from what
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I've seen, um from one of the company's spokespeople, Yes,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: some people love them. Get a sweet teart if you
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: want something like that, or a spree spreezer even better
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: spree What is a spree Oh, it's like the shiny
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: um the shiny slicker version of sweet tearts. It's not
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: at all powder. It's got a like shiny coating and
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: it's and taste as well. And I really love those.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Really they were like game pieces, Yes they did. So
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: it was a lot more fun to eat them because
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: you'd be like, I'm not supposed to be eating this,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be playing and ts I'm gonna eat
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: it well. And that's a nice transition actually, because as
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: far as nicco wafers go, people sometimes buy them and
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: use them for uh kids to train them on communion,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: UM edible poker chips, uh shingles for gingerbread houses that's
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: a nice application, or place markers. So there is actual
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: evidence that some people do enjoy the taste of them
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: because UM the current company that owns them as Spangler
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: from Brian, Ohio. It's family run outfit that's I think
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: over a hundred years old. UM and Spangler very appropriately
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: also are the ones who make Circus peanuts, which is
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of people's second most hated candy, So poor
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Spangler's putting out a lot of stuff that people don't like.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: But whatever, we're you know, hats off to them for
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: for staying at it. But um, I guess Spangler did
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: uh or no, pre Spangler, the company that owned them,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: change the recipe like um to kind of make it
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: a little little less artificially flavored and colored, and there
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: was a thirty five drop in sales as a result,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: so they went back to the original recipe. UM. So
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that does mean that people out there do actually eat
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Neco wafers, They don't just use them as poker chips
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: like you were saying. Yeah, And you know, hats off
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to the Spangler company. We love these small, kind of
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: old school, family run candy companies. UM. I don't think
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: that us saying that we probably won't try an echo
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: is gonna hurt their sales. Hopefully this shines a little
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: light on that company. Um. But they did a survey
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: last year in that said, uh, that found that seventy
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: three percent of Americans are familiar with or at least
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: had an echo wafers. Pretty good coverage there a baby
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: baby boomers and gen X obviously lead that pack, but
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: see of millennials know about Neco wafers and whatever is it?
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: What's behind Z? Is that eighteen to twenty year olds
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: or is that even something else? I think they fall
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: within gen Z. Yeah, we need to do that Generations
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: podcast at some point. But UM apparently they obviously are
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: sort of bringing up the rear with awareness. Eco awareness
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: is what they call it. It is eco awareness. But
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I mean that's still pretty respectable for the set, you
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: know what I mean? And how much good these things?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, what are they cost? What's the two of
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: those costs? I genuinely don't know, but I will tell
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: you that there was a dark time where they were
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: not around. UM Neco wafers were purchased by UM Spangler
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: in two thousand eighteen. Uh, and they went offline and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: reissued them in two thousand and twenty. But now I
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: guess they're here to stay, all right. Well, I just
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: looked it up out of curiosity. Apparently you can get
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: them delivered during COVID, which is great. You can get
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: a six pack of Neco wafers for about eighteen fifty,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: so about three dollars a tube. Wow, I did not
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: expect that. Did you expect like nine cents. No, I
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: expected it to hover more around a dollar price point. Yeah,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: an American classic, the original in bold letters, candy wafers
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: since eighty seven. That's great. What's cool about collecting them too.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people who clearly collect like the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: old nostalgic neco wafers is um. You can eat them
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: and they'll taste exactly the same today as they did
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: when they were first made back in the nineteenth century.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Does not surprise me. That's great. I made that up,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: by the way, but it was just a jambel. That
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: doesn't surprise me. There. Okay, Well, since Chuck's not at
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: all surprised, and I think we've reached the end of
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: this episode, I say, Chuck, short stuff is out. What
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: do you say? Agreed? Stuff You should know is a
• 12:12
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• 12:16
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• 12:19
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