WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Necco

0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:06.760
<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and

0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.760
<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck and this is uh Neco wafer short stuff

0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:15.760
<v Speaker 1>on Eco wafers, the wafers from Echo. Go ahead and

0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:23.800
<v Speaker 1>ask your question, Chuck. Uh huh have you ever thought

0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:30.240
<v Speaker 1>about putting a necko wafer in your mouth? Oh? Boy?

0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.640
<v Speaker 1>That was good, good drama. Uh. You know, I've never

0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.080
<v Speaker 1>had one of these. I haven't either, I've gone my hole. Really.

0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.400
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, I know. Can we pledge to never have them?

0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.520
<v Speaker 1>Or now do you want to? I don't know. It's

0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.640
<v Speaker 1>it could go either way. That's a really good, good question, like, um,

0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:48.519
<v Speaker 1>like I could I could see going your whole. I

0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.040
<v Speaker 1>like getting that engraved on your tombstone, Like, yeah, it

0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.480
<v Speaker 1>never had an Echo wafer. So what we're talking about

0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:01.000
<v Speaker 1>is a candy. Um. It's referenced you prominently in some

0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.440
<v Speaker 1>movie in a line and I could not think of

0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.520
<v Speaker 1>what it was, which really bugged me. Um. But that's

0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.720
<v Speaker 1>sort of where I even heard of Neco wafers was.

0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.080
<v Speaker 1>I think just through pop culture. It's not something. Not

0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.640
<v Speaker 1>only have I not had one, I don't know anyone

0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.040
<v Speaker 1>who's ever had one. Like I've never been with someone

0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.080
<v Speaker 1>who was just chowing on Necco wafers, or had a

0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.840
<v Speaker 1>family member that was an eco enthusiast. No, it's a

0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.400
<v Speaker 1>it's typically and I don't mean to be a just

0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.920
<v Speaker 1>but it's typically viewed as kind of like a Grandma candy,

0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.520
<v Speaker 1>you know, where, like saltwater taffy, even though I know

0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.000
<v Speaker 1>you love that, Oh dude, it's so good. Saltwater taffy

0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.720
<v Speaker 1>is just so good when it's done right. I'm not

0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:44.240
<v Speaker 1>arguing that. I'm just saying it's a bit of a

0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:48.080
<v Speaker 1>Grandma candy love with our grandma's God rest their souls

0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.120
<v Speaker 1>exactly right. Um. But no, that it has just kind

0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:55.080
<v Speaker 1>of that whole um doily kind of aura around it,

0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.360
<v Speaker 1>you know what I'm saying. Sure you gotta. I think

0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.440
<v Speaker 1>when you buy Nicco wafers, it comes with the doily.

0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.640
<v Speaker 1>It it does. You just unroll the wax packaging. And

0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:05.880
<v Speaker 1>so if you've not seen this, you probably have. If

0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:07.560
<v Speaker 1>you don't know what we're talking about, you probably have

0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:11.520
<v Speaker 1>seen it. Um. Uh. It's like it comes in like

0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:16.200
<v Speaker 1>a kind of a wax paper roll tube tube um.

0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.120
<v Speaker 1>And then the wafers themselves are um a little bigger

0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:25.400
<v Speaker 1>than the size of a quarter maybe, Uh. And they're dusty, chalky,

0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:30.639
<v Speaker 1>weirdly colored to the colors are brown and gray. Um,

0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.840
<v Speaker 1>but they're like, no, not at all. But they're like

0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:39.520
<v Speaker 1>a multi colored roll of of this chalky, dusty um,

0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:44.679
<v Speaker 1>multi flavored candy that that they're not complimentary flavors either.

0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.280
<v Speaker 1>It's a mess. Neco wafers are a big giant mess.

0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.200
<v Speaker 1>I'm just gonna say it. They're a hundred seventy year

0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.080
<v Speaker 1>old mess. Yeah, I guess we'll just go ahead and

0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.800
<v Speaker 1>mention those flavors. Um. You've got the lemon yellows, the

0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:01.120
<v Speaker 1>lime greens, the orange orange, U light purple is clove.

0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:03.720
<v Speaker 1>Do not ever get one of those near my mouth.

0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.640
<v Speaker 1>Cinnamon is white, a little weird. Um, winter green is pink,

0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:14.000
<v Speaker 1>also weird. Licorice is dark gray. And then there's a

0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.320
<v Speaker 1>chocolate flavor which is brown and I guarantee you it

0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.800
<v Speaker 1>does not taste like chocolate. No. Um. And I was like, like,

0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:22.840
<v Speaker 1>you can look at Eco wafers and be like, I

0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:25.040
<v Speaker 1>know what that's going to taste like, and I'm not

0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.360
<v Speaker 1>going to like it. Um. But you and I have

0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:33.400
<v Speaker 1>had basically Neco wafers because the Echo Company, um, we

0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.520
<v Speaker 1>should say the name is kind of an acronym. It

0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:40.640
<v Speaker 1>stands for New England Candy Company, right, m hm um.

0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:47.080
<v Speaker 1>They also are the makers of UM conversation hearts, you know,

0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.880
<v Speaker 1>those little herds to say be mine, I'm yours. Those

0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:54.200
<v Speaker 1>are differently shaped Eco wafers. It's the same exact thing.

0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.480
<v Speaker 1>So those things, when you've tried them before and been

0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.920
<v Speaker 1>like these are absolutely horrible, you would think the same

0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.720
<v Speaker 1>thing about Neco way first, Yeah, that makes a lot

0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.280
<v Speaker 1>of sense. So it's just a it's neck away fer.

0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.200
<v Speaker 1>It's just a thinner, sort of UM coin like version

0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.400
<v Speaker 1>of those yes that don't say something like be mine

0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.560
<v Speaker 1>or I'm yours. Apparently the ones these days say email

0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:23.680
<v Speaker 1>me or or grab a glass of water. Right, this

0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.560
<v Speaker 1>is going to this is going to be terrible. Alright,

0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.200
<v Speaker 1>let's take a break here. We'll talk a little bit

0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.880
<v Speaker 1>more about where they started and why they're still around.

0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:59.520
<v Speaker 1>Right after this, all right, let's if we got back

0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.280
<v Speaker 1>in the way back machine and went back to nineteen

0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.279
<v Speaker 1>o one, we would see Neco wafers being cranked out

0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.920
<v Speaker 1>from the New England Candy Company, even though apparently they

0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.840
<v Speaker 1>were around since eighty seven. I didn't quite get that. Yeah,

0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.279
<v Speaker 1>one of the UM one of the co founders of

0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:21.520
<v Speaker 1>New England candy company UM invented this lozenge miss machine,

0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.680
<v Speaker 1>the machine that basically popped out these little wafers, and

0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:26.279
<v Speaker 1>one of the first things they did was use it

0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.880
<v Speaker 1>to make Neco wafers. So Neco wafers actually predate predate

0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.600
<v Speaker 1>Neco itself, and they used to be called um Hub wafers,

0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.880
<v Speaker 1>and Hub was like an old timey name, like slang

0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:42.240
<v Speaker 1>term for Boston, so they were Boston wafers originally. But

0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:46.160
<v Speaker 1>they predate the company that made them famous. And they

0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:50.279
<v Speaker 1>predate virtually every popular candy that we know of, and

0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.000
<v Speaker 1>I think Hershey Bar officially came out one year pre prior,

0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.960
<v Speaker 1>but um every every they're sort of candy bar that

0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.680
<v Speaker 1>you know in love came around the nineteen twenties and thirties.

0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.480
<v Speaker 1>As far as the classics go, uh Eminem's in the

0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.240
<v Speaker 1>nineteen forties. UM, but the neck a way for in

0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.560
<v Speaker 1>nineteen o one, they pack it in soldiers rations in

0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.560
<v Speaker 1>the Civil War, which would should be your first like

0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.560
<v Speaker 1>stay far away from this candy in one sort of warning,

0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.039
<v Speaker 1>like if they put it in Civil War rations, you

0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:26.600
<v Speaker 1>probably don't want to be eating it today. Also, so

0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:30.200
<v Speaker 1>that's debatable whether it actually wasn't the Civil War, Like,

0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:32.839
<v Speaker 1>that's a longstanding thing that Neco has been saying for

0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.719
<v Speaker 1>a while, but I think some historians I've looked into

0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:37.720
<v Speaker 1>it are like, no, I'm not a hardy percent sure

0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.240
<v Speaker 1>about that. But it definitely was in the rations of

0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.239
<v Speaker 1>American soldiers in World War Two because the government actually

0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:50.960
<v Speaker 1>took over the Neco factory and requisition like a sizeable

0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:55.080
<v Speaker 1>portion of their production to to give to soldiers. Because

0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.039
<v Speaker 1>they don't melt, they're really portable and it's like a

0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:04.719
<v Speaker 1>high um calorie dense snack. Yeah, and the Civil WARLD

0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.440
<v Speaker 1>was over in eight so I had to have just

0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.800
<v Speaker 1>been that first version that whatever they were called the

0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:15.040
<v Speaker 1>hub the hub ones. Yeah. So at any rate, um,

0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.840
<v Speaker 1>they're made from sugar and corn syrup. Uh, they're, like

0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:23.200
<v Speaker 1>you said, super chalky. And if you um, if you

0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.800
<v Speaker 1>take a a survey or a see a survey even

0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:31.560
<v Speaker 1>online for candies, it's usually kind of right at the bottom.

0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.600
<v Speaker 1>I feel bad because we're doing nothing but bagging on

0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.760
<v Speaker 1>this classic candy. And people love them really from what

0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:43.680
<v Speaker 1>I've seen, um from one of the company's spokespeople, Yes,

0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.320
<v Speaker 1>some people love them. Get a sweet teart if you

0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.320
<v Speaker 1>want something like that, or a spree spreezer even better

0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.600
<v Speaker 1>spree What is a spree Oh, it's like the shiny

0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.720
<v Speaker 1>um the shiny slicker version of sweet tearts. It's not

0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.880
<v Speaker 1>at all powder. It's got a like shiny coating and

0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:07.040
<v Speaker 1>it's and taste as well. And I really love those.

0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.600
<v Speaker 1>Really they were like game pieces, Yes they did. So

0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.600
<v Speaker 1>it was a lot more fun to eat them because

0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.360
<v Speaker 1>you'd be like, I'm not supposed to be eating this,

0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.280
<v Speaker 1>I'm supposed to be playing and ts I'm gonna eat

0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.160
<v Speaker 1>it well. And that's a nice transition actually, because as

0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.640
<v Speaker 1>far as nicco wafers go, people sometimes buy them and

0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.040
<v Speaker 1>use them for uh kids to train them on communion,

0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.400
<v Speaker 1>UM edible poker chips, uh shingles for gingerbread houses that's

0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.800
<v Speaker 1>a nice application, or place markers. So there is actual

0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.640
<v Speaker 1>evidence that some people do enjoy the taste of them

0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.720
<v Speaker 1>because UM the current company that owns them as Spangler

0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.120
<v Speaker 1>from Brian, Ohio. It's family run outfit that's I think

0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.679
<v Speaker 1>over a hundred years old. UM and Spangler very appropriately

0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.800
<v Speaker 1>also are the ones who make Circus peanuts, which is

0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:59.080
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people's second most hated candy, So poor

0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.360
<v Speaker 1>Spangler's putting out a lot of stuff that people don't like.

0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.520
<v Speaker 1>But whatever, we're you know, hats off to them for

0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.800
<v Speaker 1>for staying at it. But um, I guess Spangler did

0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:14.040
<v Speaker 1>uh or no, pre Spangler, the company that owned them,

0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.800
<v Speaker 1>change the recipe like um to kind of make it

0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:22.480
<v Speaker 1>a little little less artificially flavored and colored, and there

0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.520
<v Speaker 1>was a thirty five drop in sales as a result,

0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.560
<v Speaker 1>so they went back to the original recipe. UM. So

0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.199
<v Speaker 1>that does mean that people out there do actually eat

0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.920
<v Speaker 1>Neco wafers, They don't just use them as poker chips

0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:36.640
<v Speaker 1>like you were saying. Yeah, And you know, hats off

0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:38.680
<v Speaker 1>to the Spangler company. We love these small, kind of

0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.080
<v Speaker 1>old school, family run candy companies. UM. I don't think

0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.800
<v Speaker 1>that us saying that we probably won't try an echo

0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.840
<v Speaker 1>is gonna hurt their sales. Hopefully this shines a little

0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.480
<v Speaker 1>light on that company. Um. But they did a survey

0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.240
<v Speaker 1>last year in that said, uh, that found that seventy

0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.720
<v Speaker 1>three percent of Americans are familiar with or at least

0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:03.360
<v Speaker 1>had an echo wafers. Pretty good coverage there a baby

0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.520
<v Speaker 1>baby boomers and gen X obviously lead that pack, but

0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:12.319
<v Speaker 1>see of millennials know about Neco wafers and whatever is it?

0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:17.720
<v Speaker 1>What's behind Z? Is that eighteen to twenty year olds

0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.920
<v Speaker 1>or is that even something else? I think they fall

0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.239
<v Speaker 1>within gen Z. Yeah, we need to do that Generations

0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.520
<v Speaker 1>podcast at some point. But UM apparently they obviously are

0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:33.559
<v Speaker 1>sort of bringing up the rear with awareness. Eco awareness

0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.200
<v Speaker 1>is what they call it. It is eco awareness. But

0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.920
<v Speaker 1>I mean that's still pretty respectable for the set, you

0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:42.839
<v Speaker 1>know what I mean? And how much good these things?

0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:44.680
<v Speaker 1>I mean, what are they cost? What's the two of

0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:48.040
<v Speaker 1>those costs? I genuinely don't know, but I will tell

0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.600
<v Speaker 1>you that there was a dark time where they were

0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:57.240
<v Speaker 1>not around. UM Neco wafers were purchased by UM Spangler

0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.280
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand eighteen. Uh, and they went offline and

0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.440
<v Speaker 1>reissued them in two thousand and twenty. But now I

0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.280
<v Speaker 1>guess they're here to stay, all right. Well, I just

0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.080
<v Speaker 1>looked it up out of curiosity. Apparently you can get

0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.320
<v Speaker 1>them delivered during COVID, which is great. You can get

0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:18.439
<v Speaker 1>a six pack of Neco wafers for about eighteen fifty,

0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.840
<v Speaker 1>so about three dollars a tube. Wow, I did not

0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.960
<v Speaker 1>expect that. Did you expect like nine cents. No, I

0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.400
<v Speaker 1>expected it to hover more around a dollar price point. Yeah,

0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.520
<v Speaker 1>an American classic, the original in bold letters, candy wafers

0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.400
<v Speaker 1>since eighty seven. That's great. What's cool about collecting them too.

0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.000
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of people who clearly collect like the

0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:45.360
<v Speaker 1>old nostalgic neco wafers is um. You can eat them

0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.319
<v Speaker 1>and they'll taste exactly the same today as they did

0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.400
<v Speaker 1>when they were first made back in the nineteenth century.

0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.440
<v Speaker 1>Does not surprise me. That's great. I made that up,

0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.280
<v Speaker 1>by the way, but it was just a jambel. That

0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.080
<v Speaker 1>doesn't surprise me. There. Okay, Well, since Chuck's not at

0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.120
<v Speaker 1>all surprised, and I think we've reached the end of

0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.280
<v Speaker 1>this episode, I say, Chuck, short stuff is out. What

0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:12.679
<v Speaker 1>do you say? Agreed? Stuff You should know is a

0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.000
<v Speaker 1>production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more podcasts

0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.120
<v Speaker 1>for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.920
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H