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