10 Old-School Chocolates You Can Still Buy Today

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You may not think of the confectionary world as mercilessly fast-paced, but the things we consider sweet treats have certainly evolved over the years. A hundred years ago, kids would have been jazzed to find a bunch of grapes in their stockings at Christmas. Today, children will happily sandblast their taste buds with the sweet, scouring pleasure of Sour Patch Kids. It's no surprise that some candies seem hopelessly old-fashioned in that light, yet nevertheless they persist, especially when it comes to chocolate.

Chocolates are generally built to last (notwithstanding the old-school candy bars that deserve a comeback), so it makes sense we still see some of them around. Many of these chocolates are regional concerns rather than something you'll find on every convenience store shelf. And admittedly, you may not find all of them to your taste. But the important thing is they're still kicking, and that's worth celebrating.

How old are Whitman's Samplers? The company started in 1842 and first gained popularity as a way for sailors to give gifts to their wives. The company is no longer owned by Stephen Whitman of Philadelphia — it's currently owned by Russell Stover — but it still sells its famous sampler of chocolate candies, from fruity cordials to coated toffee. (You do get a little map of candies these days with each box, so Forrest Gump's famous adage about not knowing what you'll get no longer quite holds true.)

You can buy a 22-piece Whitman's Sampler from Russell Stover for $14.99.

If you picked up a Whitman's Sampler and got hooked on the chocolate-covered cherries, you're in luck: Queen Anne Cherry Cordials are just that and nothing else. The company was founded in Chicago in 1921, and quickly became popular for its maraschino cherries coated in chocolate and oozing a tasty cherry liqueur with each bite.

You can buy a 10-piece box of Queen Anne Cordial Cherries on Amazon for $12.99.

Did you know that Russell Stover, that stalwart of convenience store candy aisles, was originally in the ice cream business? Yes indeed, Stover and his partner Christian Kent Nelson (who invented the Eskimo Pie) first started out by making a chocolate-coated ice cream sandwich. When the coating was adopted by others it nearly forced them out of business, but Stover got with his wife, Clara, and started a chocolate candy company. The rest is history, as they say, and you can still find boxes of sweet assorted chocolates in CVS locations across the country.

You can buy a 16-piece box of Russell Stover Assorted Chocolates from its website for $13.99.

The Idaho Spud is not, despite the name, a potato from the legendary potato-producing state. It is, however, from Idaho and it is shaped like a potato. That in and of itself would make Idaho Spuds worth trying, but it also sounds pretty tasty with a marshmallow center surrounded by dark chocolate and sprinkled with coconut. It was first made in 1918, and it's still made today by the Idaho Candy Company. (It's one of the candies you should try putting in the freezer.)

You can buy an Idaho Spud from the Idaho Candy Company website for $1.75.

Goo Goo Clusters were first made in 1912, so there goes our theory that it was named after the guys who sang "Iris." Apparently it was named after the characteristic baby sound, as it's first slogan was: "Goo Goo! It's so good, people will ask for it from birth." Containing chocolate, peanuts, nougat, and caramel; it's a round, crunchy-sweet morsel that's still popular in its native Tennessee.

You can buy a 3-pack of Goo Goo Clusters from its website for $7.99.

Fowler's Chocolates in Buffalo, New York, is not the only place to sell chocolate-covered sponge candy. In fact, sponge candy has plenty of different names in other parts of the world, from honeycomb toffee to sea foam. But Fowler's is well over a hundred years old and is a regionally beloved vendor of these sticky-sweet treats which take a crunchy, sugar-and-corn-syrup mixture and coat it in chocolate. It's so beloved that one Reddit post on r/Buffalo was baffled to learn that sponge candy was not, in fact, exclusive to their city.

You can buy Fowler's Sponge Candy Bites from the Fowler's Chocolates website for $9.99.

We know what you're thinking. Peanut butter and chocolate? Groundbreaking. And sure, it may have been somewhat overshadowed by latecomers like Snickers and Twix, but 5th Avenue bars (which debuted in 1936) are just as sweet, salty, and craveable as ever. It's currently produced by Hershey, one of many such brands you may not know were owned by the chocolate giant.

You can buy an 18-count box of 5th Avenue bars from Hershey for $26.99.

You can't get much more old school than a candy literally named after the Charleston, the dance which flappers were known for back in the Roaring Twenties. The Charleston Chew may not be the young folks' favorite anymore, but it's still something you'll see on the shelf every now and then, and you won't find us complaining about a marshmallow-y nougat coated in chocolate.

You can buy a Charleston Chew from Walmart for $2.00.

Despite the name, the Mallo Cup isn't filled with pure marshmallow, though it's close. It's a marshmallow coconut mixture that's then coated in chocolate and molded into a Reese's-adjacent cup shape. First started as a way to supplement the Boyer family's income during the Great Depression, and they're still made by the Boyer Candy Company today.

You can buy a 10-ounce bag of Mallo Cups from Boyer Candies for $4.99.

This is a candy bar that should be glad it came of age in a time before SEO, when it would have been drowned out by any number of rooftop drinking establishments. But then again, with a tasty concept (each segment of the bar has a different filling, from caramel to peanut to vanilla) and a slick retro wrapper design, why wouldn't we want to keep it around? We're glad it was resurrected after original maker Necco went bankrupt.

You can buy a 24-count box of Sky Bars from its website for $55.60.