Asked what is my favourite Candy, I could – if I were a narcissist – answer: myself, of course! But I’m not a complete narcissist and, too, I have a lot to say about my favourite candy.

As an adult I can answer very simply that my favourite candy/sweet is Bendicks Bitter Mints. These are, without a doubt, the best chocolate mints in the world! (Obviously I haven’t tried them all, but I have tried quite a few.) Bitter Mints are made with very dark chocolate enrobing a wonderfully minty interior. They are large enough that just one can suffice, though two are good, too.

But, if you want to be answered by the child in me, my answer would be different. My favourite candy is Good and Plenty. For readers in my adopted country, G&P are made by, I think, the same people who make Hershey Bars (which, I find, inedible!). G&Ps are quite similar to licorice comfits in that they are a short strand of licorice covered by a pink or white sugar coating BUT they are completely unalike in taste. G&Ps are covered with a sugar coating with an addition that makes them stand out! The addition is an aniseed flavouring to the coating which makes them completely YUMMY! unlike licorice comfits which are just BLAH.

I was introduced to Good and Plenty sweets in my childhood at the candy truck that stood outside, across the street from my elementary school. Every afternoon there was a line of children waiting to be served with their favourite candy or something new and interesting. I don’t remember the first time I bought a little box of G&Ps. But I adored the taste straight away. I thought that they would always be available to me – and they were for some further years but, in 1958 when we came to England, the English sweet shops were like being in a foreign land! (They were, of course, to an American child.) Luckily, for the following 3 years or so, we had ‘PX privileges’ and at the PX we could usually find the delightful candies.

But, as I’ve said somewhere before, Patty left the Navy and began working for a British architect. Every time anyone I knew was flying off to the US, I would ask them to pick up a box or two of G&Ps and in this way, I was able to keep my memory alive.

Years passed by. People I knew holidayed at the English seaside or flew to Ibiza which meant that, eventually, I slowly began to forget G&Ps. Then, when I was in my 70’s, I found I could buy G&Ps on Amazon!

Thrilled? You bet I was! I think I bought a five pound bag of them! I know I put on a lot of weight around that time – I may even have bought, separately, two five pound bags!

I started dieting! I bought no more G&Ps for quite a prolonged period of time, then, a couple of years ago, I tried Amazon but found no mention of my favourite candy. I searched and searched and found a website based in a sweet shop in Wales, of all places, that sold them. I bought too many, ate them all and put on weight. I just couldn’t control my desire for them so I decided to buy no more.

Last Christmas-time, I gave in and bought a pound of Good and Plentys from the same Welsh sweet shop. I ate them. I put on weight.

I will buy Good and Plentys no more! (What do you wanna bet?)

UPDATE

In 2025 Veronica and her hubby went to Los Angeles for several weeks for work and enjoyment and, very nicely, brought me back 2 boxes of Good and Plenty. By the time Veronica had time to come and visit, it was near autumn and I had started a new diet – again. She gave me the boxes and I put them into a cupboard determined not to eat them until I had reached my goal weight. Sadly, Christmas intervened. By Christmas I had lost over a stone* and was able to wear an old pair of jeans I hadn’t worn for some years. After the celebrations of Christmas, I still weighed my pre-Christmas weight and started my diet again.

Last week, still at my pre-Christmas size and somehow not having lost even an ounce, I opened one of the stored boxes and over a week, ate the contents – they were as yummy as ever! Then, my friend, Myrna, phoned me to say that she had a couple of friends coming over from the States and did I want anything. I said I would love some Good and Plenty (to replace those I had removed from the cupboard and had eaten). Yesterday, Myrna and her friends dropped in with FIVE whole boxes of G and Ps!

That was in the morning. By lunchtime I had opened the first box and had a couple (for old times’ sake😏), then had a few more after lunch. I had a few more today, after lunch and I can’t see that first box lasting too much longer – so, I took a photo to remind myself of my new stash – and here it is!

I’ll let you know, when I’ve finished them, whether or not I reached my goal weight before or after that happens!

• For foreigners, a stone is fourteen pounds or approximately 6.35 kilos.