(According to around 4,000 Baby Boomers on Facebook)

Candy. We love it. Doctors and dentists hate it. Health-food advocates call it poison. And we spend billions of dollars per year on it.¹

That’s a lot of dental work and a lot of excess pounds, but we love our sweets. Not, however, across the board. This question surfaced on a Facebook group dedicated to Baby Boomers, simply asking “Worst candy of all time?” Over 3900 comments were registered, and I got curious. So I wasted a lot of time (it was fun) tabulating this most unscientific study for my gratuitous pleasure, and now yours. You’re welcome.

While there is no central “candy registry,” based on the number of confectionery concerns in the US and annual sales referenced above, the U.S. almost certainly has on the order of tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands distinct candy SKUs commercially available across retail and online at any given time.

And the key element in all candy is sugar – mostly sucrose, some glucose, and very little HCFS and pure fructose, which don’t respond well to the high-heat demands of candy manufacture. Sugar, that magical chemical that spikes our blood sugar, gives us a shot of energy, and feeds our brain and other cellular processes. No wonder we like it so much.

So who takes the “big L?” There are a few absolute breakouts in the list of 330 specific brands and categories of candy that were mentioned. I’ll pay special attention to the ones that got the most hate, but the full list will appear below.

Black Licorice

“It tastes like medicine. Bad medicine.” – Mark Klos

Here, eat this root. Together with anise, black licorice (spelled by our respondents as liquorice, licorice, lickrish and a few other incomprehensible renderings from people who were probably baked out of their gourd while typing) is the most universally hated flavor in the entire candy world. Although a few people chimed in to say they loved it – I’m one of them – the most common comment was simply “Yuck!”

According to Epicurious, black licorice gets its taste from the glycyrrhizin in licorice root, a sweetener 50 times stronger than sugar that some perceive as bitter or similar to saccharin. It also contains anethole, reminiscent of anise or fennel – I grew up calling it finocchio – which amplifies the pungent, lingering quality many people respond negatively to.

Broken out by category, it’s easy to see why black jelly beans, black Chuckles™, Sen Sen™ ², and a few other licorice-related items were mentioned specifically. Out of 3505 responses (and there were around 500 that I didn’t tabulate because they appeared in sub-comments), black licorice got 868 all by itself, black jellybeans got 51, and Good & Plenty™ ³ got 101, for a total of 1020, almost a third of the total. Anise flavor was mentioned 4 times specifically.

A personal story about Good & Plenty (described by one wag as “Bad and Nasty”): When one of my now-adult granddaughters was around 3, she was wandering around my bedroom and happened across an Ayr ™ inhaler, similar to the ones made by Vicks. You know, those little tubes you cram up your nose and inhale to alleviate sinus stuffiness with eucalyptus and menthol essence. Well, of course she unscrewed it and took a whiff, and her response was “Ew! That’s for old!” It cracked me up, I never forgot it, and it became a by-word in the family. So when a stepdaughter of mine and I had gone out for a “daddy-daughter”date at a movie, we stopped in at Dollar Tree to pick up some forbidden snacks. I chose, of course, Good & Plenty, and of course she responded with “Ew! That’s for old!” She’ll occasionally give me a box as a gift, just to keep the joke going.

Circus Peanuts

492 votes. If you like these, there is something seriously wrong with you. (No, not really – de gustibus non disputandum est.) But this is one I personally don’t understand.

According to Wikipedia, these “treats” were one of the original unwrapped “penny candies” sold in candy shops and “five and dime” stores. The fact that they feature an artificial banana flavor (this got 8 votes by itself) plus an odd texture may account for the universal disdain for these things. I never liked them.

Candy Corn

With 428 votes, this confection came in third on the list. The hate for this Autumn treat surprised me. I’ve always liked it, in moderation – too much and I tended to start jumping around like a grasshopper on crack. But I would invariably put a couple of them under my lip and pretend to be a vampire, and loved getting some in my bag at Hallowe’en, or finding some in a candy dish somewhere. But 428 responses included things like “Yuck! and “Pretty bad and a total bummer on Hallowe’en” (BD Higgins)

Compiled from comments on reddit and YouTube, “the waxy, chalky, or crumbly texture turns off most critics, stemming from ingredients like carnauba wax and confectioner’s glaze (shellac from lac bugs). Its overly sweet flavor—mostly sugar, corn syrup, honey, and vague vanilla notes—leads to quick palate fatigue without much distinction. Some also cite it sticking to teeth or lacking appeal beyond pure sweetness.” (Perplexity)

Capitalizing on the seasonal popularity of candy corn – ironic given the hate – manufacturers have added additional flavors that tend to appear in the fall – Pumpkin Spice, Caramel Apple, and S’mores, along with unique mixes such as Tailgate (fruit punch/popcorn), Fall Festival (funnel cake/lemonade), and traditional Harvest Corn (chocolate brown base). I liked the Caramel Apple variety particularly, but again, not too much of it.

Peeps

175 votes. From Wikipedia: “Peeps are a marshmallow confection produced by candy maker Just Born since 1953 sold in the United States and Canada in the shape of chicks, bunnies, and other animals. Peeps were the earlier creation of the R. E. Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster, PA, and were offered for sale as early as 1948. Though primarily promoted at Easter, Peeps have been marketed as “Always in Season”, and as such have expanded to Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Since 2014, the confection has been available year-round with the introduction of Peeps Minis. Peeps ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, food dyes and salt.”

And with 175 votes, a lot of peeple (sic) just don’t like them. The hate seems to be a combination of memeified dislike for something that’s almost pure sugar, overly sweet in a way that kids enjoy but adults don’t. Peeps also come in a variety of flavors, one of which is Dr Pepper. That’s my poison of choice, so I tried some once – the flavor was passable, but like many others, the sweetness is overpowering very quickly.

There’s also a running debate among those who love Peeps as to whether they are better soft (fresh) or hard (stale). This divergence is lovingly treated over at CandyFavorites.

Necco Wafers

130 votes. If you enjoy eating sidwalk chalk, these little almost-flavored discs are for you. That was the universal opinion about Necco Wafers, and I wholeheartedly agree. Flavors like black licorice, clove, wintergreen, and chocolate are often called “disgusting,” “poison,” or outdated, with most tasting vaguely sweet and powdery.

If you like them, no harm no foul… but I would rather have a root canal than to eat a pack of these things.

Horehound Flavor

Long before I moved to Salt Lake to live for 46 years, I had visited the Beehive House, a former residence of Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before that part of the tour was downsized for a number of reasons, one of the stops was the little “general store” which existed for Young’s extensive family. Visitors were offered a sample of horehound drops, which I always partook of and loved.

From Southern Living and Tasting Table, the following information can be gleaned: “Horehound’s flavor is unpopular mainly due to its intensely bitter, medicinal taste from the horehound plant (Marrubium vulgare), which many find off-putting compared to sweet candies. The herb delivers a bittersweet profile blending root beer, black licorice, mint, and menthol notes, but its core bitterness—driven by compounds like marrubiin—dominates. This leads to vivid negative descriptions like “melted earwax and turpentine” or “cough syrup residue” in reviews and anecdotes.”

Over on reddit, user u/doctorlance described it thus: “They taste like someone died. I described them to my daughter today … after she told me that she and my sister were making apple butter: “Tell Aunt *** you also want some authentic horehound candy. That’s another traditional Ozarks treat. It tastes like somebody used a vat of cough syrup to wash their feet … and then used the leftover liquid as a candy flavoring.”

The candy offered at the Beehive House was sweet, but yes it had a very medicinal twang, which reminds me not a little of Moxie™ soda, which I have written about elsewhere.

Turkish Delight

Known as “lokum” in Turkish, this candy is ubiquitous in markets all over Türkiye. Apparently many folks here don’t like it. I can’t speak directly to their experience, but I wonder if what they think of as Turkish Delight is “Applets and Cotlets,” an American version which doesn’t hold a candle to the original.

Lokum comes in a vast array of traditional and gourmet flavors, commonly featuring nuts, fruit extracts, and floral waters. Classic flavors include rose, pistachio, mastic, lemon, pomegranate, and orange. Modern varieties often include chocolate-covered, hazelnut, mint, coconut, and assorted fruit. What I sampled in İstanbul (not Constantinople) was wonderful, although I never tried the floral flavors – and perhaps that’s what people find offputting. The pistachio variety is to die for.

Peanut Butter Kisses

While there are other winners (or losers, as the case may be), these “treats” are deserving of special mention. Originally produced by Necco (now long-gone) but perpetuated by other manufacturers, this confection garnered 32 mentions, a tie for 13th place on the list along with “anything coconut” and “30-year-old Christmas candy in Grandma’s dish” (includes ribbon candy, which got 5 mentions on its own).

They’re a soft, molasses‑based taffy with a peanut‑butter center, stemming from the original Mary Jane recipe (rectangular molasses taffy with peanut butter) that dates back to the early 1900s.

Some descriptions include:

“sticky, vaguely tainted peanut‑butter‑scented taffy”
“the one that seems to reproduce in the bottom of your bag.”
​“that weird, chewy molasses‑peanut‑butter blob that somehow always ends up in your collection.”
“the candy that tastes like peanut‑butter‑flavored taffy left in someone’s pocket for a week.”
​“best if you didn’t open the wrapper.”
“they taste like sorrow and death.”
“they taste like a mixture of molasses and child abuse”
“gooey monstrosities”
“candy that tastes like filth”
“the moment a kid eats one, his childhood ends”

I’m sure there are other less-savory descriptions, but you get the idea. I’m told that every adult who give these out “turns into a bat and vanishes the next day.” And, since I have very strange tastes to start with… I love them.

The Whole Enchilada

Here’s the whole table that I compiled, including Name and Number of Mentions. Make of it what you will. I’m sure you’ll each find something on the list that you agree with, and other things that you like despite the opprobrium

Black Licorice 868
Circus Peanuts 492
Candy Corn 428
Peeps 175
Necco Wafers 130
Good & Plenty 101
Horehound 75
Black Jelly Beans 51
Sour Candy 41
Mary Jane 35
Anything Coconut 32
Black And Orange Peanut Butter Kisses 32
Grandma’s Thirty Year Old Hard Christmas Candy 32
Almond Joy 29
Jaw Breakers 24
Mounds 23
Rock Candy 23
Anything Violet 21
Boston Baked Beans 21
Bit-O-Honey 20
Pop Rocks 18
Sweet Tarts 18
Violets 17
Twizzlers 16
Jujubes 15
Nik-L-Nips 15
Skittles 15
Jelly Beans 14
Jolly Ranchers 14
Root Beer Barrels 14
Pez 13
Anything Butterscotch Flavor 12
Red Hots 11
Zagnut 11
Zotz 11
Candy Cigarettes 10
Dots 10
Gummy Bears 10
Paper Dots 10
Sen Sen 10
Smarties 10
Snickers 10
Swedish Fish 10
Butterfinger 9
Cherry Chocolates 9
Cotton Candy 9
Malted Milk Balls 9
Turkish Delight 9
Anything Banana Flavor 8
French Burnt Peanuts 8
Orange Slices 8
Parma Violets 8
Tootsie Rolls 8
Wax Lips 8
Zero 8
Dark Chocolate 7
Payday 7
Pixie Stix 7
Taffy 7
3 Musketeers 6
Anything Gummy 6
Heath Bar 6
Red Licorice 6
Thrills Gum 6
Twix 6
Anything Marshmallow 5
Atomic Fire Balls 5
Baby Ruth 5
Chunky 5
Conversation Hearts 5
Kit Kat 5
Milk Duds 5
Raisinets 5
Snaps 5
Anise 4
Anything Caramel 4
Anything Peanut 4
Candy Canes 4
Chic-O-Stick 4
Hot Tamales 4
Lik-M-Aid 4
Musk Sticks 4
Snaps 4
Squirrel Nuts 4
Sugar Daddy 4
White Chocolate 4
Anything Chocolate 3
Anything Root Beer 3
Anything Sour 3
Blackjack Gum 3
Bottle Caps 3
Cadbury Eggs 3
Marzipan 3
Mint Leaves 3
Peanut Brittle 3
Peppermint Patties 3
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups 3
Salmiac Black Licorice 3
Salt Water Taffy 3
Starburst 3
Turkish Taffy 3
Anything Chocolate 2
Anything Eucalyptus 2
Anything Green Apple Flavored 2
Anything Marshmallow 2
Anything Mint 2
Anything Peanut Butter 2
Anything Peppermint 2
Anything Watermelon 2
Anything With Ginger 2
Anything With Nuts 2
Black Licorice Chuckles 2
Bounty Bars 2
Butter Mints 2
Candy Necklaces 2
Charleston Chew 2
Chicken Bones 2
Chocolate Covered Jelly 2
Chuckles 2
Cinnamon Hearts 2
Easter Bunny Marshmallows 2
Flying Saucers 2
Hershey’s Chocolate 2
Hounds Tooth 2
Lemon Heads 2
Mentos 2
Mexican Candy 2
Now And Later 2
Red Vines 2
Seven Up 2
Sour Gummies 2
Sour Patch Kids 2
Sour Worms 2
Sugar Babies 2
Three Musketeers 2
Tootsie Pops 2
Ufos 2
Circus Peanuts 1
Airheads 1
Airo Pops 1
All Day Suckers 1
Almond Roca 1
Anything Black 1
Anything Chili Flavored 1
Anything Grape Flavored 1
Anything Hazelnut 1
Anything Hot 1
Anything Lemon Flavored 1
Anything Sugar Free 1
Anything Watermelon 1
Anything Wintergreen 1
Arma Violets 1
Astro Pops 1
Atomic Sour Jawbreaker 1
Ayds Diet Candy 1
Bb Bats 1
Ben Hurs 1
Big Boi 1
Big Nut Cream Filled Easter Egg 1
Big Turk 1
Black Balls 1
Black Cat Gum 1
Black Crows 1
Black Jacks 1
Black Licorice 1
Black Licorice Chews 1
Black Licorice Peeps 1
Black Licorice Twizzlers 1
Black Licorice Whips 1
Black Nibs 1
Blackjacks 1
Boogie Taffy Bar 1
Bracelet Candy 1
Brown Licorice 1
Bubble Pop 1
Buckley Candy 1
Bullseye Caramel 1
Butter Rum Life Savers 1
Canada Mints 1
Candied Lutefisk 1
Candied Orange Peels 1
Candied Orange Slices 1
Candies In The Strawberry Wrapper 1
Caramel Around White Powder Sugar In The Middle 1
Cheap Valentine Chocolates 1
Cherry Cordials 1
Cherry Life Savers 1
Chew Chew Bars 1
Chick O Sticks 1
Chocolate Coated Turkish Delight 1
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Candy 1
Clark Bar 1
Clinkers 1
Clove 1
Clove Gumdrops 1
Coconut Pink Squares 1
Coffee Candy 1
Coffee Flavored Nips 1
Cola Caps 1
Cow Tails 1
Coward’s Violet 1
Cowards Gum 1
Cracker Jack 1
Cream Drops 1
Cry Baby Bubble Gum 1
Danish Black Licorice 1
Dill Pickle Pops 1
Dip Its 1
Divinity 1
Dundersalt 1
Eatmore Bar 1
Fizzy Candy 1
Flavor Straws 1
Fruit Filled Hard Candy 1
Fruit Stripe Gum 1
Fruit Tingles 1
Giant Sweet Tarts😕 1
Goats Milk Candy From Mexico 1
Gumdrops 1
Halvah 1
Hard Candy With That Jelly Stuff Inside 1
Hard Gumballs 1
Hard Taffy 1
Haribo Sugarless Gummy Bears 1
Hershey’s Kisses 1
Honey O’s 1
Hormones (A Coffee Favored Candy Of Old) 1
Hot Heads 1
Hot Nerds 1
Hot Tamales 1
Humbugs 1
Idaho Spuds 1
Jelly Bellies 1
Jelly Fruit Slices 1
Jolly Ranchers Sticks 1
Jujyfruits 1
Junior Mints 1
Kettlecorn 1
Klibs Beans 1
Korean Sesame Candy 1
Laffy Taffy 1
M&M 1
Maltesers 1
Maple Nut Goodies 1
Mars Bar 1
Marshmallow Filled Easter Eggs 1
Melster Peanut Butter Kisses 1
Mike And Ike 1
Milk Bottles 1
Minties 1
Misty Mints 1
Morehouse Candy 1
Neapolitan Coconut Candy 1
Nerds 1
New Turkey Bones 1
Nonpareils 1
Orange Spongee Marshmallow Candy 1
Orbitz 1
Pastel Easter Marshmallow Easter Eggs 1
Peach Rings 1
Peanut Butter Filled Taffy Kisses 1
Peanut Butter Logs 1
Peanut Butter Taffy. 1
Peanut Chews 1
Peppermint Stick 1
Pickle Gum 1
Pink, Brown And White Little Bars 1
Popcorn Balls 1
Popcorn Jelly Beans 1
Potato Candy 1
Purple Barrel 1
Razools 1
Reese’s Pieces 1
Reggie Bar 1
Rockets 1
Root Beer Dumdums 1
Satan’s Toe 1
Satellite Wafers 1
Scorpion Suckers 1
Seaweed 1
Sherbat 1
Sizzle Sticks 1
Sliced Fruit Jellies 1
Slo-Poke 1
Smoothies 1
Soap Gum 1
Sour Balls 1
Sour Gummy Worms 1
Sour Lemon Head Rope 1
Sour Pop Rocks 1
Sour Skittles 1
Sour Tarts 1
Sour Worms 1
Sourballs 1
Space Rocks 1
Spearmint “Hard Candy” .. 1
Spearmint Leaves 1
Spice Gum Drops 1
Spice Jelly Beans 1
Sticky Toffee 1
Strawberry Candies With Strawberry Wrappings 1
Strawberry Things With The Gooey Filling 1
Sugar Free Anything 1
Sugar Free Gummy Bears 1
Sugar Free Hard Candy 1
Sugar Free Russell Stover Pecan Delight 1
Sugared Orange Gummy Slices 1
Tequila Lollipop With Worm 1
Three Course Meal Gum 1
Toffee 1
Trump Bar Chocolate 1
Uno Bar 1
Vanilla Strawberry Chocolate Coconut Candy 1
Velamints 1
Vinegar Candy 1
Wax Whistle 1
Werther’s 1
Wintergreen Flavored Christmas Candy 1
Worms 1
York Peppermint Patties 1

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Footnotes

¹ The National Confectioners Association (NCA) reports that Americans drove about $55 billion in confectionery sales in 2025, covering chocolate, candy, gum, and mints in all channels (stores, online, etc.)

² Cushlamochree, I miss this soapy little confection. It was so bizarre that I couldn’t get enough of it. Long gone from manufacture, if you have more money than God you can find some on eBay and other places around the net.

³ Here is a 1950’s commercial for Good & Plenty which has lived in my head rent-free for almost three quarters of a century.