Necco Wafers

Necco Wafers
Regular Necco Wafers
Product type Candy
Owner Necco
Country Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Introduced 1847
Website http://www.necco.com/

Necco Wafers are a candy made by the United States-based New England Confectionery Company (Necco). Necco Wafers were first produced in 1847 and are considered by Necco to be its core product.[1]

Each roll of Necco Wafers contains eight flavors: lemon (yellow), lime (green), orange (orange), clove (purple), cinnamon (white), wintergreen (pink), licorice (black), and chocolate (brown). The ingredients in Necco Wafers are sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, gums, colorings, and flavorings.[2]

As of July 2018, the future of Necco the company, and its brands including Necco Wafers, is unclear.[3]

Round Hill Investments announced that it had sold the once-bankrupt Necco, purchased for $17.3 million in May, to another candy maker. They ended operation on July 24, 2018. Spangler Candy, of Bryan, Ohio, purchased the Necco Wafer line in addition to other Necco brands like Sweethearts (the original conversation heart), and Canada Mints, as well as the equipment used to manufacture them. In September 2018, Spangler announced plans to revive the Necco Wafer with a return to market target date of November 2019.[4]

History

Necco Wafers date back to 1847. Oliver Chase, an English immigrant, invented a lozenge cutting machine with which he produced the wafers. At the time of the Civil War, these were called "hub wafers" and were carried by Union soldiers. In 1901, Chase and Company merged with two other companies to incorporate the New England Confectionery Company. By 1912, the wafers were being advertised as "Necco Wafers", a name they still carry today.[5]

During World War II the United States government ordered Necco to produce its wafers for soldiers overseas. As a result of this action, Necco saw its sales of the wafers peak. Upon returning home, many former soldiers became faithful customers who continued to buy the wafers.[1]

The company itself has been acquired several times, first in 1963, and most recently in 2018.[6][7]

Changes in formula

In 2009, Necco changed the formula for its Necco Wafers. Artificial colors and flavors were eliminated. The candy was made softer through the addition of glycerine. The lime flavor was removed due to difficulties in creating an all-natural green coloring, resulting in a 7-flavor Necco Wafer roll.[1]

According to Jackie Hague, Necco's vice president of marketing, switching to all-natural flavors and colors "would draw young mothers concerned about their children's diet."[8] The new cinnamon flavor is "less like Red Hots", the new lemon, "less like paper candy dots and more like lemon meringue pie filling."[8] The chocolate flavor—previously a vanilla flavor "with a hint of chocolate flavoring"—switches to a more intense all-cocoa flavor.[8] In addition, the Necco Chocolate assortment changed from 100% of the standard Necco chocolate wafers into a four-flavor chocolate assortment.

However, the change was not as popular with long-time customers as anticipated.The company received “some complaints about the new formulations.”[1] In response to these concerns, Necco Wafer production switched back to the original formula in the summer of 2011.[1]

Other varieties

Tropical Necco Wafers launched in 2012 and offer a new assortment of tropical fruity flavors: mango, passion fruit, coconut, banana, lime, and strawberry[9]

The Chocolate Necco Wafers is a single-flavor roll composed completely of the Chocolate wafers.[10]

Necco Sour Wafers are in a roll of six tart flavors: Watermelon, Wildberry Grape, Sour Apple, Lemon, Extreme Tangerine, and Blue Raspberry. As of June 2018, these are not shown on NECCO's varieties website, but could still be found in some stores. NECCO Wafers - Assorted

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "In with the old, out with the new", The Boston Globe, Tuesday October 25, 2011, pages B5, B9.
  2. ↑ NECCO Wafers from the company's website
  3. ↑ Brickley, Peg; Fitzgerald, Patrick (July 26, 2018). "New Owner Sells Candy Maker Necco After Deal Turns Sour". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  4. ↑ https://www.spanglercandy.com/newsroom/2018/09/21/spangler-candy-expanding-campus-product-lines
  5. 1 2 About Us from the company website
  6. ↑ Conti, Katheleen (2018-06-01). "In a sweet plot twist, the owner of Twinkies is Necco's buyer". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  7. ↑ "Revere's Necco plant shuts down abruptly, is sold". The Boston Globe. July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018 – via Boston.com.
  8. 1 2 3 Sugar and Spice, an October 2009 article from The Atlantic
  9. ↑ Necco Tropical Wafers
  10. ↑ Necco Chocolate Wafers
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