0:04

Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh

0:06

and there's Chuck and this is uh

0:09

Neco wafer short stuff on Eco

0:11

wafers, the wafers from

0:13

Echo. Go ahead

0:15

and ask your question, Chuck.

0:18

Uh huh have

0:21

you ever thought

0:23

about putting

0:26

a necko wafer in your mouth? Oh?

0:30

Boy? That was good, good drama. Uh.

0:32

You know, I've never had one of these. I

0:35

haven't either, I've gone my hole. Really. Oh

0:37

yeah, I know. Can we pledge to

0:39

never have them? Or now do you want to? I

0:41

don't know. It's it could go either way. That's

0:43

a really good, good question, like, um,

0:46

like I could I could see going your whole. I like

0:48

getting that engraved on your tombstone,

0:50

Like, yeah, it never had an Echo

0:53

wafer. So

0:55

what we're talking about is a candy. Um.

0:58

It's referenced you prominently

1:00

in some movie in a line and I could

1:02

not think of what it was, which really bugged me.

1:05

Um. But that's sort of where I even heard of Neco

1:08

wafers was. I think just through pop culture. It's

1:11

not something. Not only have I not had one,

1:13

I don't know anyone who's ever had one.

1:15

Like I've never been with someone who was

1:17

just chowing on Necco wafers, or had

1:20

a family member that was an eco enthusiast.

1:23

No, it's a it's

1:25

typically and I don't mean to be a just but

1:28

it's typically viewed as kind of like a

1:30

Grandma candy, you

1:33

know, where, like saltwater taffy, even

1:35

though I know you love that, Oh dude, it's so good.

1:37

Saltwater taffy is just so

1:40

good when it's done right. I'm not arguing

1:43

that. I'm just saying it's a bit of a Grandma candy

1:45

love with our grandma's

1:47

God rest their souls exactly right. Um.

1:49

But no, that it has just kind of that whole

1:51

um doily kind of

1:54

aura around it, you know what I'm saying. Sure

1:56

you gotta. I think when you buy Nicco wafers,

1:58

it comes with the doily. It it does. You

2:01

just unroll the wax packaging. And

2:03

so if you've not seen this, you probably have.

2:05

If you don't know what we're talking about, you probably have seen

2:07

it. Um. Uh. It's

2:10

like it comes in like a kind of a

2:12

wax paper roll tube

2:15

tube um. And then the wafers

2:17

themselves are um a little

2:19

bigger than the size of a quarter maybe, Uh.

2:22

And they're dusty, chalky,

2:25

weirdly colored to the colors

2:28

are brown and gray. Um,

2:30

but they're like, no, not at all.

2:33

But they're like a multi colored roll

2:36

of of this chalky, dusty

2:39

um, multi flavored candy

2:42

that that they're not complimentary flavors

2:44

either. It's a mess. Neco wafers are a

2:46

big giant mess. I'm just gonna say it. They're

2:48

a hundred seventy year old mess. Yeah,

2:51

I guess we'll just go ahead and mention those flavors.

2:54

Um. You've got the lemon yellows, the

2:56

lime greens, the orange orange, U

2:59

light purple is clove. Do

3:02

not ever get one of those near my mouth. Cinnamon

3:05

is white, a little weird. Um,

3:07

winter green is pink, also weird.

3:10

Licorice is dark gray. And

3:13

then there's a chocolate flavor which is brown

3:16

and I guarantee you it does not taste like chocolate.

3:18

No. Um. And I was like,

3:20

like, you can look at Eco wafers and be like,

3:22

I know what that's going to taste like, and I'm

3:24

not going to like it. Um. But

3:27

you and I have had basically Neco

3:30

wafers because the Echo Company,

3:32

um, we should say the name is kind of an

3:34

acronym. It stands for New England

3:37

Candy Company, right, m hm

3:39

um. They also are the makers

3:42

of UM conversation

3:45

hearts, you

3:47

know, those little herds to say be mine, I'm yours.

3:49

Those are differently shaped Eco wafers.

3:52

It's the same exact thing.

3:54

So those things, when you've tried

3:56

them before and been like these are absolutely

3:58

horrible, you would think the same

4:00

thing about Neco way first, Yeah,

4:04

that makes a lot of sense. So it's just a it's

4:06

neck away fer. It's just a thinner, sort of UM

4:09

coin like version of those yes that

4:11

don't say something like be mine or I'm

4:13

yours. Apparently the ones these days say

4:16

email me or

4:19

or grab a glass of water. Right,

4:23

this is going to this is going to be terrible.

4:26

Alright, let's take a break here. We'll talk a little bit

4:28

more about where they started and why they're

4:30

still around. Right after this,

4:57

all right, let's if we got back in the way

4:59

back machine and went back to nineteen o one, we

5:02

would see Neco wafers being

5:04

cranked out from the New England Candy

5:06

Company, even though apparently

5:09

they were around since eighty seven. I

5:11

didn't quite get that. Yeah, one of the UM one

5:14

of the co founders of New England candy

5:17

company UM invented

5:19

this lozenge miss machine, the machine

5:22

that basically popped out these little wafers,

5:24

and one of the first things they did was use it to make

5:26

Neco wafers. So Neco wafers actually

5:28

predate predate Neco

5:31

itself, and they used to be called um

5:33

Hub wafers, and Hub was

5:35

like an old timey name, like slang term

5:38

for Boston, so they were Boston

5:40

wafers originally. But they predate

5:43

the company that made them famous.

5:45

And they predate virtually

5:48

every popular candy that we know of, and

5:54

I think Hershey Bar officially came out one

5:56

year pre prior, but um

5:59

every every they're sort of candy bar that you know in love

6:01

came around the nineteen twenties and thirties.

6:03

As far as the classics go, uh

6:05

Eminem's in the nineteen forties. UM,

6:08

but the neck a way for in nineteen

6:10

o one, they pack it in soldiers

6:13

rations in the Civil War, which

6:15

would should be your first like stay

6:18

far away from this candy in one sort

6:21

of warning, like if they put it in Civil War rations,

6:23

you probably don't want to be eating it today. Also,

6:26

so that's debatable whether it actually wasn't

6:29

the Civil War, Like, that's a longstanding

6:31

thing that Neco has been saying for a while, but I

6:33

think some historians I've looked into it are

6:36

like, no, I'm not a hardy percent sure about that.

6:38

But it definitely was in the

6:40

rations of American soldiers

6:42

in World War Two because the government actually

6:45

took over the Neco factory

6:47

and requisition like a

6:50

sizeable portion of their production

6:53

to to give to soldiers. Because they

6:55

don't melt, they're really portable and

6:57

it's like a high um calorie

7:00

dense snack. Yeah,

7:04

and the Civil WARLD was over in eight so

7:06

I had to have just been that first version that whatever

7:09

they were called the hub the hub ones.

7:11

Yeah. So at

7:13

any rate, um, they're made from sugar

7:16

and corn syrup. Uh,

7:18

they're, like you said, super chalky.

7:20

And if you um,

7:22

if you take a a survey or

7:25

a see a survey even online for candies,

7:28

it's usually kind of right at the bottom.

7:31

I feel bad because we're doing nothing but bagging on

7:33

this classic candy. And people love them really

7:37

from what I've seen, um

7:41

from one of the company's spokespeople, Yes,

7:43

some people love them. Get

7:46

a sweet teart if you want something like that,

7:48

or a spree spreezer even

7:51

better spree What is

7:53

a spree Oh, it's like the shiny

7:55

um the shiny slicker version of sweet

7:58

tearts. It's not at all powder. It's got a like

8:00

shiny coating and it's

8:03

and taste as well. And I

8:06

really love those. Really they were like

8:08

game pieces, Yes they did. So

8:10

it was a lot more fun to eat them because you'd

8:12

be like, I'm not supposed to be eating this, I'm supposed

8:14

to be playing and ts I'm gonna

8:17

eat it well. And that's a nice transition

8:19

actually, because as far as nicco wafers go,

8:22

people sometimes buy them and use them

8:24

for uh

8:26

kids to train them on communion, UM

8:28

edible poker chips, uh shingles

8:31

for gingerbread houses that's a nice application,

8:34

or place markers. So there

8:36

is actual evidence that some people

8:38

do enjoy the taste of them

8:40

because UM the current

8:42

company that owns them as Spangler

8:45

from Brian, Ohio. It's family run outfit

8:47

that's I think over a hundred years old.

8:49

UM and Spangler

8:51

very appropriately also are the ones

8:54

who make Circus peanuts, which is a lot

8:56

of people's second most hated candy,

8:58

So poor Spangler's putting out a

9:00

lot of stuff that people don't like. But whatever,

9:03

we're you know, hats off to them for

9:05

for staying at it. But um, I

9:07

guess Spangler did uh

9:10

or no, pre Spangler, the

9:12

company that owned them, change

9:14

the recipe like um

9:17

to kind of make it a little little less

9:19

artificially flavored and colored,

9:22

and there was a thirty five drop

9:24

in sales as a result, so they went back

9:26

to the original recipe. UM. So

9:28

that does mean that people out there do actually

9:30

eat Neco wafers, They don't just use

9:33

them as poker chips like you were saying. Yeah,

9:35

And you know, hats off to the Spangler company. We

9:37

love these small, kind of old school, family run candy

9:40

companies. UM. I don't think

9:42

that us saying that we probably

9:44

won't try an echo is gonna hurt their sales.

9:46

Hopefully this shines a little light on that company.

9:49

Um. But they did a survey last year in that

9:51

said, uh, that found that seventy

9:54

three percent of Americans are

9:56

familiar with or at least had an echo wafers.

9:59

Pretty good coverage there

10:01

a baby baby

10:03

boomers and gen X obviously

10:06

lead that pack, but see of millennials

10:09

know about Neco wafers and whatever

10:11

is it? What's behind Z? Is

10:16

that eighteen to twenty year olds or

10:18

is that even something else? I think they

10:20

fall within gen Z. Yeah,

10:23

we need to do that Generations podcast at

10:25

some point. But UM apparently

10:27

they obviously are sort of bringing

10:29

up the rear with awareness.

10:32

Eco awareness is what they call it. It is

10:35

eco awareness. But I mean

10:37

that's still pretty respectable for the set,

10:40

you know what I mean? And how much good these things?

10:42

I mean, what are they cost? What's the two of those

10:44

costs? I genuinely don't know,

10:47

but I will tell you that there was a dark time

10:49

where they were not around. UM

10:52

Neco wafers were purchased

10:54

by UM Spangler

10:57

in two thousand eighteen. Uh, and

11:00

they went offline and reissued

11:02

them in two thousand and twenty. But now I guess

11:04

they're here to stay, all

11:06

right. Well, I just looked it up out of curiosity. Apparently

11:09

you can get them delivered

11:12

during COVID, which is great. You can get

11:14

a six pack of Neco wafers for about

11:17

eighteen fifty, so

11:19

about three dollars a tube. Wow, I

11:21

did not expect that. Did

11:23

you expect like nine cents. No,

11:25

I expected it to hover more around a

11:27

dollar price point. Yeah,

11:30

an American classic, the original

11:32

in bold letters, candy wafers since eighty

11:35

seven. That's great. What's cool about

11:37

collecting them too. There's a lot of people who

11:39

clearly collect like the old nostalgic

11:42

neco wafers is um.

11:44

You can eat them and they'll taste exactly the same

11:47

today as they did when they were first made

11:49

back in the nineteenth

11:51

century. Does not surprise me. That's

11:53

great. I made that up, by the way,

11:56

but it was just a jambel. That

11:59

doesn't surprise me. There. Okay, Well, since

12:01

Chuck's not at all surprised, and I think we've reached

12:03

the end of this episode, I say, Chuck,

12:06

short stuff is out. What do you say? Agreed?

12:11

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