Because blowing into a madeleine just goes pphhhtthh

May 15, 2012 1:39 PM

Does this flute candy that I remember from my childhood exist, and can I get it delivered in the U.S.?

When I was a kid in the 1980s, a visitor, possibly from Europe, gave me a candy shaped like a child's flute or recorder. I remember it being translucent, with a number of different colors that gradually transitioned into each other, and maybe six inches long. It was tightly wrapped in clear plastic. It had a whistle-like mouthpiece and holes that you could cover with your fingers to make different sounds. Am I making this up, or did it actually exist? I searched online and the closest thing I could find was this Melody Pop. The Melody Pop has a stick, unlike the candy I'm thinking of, and it doesn't have the same coloring and has a slide whistle instead of holes, but it's the right idea. Question #2: are Melody Pops (or my possibly misremembered flute candy) available in the U.S.? (I'm in the Boston area.) I told my 5-year old about this recently and I'd love to find one for him.

posted by chickenmagazine to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Boom:

http://www.theonlinecandyshop.com/browseproducts/Chupa-Chups-Whistle-Pops.HTML
posted by Brockles at 1:43 PM on May 15, 2012

I don't remember Chupa Cups having the holes, only the slider. FYI. But that link is in NY to get them. Any UK candy store will likely carry them as I have seen them in similar shops in Canada. They were pretty popular.
posted by Brockles at 1:45 PM on May 15, 2012

Doesn't quite fit your description, but I remember a candy whistle that had a plastic mouthpiece, sort of like these. You could annoy your parents for hours after the candy was gone.
posted by IanMorr at 1:55 PM on May 15, 2012

Are you perhaps mixing up film memory with Whistle Pops? Remembering the candy as real, butthe holes have been inserted in your memory from the film?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toot_Sweets
posted by Brockles at 1:59 PM on May 15, 2012

Ok, more potential history here:

http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/?p=2822
posted by Brockles at 2:01 PM on May 15, 2012

I remember them. They existed in the UK. They weren't Whistle Pops but I can't remember what they were called.
posted by Summer at 2:04 PM on May 15, 2012

Best answer: I grew up in England, and I'm sure the Melody Pops I used to buy from local newsagents in the 1980s had holes, not a slider. Absolutely sure. The Internet is flatly refusing to back me up, though, leaving me saddened that apparently not only do the holey kind no longer exist, they've been largely expunged from the collective consciousness.

I liked the strawberry ones. They were an opaque pink, and they tasted almost completely unlike strawberry, as was the way of sweets in the '80s. The mouthpiece part would eventually dissolve into unusability, and strawberry-tinged spit would dribble down inside the whistle and make your hand sticky... OK, perhaps I'm not totally surprised that you can't get them any more.

They definitely had a stick, though; and they were closer to three inches long than six; and they weren't multicoloured. (I can picture a cream and pink one, but I can't persuade myself that I ever saw one with more than two colours.)
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:53 PM on May 15, 2012

Best answer: I remember those! They sold them in Louisiana 30 years ago! A quick search revealed nothing. I remember having trouble finding them even when I was a kid. You might want to check specialty, clear toy candy shops to see if they have the molds and could do a special order. Regennas Candy Shop in Lititz, Pa. is wonderful. I would contact them first. 717-866-1873 is their number.

http://www.clearcandy.com/
posted by myselfasme at 4:03 PM on May 15, 2012

whistle pops

http://candyaddict.com/blog/2007/08/21/retro-candy-flashback-whistle-pops/
posted by couchdive at 5:14 PM on May 15, 2012

this seems to be the only vendor that has them for sale.
http://www.candycrate.com/whpo36.html
posted by couchdive at 5:15 PM on May 15, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks, all! Based on that link to the Regenna's store, where they have the "clear candy" that resembles the flute candy I'm thinking of, I'm guessing this was not a mass-produced item and it's probably not something I'd be able to find again. I guess the Whistle Pop/Melody Pop is the closest I'm likely to come. The Japanese whistle candy looks interesting too.
posted by chickenmagazine at 8:08 PM on May 16, 2012