Candy of the Week: Judson-Atkinson Circus Peanuts

There are few candies in the world that transport me back to my grandparents' house faster than Circus Peanuts.  Perched on their coffee table with The Evening Sentinel were three Westward Ho! pressed glass candy dishes.  You never quite knew what would be revealed when you grabbed the Indian handle on the glass lid.  What tasty treasures would be inside?  Spearmint Leaves, Sour Balls, Orange Slices?  At Christmas time, would there be Cut Rock Candy, Barley Toys, or Ribbon Candy?  The anticipation was almost as sweet as the sugary delights inside.

Circus Peanuts were a staple in my grandparents' house just as much as bread and eggs.  It would've been a smart wager to bet that one of those glass compotes on their coffee table held Circus Peanuts or a sister candy shaped like corn cobs and pea pods, which no one seems to make anymore. 

Arguably, Circus Peanuts are some of the strangest retro candies around.  Their color, shape, and taste have nothing to do with each other.  One would expect that an orange candy would be flavored orange, that a peanut-shaped candy would taste like peanut butter, or that a banana-flavored candy would be yellow, but Circus Peanuts break all the rules.  They are a peanut-shaped, orange candy that taste something like banana!  No one quite knows what the origin of this candy is or why it's got such a problem respecting the candy rules, but experts agree that Circus Peanuts have been around for at least 100 years, gaining widespread appeal when their distribution became possible with plastic packaging advances in the 1940s.  And no one knows when and why this once orange-flavored candy changed flavor course to the more tropical climes of banana.  But what does seem clear is they're a love'em or hate'em candy, and I'm clearly on love'ems side.

Are they good?  You bet!  Do they go stale quickly?  That's a you bet, too, which is why we haven't carried them in the past because I could only get them in 30 pound bulk boxes.  But lo and behold, this past Monday at the candy wholesaler, I spied individually wrapped Circus Peanuts!  I greedily snapped them up and added them to my pile, knowing I could finally share my love of this perfectly bizarre candy with you for the bargain price of .10 each!

I'll be honest, I've never known what Circus Peanuts taste like except Circus Peanuts, but all my research is telling me they taste like banana.  Okay, I'm not going to argue, as I have no better suggestion and telling you they taste like Circus Peanuts doesn't help if you've never had them.  They are technically classified as a marshmallow candy, and while their texture is marshmallowy, it's not like the rubbery texture of a traditional white marshmallow.  These are fluffier and firmer--they're not going to bounce back into shape if you squish them.  I like them best fresh and soft, so that's why the individual wrapping is genius to me.  Expose these babies to air, and they'll go stale faster than Marshmallow Peeps, another love'em or hate'em kind of candy.

As they are mostly made of sugar and corn syrup, you can get a sugar rush fast by eating a handful of these, so my suggestion is you pace yourself.  With the individual wrapping, you can go slowly and relish one of America's strangest contributions to confectionery history, knowing the Circus Peanuts will be fresh every bite!