19 chocolatey candy bars from the 1970s that went extinct

Someone still cares about Caravelles.

Pop into your local drugstore and you'll find no shortage of chocolate. Heck, there are about 29 different kinds of M&Ms these days. You can pick up multiple varieties of Twix, chomp on umpteen iterations of Kit Kats, or go nutty with Snickers of all sorts. Are you a fan of coconut, toffee, nougat, dark chocolate or crisped rice? Well, they've got it in a candy bar.

Still, we miss a ton of candy bars from our childhood. Somehow, there seemed to be even more options available back then, as smaller confectioners continued to churn out regional favorites. Many of these beloved bites have gone to sugar heaven. Looking back is bittersweet, we were going to do it anyway. 

Did you eat any of these?

1. Almond Cluster

 

"This is an ugly candy bar," the self-deprecating commercial proclaimed. "It bulges from the way they stuff those almonds." Instead, they showed a picture of a woman in a bikini. It was the 1970s.

Image: Peter Paul / YouTube

2. Baffle

 

Originating in California and the Cardinet's candy company, the Baffle bar had been around since the 1920s. Ralston Purina later picked up the brand. The fudge bar soon fell off, perhaps because of its befuddling name.

Image: Candy Wrapper Museum

3. Butternut

 

Wish that Snickers didn't have all that pesky, mysterious nougat? Well, this bar made by Hollywood was for you, loaded with peanuts suspended in chewy caramel.

Image: Hollywood Candy Company / YouTube

4. By George!

 

Phoenix made this "baked butter crisp coated in milk chocolate." Was it friends with Oh Henry! bars?

Image: Candy Wrapper Archive

5. Caravelle

 

Peter Paul manufactured many of our favorite '70s candy bars. (Its Mounds and Almond Joy bars continue today under different manufacturing.) The gooey Caravelle was similar to the $100,000 Bar. 

Image: eBay / 237

6. Choco'Lite

 

A diet candy bar? Not quite. This lighter bar was pocketed with tiny air bubbles, much like an Aero bar, but with "crispy chips." Nestle did some tie-ins with Star Wars around the film's release.

Image: theswca

7. Clark 1776 Bicentennial Bar

 

It makes some sense that this would not last beyond the Bicentennial mania of 1976. Perhaps someone can bring back this peanut butter log for the upcoming Sestercentennial in 2026?

Image: Jason Liebig / Courtesy of collectingcandy.com

8. Clark Crispy Bar

 

We found this ad in the pages of Working Woman Magazine. Sounds like a pretty great 2 p.m. boost at the desk.

Image: Clark

9. Cris-P-Nut

 

"The Greatest Crunch on Earth" was essentially a Nestle's Crunch with peanuts added to the mix. 

Image: Mankatt / Flickr

10. Cristy

 

"Cristy" sounded like one of Charlie's Angels or one of Jack Tripper's roomies. It certainly was a more sophisticated candy bar, what with its "French nougat." Oooh… French!

Image: Candy Wrapper Archive

11. Milkshake

 

Hollywood's (the candy company, not the film industry) answer to the Milky Way.

Image: Hollywood Candy Company / YouTube

12. Planters Chocolaty Coated Peanut Block

 

A blanket of chocolate wrapped this sugar-shellaced brick of peanuts.

Image: Jason Liebig / Courtesy of collectingcandy.com / Flickr

13. Reggie

 

The Yankees legend figured he'd get into the Baby Ruth game. Although, the Baby Ruth was named for the president's daughter, Ruth Cleveland, not the iconic slugger.

Image: Curtiss Candy

14. Rinkles

 

Okay, this is not a candy bar, but Luden's take on Raisinets deserves a mention, mostly for its amusing name. Who says wrinkles are a bad thing? Their Mello Mint was a nice alternative to the York, too.

Image: Jasion Liebig courtesy of collectingcandy.com / Flickr

15. Sidekicks

 

The official treat of Robin and Kato.

Image: Peter Paul / YouTube

16. Snik Snak

 

Mars launched this obvious response to the rival Kit Kit around 1973. Clearly, Kit Kat won the war.

Image: Mars / YouTube

17. Starbar

 

The Starbar brings to mind Ziggy Stardust and disco. In other words, we adore it and want one right now.

Image: Jason Liebig / Courtesy of collectingcandy.com / Flickr

18. Tycoon

 

A $100,000 Bar? Pshaw! A true tycoon scoffs at such a value. A titan of industry would eat, well, a Tycoon.

Image: Candy Wrapper Archive

19. Wonka's Super Skrunch

 

Leave it to Wonka to come up with its own playful vocabulary. Well take "Skrunchy" over hair scrunchies any day.

Image: Gregg Koenig / Flickr

SEE MORE: 14 everlasting candies introduced in the 1970s

 

We still haven't finished those Gobstoppers we bought during Star Wars. READ MORE

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10 Comments

TheSentinel 33 months ago
The Cristy bar also used a different wrapper at its introduction, featuring a photo of a model:

QazWiz TheSentinel 18 months ago
notice: sugar, sugar and (after oil) there are almond bits AND SOME MORE SUGAR
(any -ose ending is a sugar, and any syrup is sugars often with a bit of water to make the syrup)

definitely healthy eating (NOT!)
TonyClifton 37 months ago
I LOVED Milkshake! I also miss the Mars bar that had the 6 almonds in it. And most of all, I miss Marathon bars! Occasionally I think it would be nice to have a 7 Up bar (it had 7 different fillings in it) but the jelly filling always grossed me out.
idkwut2use 37 months ago
Aerated chocolate, or anything, is the bomb…!
Marko 41 months ago
I used to buy Estee-brand dietetic chocolate bars for my dad in the late 70's.They were found in the dietetic products aisle in many supermarkets.He was a diabetic and they were sugar-free,made with the artificial sweetener Sorbitol. They had varieties like ilk chocolate with almonds,toasted rice or sweet raisins.While they lacked any real rich chocolate flavor and were rather bland; they were good for those with special dietary needs that had to avoid sugar. Sometime in the 1990's they disappeared and I believe the company no longer exists.I have not seen their products around in years now and the internet has no information on it either.
JohnPerry 49 months ago
I miss the Caravelle....and Milk Shake bars...
CelticTwilight 54 months ago
"...the Baby Ruth was named for the president's daughter, Ruth Cleveland, not the iconic slugger."

That was a lie by the candy company to avoid having to pay Babe Ruth any royalties.

They came out with the candy bar 24 years after Cleveland had left the White House, and 17 years after his daughter, Ruth, had died.

So ya it was quite clearly named to cash in on Babe Ruth's popularity and had nothing to do with the presidents daughter.








"...the Baby Ruth was named for the president's daughter, Ruth Cleveland, not the iconic slugger."

That was a lie by the candy company to avoid having to pay Babe Ruth any royalties.

They came out with the candy bar 24 years after Cleveland had left the White House, and 17 years after his daughter, Ruth, had died.

So ya it was quite clearly named to cash in on Babe Ruth's popularity.
RobCertSDSCascap 60 months ago
Peter Paul made many of the best candy bars!
WILD 67 months ago
Bottlecaps weren't on the list but the package without the logo was replaced with "1970s candy". They are still available but they now come in a roll and not in a bag. Also there's a matching-type game from GameHouse Games called Mad Caps that was created by MumboJumbo. You match the flavors or the bottlecap colors. The only problem is you top out at 999,999,900 points. But i enjoy it.
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