Now & Later: Taffy Now, Taffy Later

by Laurnie Wilson

Sometimes, you want taffy now. Sometimes, you want taffy later. It’s just the kind of candy that can satisfy your sweet tooth any time of day. It can be tough at first, but it’s worth working your mouth muscles to chew it into malleable perfection. Clearly, the people behind Now & Later Taffy knew what they were talking about when they named their product, all those years ago.

A Chewy Past

Way back in 1962, The Phoenix Company, started by father and son Harry and Joseph Klein, began producing Now & Later Taffy on a German made machine. This feat of sugar and engineering produced 150 bars a minute, and each bar sold for 5 cents each.

The great thing about this candy was that it could be enjoyed all year round, instead of just for a few months during the summer, like saltwater taffy. Thus, it provided a constant and reliable income, not to mention a constant and reliable source of sweetness.

Now & Later Taffy made quite an impression, as it enthralled consumers by starting out hard and then becoming soft and chewy. (That’s if you were patient enough to let it warm up in your mouth, first!)

Taffy for All

The original colors were red, blue, and green. But, over the years, they’ve created flavors from orange to rum caramel, and everything in between. Some notable flavors have included rainbow, thriller, and blue jeans. Now a days, there are 12 flavors, including, apple, banana, blue raspberry, cherry/apple splits, cherry, grape, strawberry, tropical lemonade, tropical punch, watermelon, wild fruits, and original. They’re all made by Ferrara Candy Company, for your taff-tastic pleasure.

And while the name implies that you should eat some now and save some later, we doubt you’ll be able to keep it around for “later” to ever happen.

Want to explore the history of other cool confectioner treats?  Visit our Candy History page to gobble up more fascinating and fun facts about other sweet treats.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_Later

https://www.candyblog.net/blog/item/now_later

https://www.ferrarausa.com/now-later/