Necco Wafers return to store shelves after two years

Necco Wafers will make a return to store shelves after a two year hiatus, company officials said.

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Spangler Candy Company said the thin, chalky, colorful candy, which first appeared in 1847, will return to drugstore and other retailer shelves across the country this summer.

"We've always admired the brand and how it's woven in with the fabric of our culture," Kirk Vashaw, company chairman and CEO, told "Today." "It's neat to be eating a candy that was carried by Civil War soldiers, and taken on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, and issued to GIs in World War II as a morale booster. It's a piece of our history."

The New England Confectionery Company, or Necco, was the oldest continuously running candy maker in the country before its factory closed suddenly in 2018, Today reported. Its assets including the equipment needed to make the sweets, were purchased at auction by Spangler. The company is currently producing the candies in Mexico, Today reported.

The original recipe for the candy wafers remains essentially unchanged. The candy returns with eight flavors and colors including lemon (yellow), lime (green), wintergreen (pink) and chocolate (brown).

"True Necco Wafers connoisseurs may detect a richer cocoa flavor in the chocolate wafers due to a minor improvement made in the cooking process," the company said in a statement.

The packaging is the same and even comes from the same supplier.

“Candy is a simple joy in life and it’s a simple reward,” Vashaw told Today. “People want the same thing they remember as a kid. That’s the beauty of candy — nostalgia.”

Cox Media Group