Topic: Thinking ahead......."Stocking Stuffers" (1/3) - The Quilt Show Forum

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TOPIC: Thinking ahead......."Stocking Stuffers"

24 Oct 2009 17:18 #40029

leafy
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My grandmother loved horehound candy too, but I never tried it because my mother always said it tasted terrible! Guess I'll have to give it a try.

It's getting harder to fill stockings for my kids -- they're both in their 20's now -- and my son doesn't like any kind of candy (must be some genetic anomaly). I'm always looking for ideas!

I try to find some useful items, toiletries and such. I've also included small bottles of hand sanitizer...seems like a good idea nowadays.

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22 Oct 2009 19:16 #39942

jbtaz36
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Now I think I'll have to make a trip to Cracker Barrel to get some horehound candy. I don't really remember what it tastes like as it has been years and years since I was little.. I don't think I was fond of it but I was much younger then and tastes have changed. I didn't like sauted mushrooms until I was 18.
I'm glad the Vermont Country Store came through for you. I remember buying a steamer to sit on my wood stove when I lived in MD a few years ago. Judy in AZ

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22 Oct 2009 19:08 #39941

suehenyon OFFLINE Posts: 1796 Thank you received: 51	My order from The Vermont Country Store came yesterday...a new dry iron & a pound of horehound candy. I must admit, I like the candy, after all these years of teasing Mom. They also sent a great color catalog with all kinds of old-timey candy. Such fun!
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15 Oct 2009 21:40 #39393

KathySamson
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I like the horehound candy too.
My grandmaw Ruthie always had the soft candy mint sticks that came in a box and the horehound candy.
I never ever had a stocking growing up guess I need to put myself on my own list with all the others this year!
We always fill the girls Mia,Cecille,Allix,Sydella up with candy treats and socks,hair doodles,books. We always have fruit & nut bowls sitting around. I also make different cookies and candies to set out too. I Decorate cookies with Cecille,Allix,Mia,Sydella all licking there little fingures! We watch the Christmas shows every year.

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15 Oct 2009 18:36 #39380

Lorchen
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I have never heard of horehound candy, so - being semi-intelligent and always willing to investigate (just like Jessica Fletcher) - I found the following information:

Horehound is a member of the mint family and was used to soothe sore throats, stimulate appetite, and as a relief for gas. While the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has found horehound to be mostly ineffective, other countries have found horehound effective as an anti-inflammatory and for relief for bronchial complaints. Testing is being done in the U.S., France, and Germany to uncover all the possible purposes horehound may be hiding. Some studies are promising in showing that horehound may have medicinal properties.

Until the mysteries of horehound are uncovered it is recommended that pregnant woman, lactating women, and children under two refrain from self-medicating with horehound. Horehound can prevent the absorption of iron and other minerals. Horehound candy is generally thought to be well tolerated in small doses, although hard candy is never recommended for small children.

You'll find horehound candy at old fashioned candy shops, living history museums, online, and specialty shops. They're a hard candy, usually sugar coated, and have a distinctly bittersweet taste to them. You can even make horehound candy at home with horehound extract.

Horehound is native to Europe, but is easily found in most parts of the world, if you choose to grow your own horehound. White horehound is differentiated from black horehound by its white flowers. Black horehound has purple flowers and a distinctive odor. If you decide to grow your own horehound, you'll want to purchase white horehound. Black horehound is related to white horehound, has a distinct odor, and has similar medicinal qualities but its odor may be off-putting in horehound candy.

Seeing that I have a very sore throat at the moment, and I'm not pregnant, lactating or under two years of age, I guess I could try this right now.

Quickly checking some sites about medicinal plants in German yielded the interesting information that the horehound plant has been used since early medieval times in Europe. One of it's uses was to treat snake bites, but it's main use was to eleviate flatulence.

Ah well, you learn something new every day.

Lorchen

From the edge of Sherwood Forest, home of Robin Hood

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15 Oct 2009 17:29 #39377

bobbysoxer OFFLINE Posts: 29	If you have a cracker barrel store near you they have horehound candy.
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15 Oct 2009 13:48 #39361

jbtaz36 OFFLINE Posts: 436	Why not try the Vermont Country Store. We used to get a catalog from them. Glad you clarified the meaning of "it".
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15 Oct 2009 08:59 #39341

suehenyon
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I don't know what you mean by "it".

So sorry, I didn't "use my words." I had made a comment about my mom giving us horehound candy one year instead of our traditional Christmas candy. Neither my brothers nor I would eat it. Folks here have said they like it, so I said I would give "it" a try again, knowing adult tastes differ from children's. I know of no candy stores in the Washington DC/Annapolis MD area, though there may be a chain store that carries this candy.

It would be fun to include it in the stockings of my adult children, just for the fun of telling the tale.

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14 Oct 2009 23:51 #39325

jbtaz36 OFFLINE Posts: 436	Sue, I don't know what you mean by "it". I found this gigantic candy store in the outlet in Monterey, CA, on Cannery Row when I went to Asilomar. The candy was in barrels, all of the stuff that I grew up on.
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14 Oct 2009 21:54 #39323

suehenyon OFFLINE Posts: 1796 Thank you received: 51	ok ya'll, so I'll guess I'll have to give it another try after all the passing of the decades. Where do you get it?
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14 Oct 2009 18:51 #39320

jbtaz36 OFFLINE Posts: 436	Do you remember Fleers bubble gum and Abazaba hard taffy with the peanut butter filling?
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14 Oct 2009 18:12 #39316

ritzy OFFLINE Posts: 2963 Thank you received: 82	We didn't get much candy but horehound was one of my granny's favorite and since she was the one buying--yep I like it too.
	Blessing from Northwest Indiana, USA Last Edit: by ritzy. The administrator has disabled public write access.

14 Oct 2009 18:10 #39315

florence OFFLINE Posts: 562	ok, I'll admit, I LOVE horehound candy!!
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14 Oct 2009 09:04 #39297

kfstitcher
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suehenyon wrote:

Oh my, you all have given me a real case of “I miss my Mom.”
My family’s tradition, too, was fruit, nuts and candy. Our stockings were knee-high socks.

I have no idea where Santa Mom shopped for Christmas, but we all had a perfect, gigantic Red Delicious apple, a gigantic Naval orange & a huge tangerine, the likes and size of which we never saw the rest of the year. The Brazil nuts were always the last to get eaten…who could crack those? Almonds and filberts (hazelnuts) were the first nuts eaten. We always had ribbon candy, and the kind of candy with the little picture in the middle. It’s now very hard to find that candy in my neighborhood (another excuse to ask the internet). Each child got a candy cane and a chocolate Santa.

Every year was the same, except for the nightmare year when Mom decided to get earthy & gave us some horrific stuff called horehound candy. Lordy, was that stuff awful.

OK, time to start on the stockings for the grown-up kids.
Thank you all for stirring up the memories.

Sue that is EXACTLY what we got in our stockings each year and what I put in my kids stockings! We called those gigantic red delicious apples sheepnose apples because the bottom looked like a sheep's nose. You're right that we never saw fruit like that except at Christmas so it was all quite magical and special. Karen

Lyndhurst, Ohio USA - East Side Suburb of Cleveland, Ohio