Bonomo Turkish Taffy

by Bonomo

1936 – 1989 IT CAME BACK

Back — enthusiasts acquired the brand in 2002 and spent years rebuilding the original hard formula, returning Bonomo Turkish Taffy to sale in July 2010. It is on shelves today at Dollar General, Walmart and specialty candy sellers, and it is once again hard enough to require the smack.

A slab of taffy set so hard that the wrapper instructed you to smash it against something before eating — the only candy that shipped with a demolition step. Tootsie bought it, made it softer, and destroyed the entire point of it.

🧾 One more thingThe taffy was invented in 1912 by Herman Herer, and the Bonomo family took it over in 1936. After Tootsie Roll acquired the brand in 1980 the recipe was reformulated to chew more easily, the smack-it-crack-it ritual stopped working, sales fell away, and it was discontinued in 1989 — a rare case of a candy killed by being made more convenient.

Filed under: Candy & Gum · the ’70s & earlier

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