Bottle Caps Candy (History, Pictures & Commercials)

Bottle Caps candy are a really unique candy that most people consider to be a classic candy. These little discs of sweet candy dissolve in your mouth and are pressed into shapes that look a little like bottlecaps. The candy was first sold in the 70s and has been popular ever since. The original packaging has been replaced, and one of the flavor variants did not stand the test of time, but those have been the only major changes to this product since it was first sold.

These little sweet candies are slightly tart and are great for munching on. Many people are familiar with seeing these candies at Halloween when they are often passed out in the small serving sizes common to candies at this time of the season.

History

As mentioned before, this candy was first sold in 1972. A company called Breaker Confections first made the candies. This product has always been offered in the same flavors which are grape, cola, orange, root beer, and cherry. Many people find them to be reminiscent of Smarties, not in texture but in flavor. SweeTarts are another candy that Bottle Caps candy are often compared to due to the slightly dry texture of the candy and the tart, yet sweet taste.

Candies that were made like the Bottle Caps candy were a great choice to help candy companies to balance out their chocolate and other products that are harder to keep viable when the weather is hot. Despite the fact that refrigeration was fairly common in the 70s, candy companies still tried to offer both chocolate bar style treats and more practical candies. This made them more versatile and helped with sales in areas where chocolate and ice cream treats would not survive hot weather very well.

Disc-shaped candies have been really popular for years as well because they are simple to make unique and they can be carried around readily. Packaging a disc-shaped candy is really simple and cost savings on this kind of candy style are huge when compared to creating packaging for more complex or larger candy styles.

While the current candy market is not as attached to dry and slightly tart candies the way that earlier generations were, there are still people that love dry, disc-like candies that come with a little tartness and sweetness at the same time. There is something to be said for taking a break from sweet and complex candies that are sold in bar form and being able to pop a few little candies into your mouth can be a great way to enjoy a little pick-me-up without having to eat an entire candy bar.

Bottle Caps candy are made and sold by the Ferrara Candy Company today, which is perfect since this candy company maintains many older brands that would otherwise likely no longer be sold. The packaging has not changed much since the first years that this product was on sale and you can still get Bottle Caps candy in paper rolls. You will also find the Halloween min-size snacks are still sold in small plastic wrappers with three bottlecaps in each wrapper.

The original packaging was green and was pouch-shaped, but you could not tell what you were getting inside this wrapper. The rolled style of packaging is a much better way to tell that you are getting a flat, disc-shaped candy. There is a current packaging option that is a plastic pouch that is purple in color that offers about 24 pieces in each bag. The rolled tube of candies is still the most popular packaging choice because of the classic nature of this candy packaging option.

There was a brief time in the past where Bottle Caps candy did have a lime-flavored candy included in the packages, but this was replaced with cherry when Willy Wonka Co was selling the products. The Willy Wonka Co. candy lineup also included a Fizzy Bottle Caps product that was offered in the same flavors as the original but with a fizzy quality that happened when you popped them into your mouth. The fizz was supposed to increase the flavor and it also offered the kind of taste experience that had become popular due to Pop Rocks.

Lime flavored cereals were also popular in the 70s, but equally short-lived. Maybe candy and food product makers could have interviewed kids about what kinds of flavors they liked so they would have been able to skip out on the lime flavoring for candies. Most kids are not a fan of lime flavoring for any kind of food item and nearly all of the lime-flavored products that hit the market in the 70s were not popular or were an outright flop. There are very few products on the market today that are sold to kids that are flavored in this way for good reason.

The original candies were about twice the size of the current product that you can buy. In 2009, they were downsized to make them smaller than the size of a real bottlecap. The underside was also flattened so that the candy no longer accurately resembles the shape of a real bottlecap. The product is still stamped to look a bit like a bottlecap, but the actual shape has been changed to make packaging easier and to save on weight and processing work. Since a large portion of Bottle Caps candy sales happen related to Halloween, this change in shape likely also helps make the min-size wrappers easier to stuff.

While many people still miss the Wonka Candy Co. and their lineup of quality and whimsical treats that were made to mimic the products that were offered in the children’s books, the Ferrara version of the candies is fairly true to the original products. Soda-flavored products are gaining popularity again, and Bottle Caps are poised to join these newer products as part of the overall snack-loving consciousness again. Even if they are not sold with a Fizz variant or in the original purple rolls that were used when the Wonka Candy Co had ownership of the product, this is still a fun candy that most people will love.

Flavors

• Lime- replaced by Cherry
• Cherry
• Grape
• Orange
• Cherry
• Cola
• Root Beer

These classic flavors have been the only flavor options since the candy was invented. Other than the ill-fated Lime flavor option, there have been no changes to the flavors that this candy was offered in since it hit the market. The pastel colors of the candies have also not changed, and you will find that the overall appearance of the candy is very similar to the original just like the flavor offerings.

The Fizz variant of the product was offered in the same flavors with the Fizz being more about the texture and eating experience than the actual flavor. The sweet and sour flavoring of these candies has not changed since they were first sold either, so almost everything about the candies that you can buy today is equivalent to the original products minus changes to the appearance of the packaging.

Ingredients

From the Ferrara Candy Shop entry:

• Dextrose
• Maltodextrin
• Less than 2% of Calcium stearate, malic acid, natural flavors
• Annatto extract color
• Caramel color
• Vegetable juice color
• Blue 1 Lake
• Blue 2 Lake
• Red 40 Lake
• Yellow 5 Lake
• Yellow Lake

The fizzy product is no longer sold, but if this version of the candy was, there would be some added ingredients to create the fizz in the candies. If you do have a very old package of Fizz Bottle Caps, you will have to look at the ingredients to see what has been added to the original recipe to create the fizzy texture and taste variation.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	13 pieces (15g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	60
Total Fat	0g	0%
Sodium	0mg	0%
Total Carbohydrates	14g	5%
Sugars	13g
Includes Added Sugars	13g	26%
Protein	0g
Vitamin D	0mcg	0%
Calcium	0mg	0%
Iron	0mg	0%

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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What do Bottle Caps Taste Like?

Many people will tell you that Bottle Caps candy are both sweet and tart and that they are dry in texture. The flavors are intended to mimic soda flavors and there is still a little bit of fizziness that seems to be built into the product despite the Fizz version of the product being gone from the market. Many people will also tell you that the candy provides sort of a cooling sensation on the tongue. If you love soda, this is supposed to be the candy that you will like the best.

Since you will get every flavor in a roll, box, or package of Bottle Caps candy, you will be able to try out all of the various flavors. There are things to love about all of the various flavors but many people prefer the Root Beer flavor above the other candy variants on the market. This one is the most like a soda, so if you have picked your Bottle Caps candy for this reason, then this will likely also be your favorite flavor. All of the various flavor options are enjoyable, and many people also love the fruity flavor options.

Pictures

Videos:

An unboxing video:

A taste test that shows the Wonka wrapper:

The original candy wrapper: