One of the 1980's candies I long for from my childhood are Wonka Dinasour Eggs. I can picture the small, cellophane package containing two glossy, smooth, egg-shaped jawbreakers like it was yesterday. Dinasour Eggs came in great colors too like lime green, turquoise, and lemony yellow. I've searched Wonka and other sites online trying to find some word of their fate, a picture, obituary - anything! I repeatedly came up empty and was beginning to think I imagined them until I found the above photo on grickily's Flickr page, finally proving that indeed they did exist.
While my beloved Dinasour Eggs may long be extinct, I have found a worthy replacement, and it just happens to be an Easter candy. Same company, same taste, just smaller in size, Wonka Everlasting Gobstopper Egg Breakers are the next best thing to Dinasour Eggs. Egg Breakers are miniature versions of Wonka's Gobstoppers with the holiday enhancements of pastel colors and being egg-shaped rather than round. Like Gobstoppers, they share the promise of changing colors and flavors as you suck on them. And while they may not last forever, I am quite happy when I reach the tart, condensed sugar core.In case you've ever wondered where the word "gobstopper" comes from, just look to those crazy Brits. "Gob" is British slang for "mouth". When you think about it, "mouth stopper" is pretty much the same idea as "jawbreaker" in the US. Wonka's gobstoppers are named after the Everlasting Gobstoppers which appeared in the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl was from Wales, hence the use of the word "gobstopper" to describe a jawbreaker.
6 comments:
Just to clarify here...you seem to have mixed up a few facts...
First, in the 1970s, the Wonka candy company sold Everlasting Gobstoppers, which were two round jawbreakers in a cello package. They usually came in various colors of Blue, or red, or yellow...Then, later on, they were reduced in size, and came in a box of about 20-something of them, and were called Everlasting Gobstopper Jawbreaker Midgets, then, a few years later, came out the Dinosour Egg, which was similar to the original Gobstopper, but was egg-shaped, and came one per box. Later on, in the late 1980s, those were reduced in size, and came in a box that contained many of them, and were soon discontinued. Years later, The Everlasting Gobstopper (still the mini-sized ones) came back on the market, and remains to this day available in stores.
Thanks Jonthan for your comments, but I also distinctly remember buying Dinosour Eggs in a cellophane two-pack.
Yes. The eggs were DEFINITELY available in the box that contained one big egg as well as the cello two-pack with two smaller eggs. I really loved the one in the box. I miss that candy... Sigh
Yes I knew I was not crazy.I remember the egg that came in the box.It had 1 big egg,I also remember the others mentioned but will always love the one in the box with 1 big egg.Childhood favorite of mine......
By the way, if ANYONE owns an old cello wrapper from the original Everlasting Gobstoppers candy, the one with the two Gobstoppers that had the goofy faces printed on the cello from the 1970s, please drop me an email as I would pay a lot of money for one. I am also looking for various other Wonka candy wrappers from the 1970s...
JONMANKUTA@aol.com
I want to know where I can still get the Egg Breakers....for whatever reason, they were better than the regular ones.
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