Abbe’s Ruminations October 2025
No Lemonade — Lemons Drops- Coffee Nuggets –
I’ve never liked the taste of sweet lemonade. The fruit was enough. I know the saying, the one where you make something positive from something negative, but I object—a fallacy that stigmatizes the fruit. Grante, the saying has it merits and triggered memories of my own adaptations.
In a small town in Britain in the year 1953, one year after I was born, a company called Regal Crown began production of hard candies, made with wholesome ingredients and cooked in an old-fashioned kettle. I discovered them in Miami when I was sixteen. Wrapped in foil packaging. The intense sour flavor puckered my cheeks and lips but satisfied me without being sweet. When I couldn’t find the sour lemons, I’d buy sour cherry. When I transferred to college in Boston, I couldn’t find Regal Crown candies and moved my habit toward a coffee candy called the Hopjes made by a company in Holland called Rademaker. The flavor was sharp and not bitter. I’m sure they contained coffee extract. Apparently, a Dutch diplomat, Baron Hendrik Hop left his coffee, sugar, and cream on the radiator overnight. The result was a thick harden block of coffee-flavored caramel. Again, my taste buds were discerning—taking in the strong coffee flavor, mellowed by the cream.
All this changed when I no longer could find these coffee nuggets. I was forced to buy my Aunt Shirley’s old favorite, Coffee Nips. Then I became addicted to the sugary caffeine taste and the chewier centers. It took over twenty years to break that habit.
Back to lemons. When I lived in Puerto Rico, I had lemon, grapefruit, and orange trees in my neighborhood. We squeezed the juice by hand. We peeled the skin and ate the oval centers. A treat that satiated all our thirsts. In the tropics the lemons, grapefruits, and oranges juiced had no need for sugar. All the fruits were sun kissed and had their own sweetness.
Note to all, I’ve had to research the companies that made these candies as their names, not tastes, had disappeared from my memory bank. After a deep dive into AI, I found their names, and where I can purchase them. I’ll refrain, as a former candy addict, it’s best that I ignore the temptation.
I’d love to hear from you– maybe your food addictions or something you’ve changed. You can find me at http://www.abberolnick.com
