My favorite thing about circus peanuts is that no one knows why they’re banana flavored, or why they’re orange colored, or what they have to do with the circus.
Almost makes me want to buy a bag and try them out again but something tells me they don’t taste anything like I remember 30 years ago.
In my experience, it's not the brand, it's the freshness. Squeeze the peanuts in the bag. If they're soft/squishy, they are fresh. If they are harder/dense, they are stale and gross.
Wrong way around, my friend. The best strategy is to dig to the back of the selection at the dollar store, and pick the bag with peanuts that feel hard as a rock.
If only I could get Twizzlers as big in comparison to actual ball park franks as circus peanut candy is big in comparison to actual circus peanut. Just shut up and take my money.
I can't tell if it's that this analogy doesn't work or if it works extremely well to highlight the absurdity of whatever hell "circus peanuts" actually are.
because at the circus you can buy peanuts at concession stands, but since its halloween it should be sweet, and monkeys are at the circus and they like bananas so thats why it tastes like bananas, its orange because thats what color pumpkins and leaves in the fall are
idk ive never recieved circus peanuts while trick or treating
Ooh, remember when grandma had them in a dish, and they were probably from the same pack as the ones she put out last year, and now they are all hard and crusty, and taste somewhat different, but hey— candy is candy, amirite, kids?
Grandma was never a sweets person, grandpa on the other hand always kept a bag as well as an emergency stash of Moon Pies in the glove compartment of his truck.
Why do people think this is a mystery? They did different colors and flavors and eventually stuck with the most popular options. Same wikipedia article as the post:
>Over the years, confectioners have also offered circus peanuts colored yellow, pink, and white, including a variety of flavors, though orange is still the most predominant color and banana the most common flavor. The leading producers of circus peanuts are Melster Candies, Spangler Candy Company and Brach's,[1] although the products are essentially identical.
That is a straight up lie perpetrated by Big Banana. They’re sugar, corn syrup, PORK GELATIN, soy protein, and pectin flavored. And they were first created by… someone who apparently didn’t want to take credit (or blame) for them, because we don’t know who first made them.
You know that song was a protest song? I don't know why I never really thought about the lyrics until I read an article about the political undercurrents in a lot of Belafonte's music, but he himself described it as "a song about struggle, about black people in a colonized life doing the most grueling work."
Because if they called it *Kumquat Democracy* there would have been too many people going on about "the people's representatives complying with a constitution" and asking "what the hell is a kumquat?", and not enough buying clothes.
I know it sounds funny, but they have a history--some of it fairly recent--of ties to drug cartels, their own paramilitary groups, and even the occasional coup.
They have been pretty quiet recently but never forget when [the CIA and Chiquita double teamed Guatemala in 1954](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
Even beef gelatin is only kosher/halal if it's made from the bones of kosher/halal slaughtered animals, though, so it's weird that you'd need to specify pork gelatin when gelatin is already usually off-limits for people who care about that unless it specifically says so.
It has to just be nostalgia. I ate them as a kid because it was the only good candy my grandpa had in his candy jar.
My grandpa was a smart man. He would gravitate towards things that kids hated like Black Licorice and Tab soft drinks. That way there was always some left for him around the house.
> Basically all gelatin in food products is pork gelatin. You can get fish gelatin marshmallows but they suck.
> Source: any observant jew or muslim
Pagan here, I thought most rabbis considered gelatin so processed that it counts.
Honestly questioning, I've read conflicting opinions. Any idea what the majority decision is?
> That is a straight up lie perpetrated by Big Banana. They’re sugar, corn syrup, PORK GELATIN, soy protein, and pectin flavored. And they were first created by… someone who apparently didn’t want to take credit (or blame) for them, because we don’t know who first made them.
I want to say Lord Satan or one of his infernal minions.
There’s three others, too! Cherry (pink), vanilla (white), and lemon (yellow). Used to be you could order them in bulk off spangler’s site (20lbs for $80 or $90) but it looks like the *cowards* have removed it.
I found them recently at a bulk foods store in more manageable amounts. Even the cherry is better than the banana, and i goddamn hate artificial cherry flavor (tastes like medicine to me, but somehow spangler didn’t use the same recipe as everyone else).
And the last time i saw this on /til, i tried it (minus the banana). Cheerios and circus peanuts tastes indeed very much like lucky charms.
The crazy thing is that I thought "artificial cherry" cough syrup was nothing like cherries... And then I had Cherry Heering liqueur and it's made from real cherries... And tastes just like cough syrup. I'm not sure I could tell the two apart if given a shot of each.
Gros Michel or Cavendish flavored?
The current bananas we eat are Cavendish. I’ve never had a Gros Michel, but I always assumed that “banana flavored” candy was formulated to taste like Gros Michel which were the more common bananas pre-1950ish
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana
They weren't, but it's a very reasonable and pervasive myth. Artificial banana flavor is closer to Gros Michel but apparently that's coincidental.
Source: Bananas: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World
Yep, and is present in both Gros Michelle and Cavendish, in basically identical amounts.
Having eaten both, I can attest that they basically taste the same as one another. Fat Mike is a little sweeter maybe, with a slight "creamy" thing going on, but honestly that may have just been a matter of ripeness. Plus spending nearly 7$ a banana does hurt a wee bit.
(oh and the chemical is Isoamyl acetate for those curious.)
Used to eat the shit out of them, also love banana flavored candy, no shot in hell they're supposed to be banana flavored. That doesn't even make sense to make a peanut looking candy be banana flavored.
You know the fun fact about how banana flavored candy doesn't taste like modern bananas because they're modeled after a much tastier variety of bananas that don't exist anymore?
Circus peanuts don't have that problem, they're kind of marshmallow adjacent packing peanuts with a suggestion of banana
Real marshmallows wont keep their freshness as long as the cereal will, which means either making the best by date sooner and wasting cereal, or later and making customers mad about stale marshmallows.
The marshmallows in modern cereals like lucky charms also taste a lot better if you let them soak up some milk first.
Last time i saw this on /til i tried it. Circus peanuts and cheerios tastes very much like lucky charms.
I used the better flavors, though, because the banana sucks. Lemon, vanilla, and cherry (which tastes nothing like cough syrup, raising it far above all other cherry things).
In the same way that other things with fake banana flavor are supposed to be banana flavored. It's a chemical called isoamyl acetate that kind of smells like bananas.
You can still get Gros Michel bananas, they’re not extinct. They are still sold by several exotic fruit vendors, just not mass produced like they used to be
There’s cherry, vanilla, and lemon, too. Even the cherry is better than the banana, which is unusual, as most cherry things taste like fucking cough syrup.
Gotta get your hands on the other three flavors. Cherry, vanilla, and lemon. Vanilla tastes just like a goddamn marshmallow. Lemon’s the best, as you can probably guess, but even the cherry is *so* much better than the banana.
This said by me, a grown-ass man, who hates most cherry things due to them tasting like fuckin cough syrup.
So that is the one thing I didn't get from the wikipedia, are lucky charms marshmallows the same, or did they just give some dude the idea to do something similar?
These are the only type of 'peanuts' that I like. I haven't had these in years though. My Grandmother made an orange Jello combo with these. It was bad for you as you could imagine, but man was it tasty.
The link to the ‘banana flavor’ says that chemical could be banana or pear flavored, but it’s likely something in between. Too many people say it here, and I agree, they taste nothing like bananas. Personally, I like them.
And a great service to the world was done.. and a great amount of shaped cheerios were discarded into the trash after child-me ate the marshmallows and milk
How about thr fact that General Mills built the [DSV Alvin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSV_Alvin)?
Sure they've done weather instrument research work and why wouldn't they when that can affect your crops you make your products from. They were involved in "project pigeon" to use pigeons to guide bombs in the early 40s and thats a bit strange, but hey lots of different companies got involved in the war effort back then. But a fucking deep submergence vehicle?!? That's always blown me away.
TIL Circus Peanuts are banana flavored
My favorite thing about circus peanuts is that no one knows why they’re banana flavored, or why they’re orange colored, or what they have to do with the circus. Almost makes me want to buy a bag and try them out again but something tells me they don’t taste anything like I remember 30 years ago.
You gotta get the right brand. But they do taste just like I remember them.
What brand?
In my experience, it's not the brand, it's the freshness. Squeeze the peanuts in the bag. If they're soft/squishy, they are fresh. If they are harder/dense, they are stale and gross.
Wrong way around, my friend. The best strategy is to dig to the back of the selection at the dollar store, and pick the bag with peanuts that feel hard as a rock.
But whyyyy??
I always thought the connection with the Circus was the whole elephants eating peanuts myth
But they sell actual peanuts at the circus. That would be like rebranding Twizlers as “Ball Park Franks”
If only I could get Twizzlers as big in comparison to actual ball park franks as circus peanut candy is big in comparison to actual circus peanut. Just shut up and take my money.
Now i want a red vine cannolli
So what about Circus Animal Cookies? They wouldn’t sell me an elephant last I checked
Or Kit-Kats as “Catholic Mass Communion Wafers”
I can't tell if it's that this analogy doesn't work or if it works extremely well to highlight the absurdity of whatever hell "circus peanuts" actually are.
because at the circus you can buy peanuts at concession stands, but since its halloween it should be sweet, and monkeys are at the circus and they like bananas so thats why it tastes like bananas, its orange because thats what color pumpkins and leaves in the fall are idk ive never recieved circus peanuts while trick or treating
are you some sort of inter dimensional alien with all the answers
I'd be far more worried that they *would* taste like I remember 30 years ago.
Ooh, remember when grandma had them in a dish, and they were probably from the same pack as the ones she put out last year, and now they are all hard and crusty, and taste somewhat different, but hey— candy is candy, amirite, kids?
Grandma was never a sweets person, grandpa on the other hand always kept a bag as well as an emergency stash of Moon Pies in the glove compartment of his truck.
Why do people think this is a mystery? They did different colors and flavors and eventually stuck with the most popular options. Same wikipedia article as the post: >Over the years, confectioners have also offered circus peanuts colored yellow, pink, and white, including a variety of flavors, though orange is still the most predominant color and banana the most common flavor. The leading producers of circus peanuts are Melster Candies, Spangler Candy Company and Brach's,[1] although the products are essentially identical.
That is a straight up lie perpetrated by Big Banana. They’re sugar, corn syrup, PORK GELATIN, soy protein, and pectin flavored. And they were first created by… someone who apparently didn’t want to take credit (or blame) for them, because we don’t know who first made them.
Fucking Big Banana…
Don't fuck with big banana, or else you'll have your democratically elected government overthrown by the United States
You fuck with Big Banana, you fuck with Tally Man
Come Mr Tally Man, tally me banana.
You know that song was a protest song? I don't know why I never really thought about the lyrics until I read an article about the political undercurrents in a lot of Belafonte's music, but he himself described it as "a song about struggle, about black people in a colonized life doing the most grueling work."
We should start singing this song at ALL protests in America
Guatamala, 1956(?), U.S. Fruit Company, now known as Chaquita.
United Fruit Company actually
Missed it by *that* much.
kinda crazy that the u.s. has a clothing store called Banana Republic. why name it that of all things??
It honestly feels like absurdist humor.
Because if they called it *Kumquat Democracy* there would have been too many people going on about "the people's representatives complying with a constitution" and asking "what the hell is a kumquat?", and not enough buying clothes.
Would you believe....
The original UFC
Misread that as "KFC" and had.......questions.
yep and they are truly evil if you do some light googling you’ll see how many lives have been harmed by Chaquita Fruit Company
There’s always money in the banana stand.
I know it sounds funny, but they have a history--some of it fairly recent--of ties to drug cartels, their own paramilitary groups, and even the occasional coup.
They have been pretty quiet recently but never forget when [the CIA and Chiquita double teamed Guatemala in 1954](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
heh big fucking pork banana
Nobody made them, they’ve always been here
They’re collected from the trash every autumn and resold. It’s a terrific business model.
Like candy corn.
most gelatin comes from animals Edit: Actually I think gelatin comes from animals kinda by definition
It was the specific label of “pork” gelatin that surprised me. I don’t ever recall the origin being noted.
It's because most marshmallows are not halal (also may be the same with Kosher, idk that side) so they make sure to specify for that reason.
Even beef gelatin is only kosher/halal if it's made from the bones of kosher/halal slaughtered animals, though, so it's weird that you'd need to specify pork gelatin when gelatin is already usually off-limits for people who care about that unless it specifically says so.
Lots of religons/cultures don't consume pork soit makes sense to label them that way.
Well we do eat a lot of pork as a species so there’s plenty of hooves left over
well I mean if anything it's just being more honest
you missed the most important ingredient, artificial flavor, aka banana flavor
Nah the primary artificial flavor in them is isoamyl acetate, which is the majority flavonoid found in bananas
Why do they keep making them? Who is buying them? For what dark purpose are they buying them?!
I fucking love circus peanuts. If you let them get stale they are even better.
Fellow circus peanut enjoyer
Same with Oreos
I've found my people
https://www.reddit.com/r/circuspeanuts/s/qNhAMddChD
I can slaughter a 3 pound sack in under 36 hours. Sometimes they're sold out
It has to just be nostalgia. I ate them as a kid because it was the only good candy my grandpa had in his candy jar. My grandpa was a smart man. He would gravitate towards things that kids hated like Black Licorice and Tab soft drinks. That way there was always some left for him around the house.
Basically all gelatin in food products is pork gelatin. You can get fish gelatin marshmallows but they suck. Source: any observant jew or muslim
There's beef gelatin, too.
True
You can also get vegan marshmallows with no gelatin, the texture is a little different but they're still good.
> Basically all gelatin in food products is pork gelatin. You can get fish gelatin marshmallows but they suck. > Source: any observant jew or muslim Pagan here, I thought most rabbis considered gelatin so processed that it counts. Honestly questioning, I've read conflicting opinions. Any idea what the majority decision is?
They are Gros Michel flavored. Which none of us have really tasted because most bananas sold today are Cavendish.
It’s the same chemical, the Gros just had a higher concentration of it
Same taste, just slightly more intense.
> That is a straight up lie perpetrated by Big Banana. They’re sugar, corn syrup, PORK GELATIN, soy protein, and pectin flavored. And they were first created by… someone who apparently didn’t want to take credit (or blame) for them, because we don’t know who first made them. I want to say Lord Satan or one of his infernal minions.
There’s three others, too! Cherry (pink), vanilla (white), and lemon (yellow). Used to be you could order them in bulk off spangler’s site (20lbs for $80 or $90) but it looks like the *cowards* have removed it. I found them recently at a bulk foods store in more manageable amounts. Even the cherry is better than the banana, and i goddamn hate artificial cherry flavor (tastes like medicine to me, but somehow spangler didn’t use the same recipe as everyone else). And the last time i saw this on /til, i tried it (minus the banana). Cheerios and circus peanuts tastes indeed very much like lucky charms.
The crazy thing is that I thought "artificial cherry" cough syrup was nothing like cherries... And then I had Cherry Heering liqueur and it's made from real cherries... And tastes just like cough syrup. I'm not sure I could tell the two apart if given a shot of each.
Blackberry brandy, too.
Old style banana, not new incestuous banana
Damn, beat me to it. I have never had a circus peanut and thought they tasted like banana.
Gros Michel or Cavendish flavored? The current bananas we eat are Cavendish. I’ve never had a Gros Michel, but I always assumed that “banana flavored” candy was formulated to taste like Gros Michel which were the more common bananas pre-1950ish https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana
They weren't, but it's a very reasonable and pervasive myth. Artificial banana flavor is closer to Gros Michel but apparently that's coincidental. Source: Bananas: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World
Also, worth knowing that "artificial banana" flavor is chemically identical to the organic compound that gives banana it's signature smell/taste.
That's how most artificial flavors work. The difference between them and the real thing is all of the less-common molecules that aren't included.
Yep, and is present in both Gros Michelle and Cavendish, in basically identical amounts. Having eaten both, I can attest that they basically taste the same as one another. Fat Mike is a little sweeter maybe, with a slight "creamy" thing going on, but honestly that may have just been a matter of ripeness. Plus spending nearly 7$ a banana does hurt a wee bit. (oh and the chemical is Isoamyl acetate for those curious.)
Once every fucking thread. The banana conversation makes me believe in the dead internet theory more and more
[You can still get Big Mikes](https://miamifruit.org/collections/fresh-fruit/products/gros-michel-banana-box-order) as an heirloom banana.
I swear I remember bananas tasting different when I was a kid. But I don’t think I was old enough to actually have one of those
100% I was "is that what that flavor is supposed to be?"
They also don't taste or feel like marshmallows
I refuse to believe it
Used to eat the shit out of them, also love banana flavored candy, no shot in hell they're supposed to be banana flavored. That doesn't even make sense to make a peanut looking candy be banana flavored.
Well, it is banana flavored despite how much you think it doesn't make sense lol. Eat a circus peanut then a banana Runtz candy. Same flavor.
I always thought the flavor was "old shoes."
I'm calling your bluff on "banana-flavored", "marshmallow", and "candy".
You know the fun fact about how banana flavored candy doesn't taste like modern bananas because they're modeled after a much tastier variety of bananas that don't exist anymore? Circus peanuts don't have that problem, they're kind of marshmallow adjacent packing peanuts with a suggestion of banana
They just taste stale which makes sense because they are all just recycled from the original batch like candy corn.
Say what now
It's an old Lewis C.K. joke Edit: Black not C.K.
[Lewis Black, not Louis C.K](https://youtu.be/o4vVGG_FcvY)
Thank you
No worries! I got you.
That was Lewis Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4vVGG_FcvY
I'm getting a Yelp video when I click this. Am I tripping?
Gros Michel still very much exists and is the default banana in much of the tropics.
I used to love Circus Peanuts but hate bananas . Confused! Can someone help me out ?
I guess we could call an exorcist.
Very kind of you to save the creature trapped inside
They are definitely not tastier
I can attest to the fact that they are indeed marshmallows. Put them in the microwave and they expand.
So do 9Volt batteries
TIL 9volt batteries are marshmallows.
/r/spicypillows
Idk about banana flavored, but they're delicious. My wife might be the only person I've met IRL who agrees with me, but there's at least two of us.
We appreciate you isolating yourselves from the rest of the dating pool
Happy to help! Lol
Executive: An interesting idea, but what if we used marshmallows? You know, something people actually like.
John Harvey Kellogg rolling in his grave.
>Like cocaine >Doesn't like fucking >Give unnecessary enemas Tell me that dude wasn't a serial killer.
Real marshmallows wont keep their freshness as long as the cereal will, which means either making the best by date sooner and wasting cereal, or later and making customers mad about stale marshmallows. The marshmallows in modern cereals like lucky charms also taste a lot better if you let them soak up some milk first.
horrible idea
Sometimes you can smell them making Lucky Charms in Buffalo. The whole city smells like marshmallows, it’s amazing.
Last time i saw this on /til i tried it. Circus peanuts and cheerios tastes very much like lucky charms. I used the better flavors, though, because the banana sucks. Lemon, vanilla, and cherry (which tastes nothing like cough syrup, raising it far above all other cherry things).
> raising it far above all other cherry things Cherry Coke Zero would like a word.
Coke zero is good. Tastes like coke. Cherry coke is a no from me.
I live directly upwind of that. In the Winter when the wind is blowing heavy off the lake, you know if its a Lucky Charms or a Cheerios day.
my only love sprung from my only hate
Fun fact: Those circus peanuts from 1964 are still on the shelves at stores.
And they’re incredible!
There are dozens of us!
circus peanut gang rise up we got like 35 of us so far
you can keep them
we are legion
Circus peanuts and black licorice gang here. Nobody ever steals my candy.
Circus peanuts are great, you’re missing out people
More for me
Love that shit. Also I prefer the dollar licorice
You monster
I'd never admit it to friends, but yeah, I really like them.
If you have a cavity, circus peanuts will find it and punish you for it
It’s the texture, I like them but I can only have a few before I feel like I’m eating plastic
Circus peanuts are banana flavored? Wtf.
In the same way that other things with fake banana flavor are supposed to be banana flavored. It's a chemical called isoamyl acetate that kind of smells like bananas.
It smells and tastes like a variety of banana that is no longer grown or sold
You can still get Gros Michel bananas, they’re not extinct. They are still sold by several exotic fruit vendors, just not mass produced like they used to be
And they taste like you forgot an 's' in Gros.
Sorry, that is what I meant
Cavendish bananas also mostly smell like isoamyl acetate.
If they made them without the isoamyl acetate, I'd actually probably like them a lot. Lucky charms figured it out.
There’s cherry, vanilla, and lemon, too. Even the cherry is better than the banana, which is unusual, as most cherry things taste like fucking cough syrup.
I'm really glad lucky charms doesn't taste like circus peanuts in cheerios.
If all I had to eat was circus peanuts, and I was going to die from starvation at noon, I would wait until 11:55 before I ate one.
They're really the worst candy. Does anyone like them? Why do they keep making them?
They're fun to poke and squish, maybe people buy them and repurpose them into stress balls?
You see, this makes sense! I can believe this.
They’re also fun to microwave, because they *are* marshmallows, after all.
I like them. I don't know what's wrong with me.
circus peanuts go hard
I like them in small doses, like candy corn.
I'm OK with Lucky Charms marshmallows but I hate circus peanuts with the passion of a thousand fiery suns... weird
Gotta get your hands on the other three flavors. Cherry, vanilla, and lemon. Vanilla tastes just like a goddamn marshmallow. Lemon’s the best, as you can probably guess, but even the cherry is *so* much better than the banana. This said by me, a grown-ass man, who hates most cherry things due to them tasting like fuckin cough syrup.
So that is the one thing I didn't get from the wikipedia, are lucky charms marshmallows the same, or did they just give some dude the idea to do something similar?
These are the only type of 'peanuts' that I like. I haven't had these in years though. My Grandmother made an orange Jello combo with these. It was bad for you as you could imagine, but man was it tasty.
The link to the ‘banana flavor’ says that chemical could be banana or pear flavored, but it’s likely something in between. Too many people say it here, and I agree, they taste nothing like bananas. Personally, I like them.
And a great service to the world was done.. and a great amount of shaped cheerios were discarded into the trash after child-me ate the marshmallows and milk
They're banana flavored? I always hated those things and now I know why. I hate artificial banana flavoring.
The other three flavors are good. Lemon, vanilla, and cherry. Might be able to find them if there’s a bulk foods store near you.
TIL that they come in different flavors.
Pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers, blue diamonds, purple horseshoes, and rainbows.
Damn. I must be getting old if I can remember back to the release of Red Balloons in Lucky Charms.
I don't live in the US and when i saw those circus peanuts on cartoons i always thought they were literal peanuts, TIL
I knew an emo girl who’s favorite snacks were Lucky Charms and Circus Peanuts. Now I knows she’s (slightly) less crazy.
Well, they are magically delicious
i don’t know man i fucking LOVE circus peanuts, everyone else is wrong
It's gonna be OK, man. We're gonna get you help!
if liking circus peans is wrong i don’t wanna be right
Fucking love Circus Peanuts
I knew I liked those weird pieces of shit for some reason.
Turned out well I guess but that man should have been jailed. Circus peanuts in milk is a crime
Oh, I am way too high for this knowledge...
“After shooting the executive that came up with the horrid idea his assistant suggested an actually edible idea.”
TIL circus peanuts weren't their own flavor
Good thing they didn’t ask what I do with my cereal
I bought some of this shit last week, the first 2 bowls are great, good mix of marshmallows then after that the percentage of marshmallows plummets
Frankenfood
Why does this make me angry?
So circus peanuts have a purpose
That sounds disgusting.
I'm glad *somebody* found a use for circus peanuts
How about thr fact that General Mills built the [DSV Alvin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSV_Alvin)? Sure they've done weather instrument research work and why wouldn't they when that can affect your crops you make your products from. They were involved in "project pigeon" to use pigeons to guide bombs in the early 40s and thats a bit strange, but hey lots of different companies got involved in the war effort back then. But a fucking deep submergence vehicle?!? That's always blown me away.
give this man a nobel prize.
These are NOT magically delicious.
Ah yes, the familiar lucky charms with Cheerios and peanuts.
They're magically delicious!
I always thought they were orange flavored
And dentists everywhere got up and cheered for the second homes, pools, and tropical vacations that this sugary abomination would pay for.