Hot Tamales

Hot Tamales is a chewy, cinnamon flavored, oblong-shaped candy introduced in 1950 — manufactured and marketed in the United States by Just Born, a family-owned, Pennsylvania-based candy company.

Deriving its name from the sometimes pungent (spicy hot) flavor of tamales, Hot Tamales was the top selling cinnamon candy, as of 1999.

In addition to the original variant, Just Born also markets Hot Tamales Fire (originally Super Hot Hot Tamales) with a hotter flavor and darker color.

In 2011, Just Born released Hot Tamales 3 ALARM containing a mix of three candies: orange (hot), pinkish (hotter) and dark red (hottest). In 2014, Just Born released Hot Tamales Tropical Heat that contains three candies, combining the original pungent, spicy flavor with lemon, mango and pineapple flavor.

A spearmint version available in the late 2000s (marketed as Hot Tamales Ice) has since been discontinued.

As listed on the original Hot Tamales box and Hot Tamales Fire boxes:

Sugar, corn syrup, modified food starch, contains less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: pear juice from concentrate, sodium citrate, pectin, citric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, confectioners glaze, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, artificial flavors, artificial color, magnesium hydroxide, red #3, red #40, yellow #5 (tartrazine), yellow #6, blue #1, blue #2 lake.

The late Ricky Wilson of The B-52's notes his love of Hot Tamales in their 1983 single "Song for a Future Generation".

...
Wikipedia