The old-school cavity creators at Valomilk were immortalized this year in Candyfreak, Steve Almond's book dedicated to such sweets of yore as Zagnuts, chalky Neccos and those godawful Goetz caramels with the cream centers. Some people might feel similarly nauseated by Valomilk cups, which were invented by accident when a candy worker got soused on the vanilla liqueur that went into the recipe for marshmallows and instead made chocolate cups with liquid white centers. (Motto: "When it runs down your chin, you know it's a Valomilk." Insert money-shot joke here, you perv.) But they are good, in that nostalgic-candy kind of way, aided by their old-timey packaging and their perseverance against big-daddy candy manufacturers with huge bankrolls. The company moved from Iola, Kansas, to Kansas City in 1916; after being sold to a Los Angeles outfit in the '70s and briefly shut down in the early '80s, fourth-generation Valomilker Russell Sifers started it up again here in 1985. On the company's Web site, Sifers acknowledges that the candy is hard to find, even in Kansas City, but you can buy it at Mr. Z's In & Out at 1600 West 39th Street.
