Candy Corn, do you love it or do you hate it? Or maybe you just can’t stop eating it. That smooth sugary addiction begins to appear on the shelves in September and remains in candy dishes well into December. But why do people love it, love to hate it, or just use it for Halloween decorations?
Candy Corn dates back to the 1880’s when about half* of the American labor force was made up of farmers. A slurry of “mellowcream” was molded into different shapes, pumpkins, turnips, chestnuts and other agricultural products, marketed towards children in the farm country all year round. Stop! What is mellowcream? It’s basically a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, shellac, gelatin, sesame oil, honey, artificial flavoring and food coloring. The texture is soft, kind of like marzipan, with a slightly harder shell.
The surgary delight differs from the original candy with its innovative 3-layered colors. George Renninger, an employee at Wunderly Candy Company in Philadelphia, created the tri-colored design, but because candy at the time was all handmade, candy corn was only produced seasonally from August thru the fall. In 1898, Goelitz Candy Company, now Jelly Belly Candy Company, picked up the recipe and began to market the kernels as a candy called “Chicken Feed.” Farmers used corn to feed pigs and chickens, but wheat shortages during WWI had many rethink corn flour and corn meal for everyday use. In the 1920’s, Goelitz displayed a rooster and the motto, “King of the Candy Corn Fields’ on the packaging. The name Candy Corn stuck and became a popular penny-candy.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, 2000 years ago, and only became popular in America as a community celebration in the 1950’s. The theory was that families would provide the children treats and candy to prevent the tricks, pranks and witchcraft. As Halloween became more dominated by candy, candy corn increasingly became the candy associated with Halloween.
Today you can find candy corn year round. The National Confectioners Association estimates more than 35 million pounds of candy corn are sold every year with October most prominent when on October 30th we celebrate National Candy Corn Day honoring the original chicken feed treat.
Fun Facts:
- The process and recipe for making Candy Corn remains close to the original candy, but now machines do most of the work
- Candy Corn is fat free, but loaded with sugar – each piece has about 7 calories
- People love to hate Candy Corn but it is one of the most purchased Halloween candy
- Candy Corn is now produced for other holidays; red, pink, white Cupid Corn for Valentine’s Day – red, white, blue Freedom Corn for July 4th – white, green, red Reindeer Corn for Christmas – and I think I have even seen white and blue Chanukah Corn – pastel colored for Easter Bunny Corn
- New flavors have been introduced from peppermint to pumpkin spice
- When first produced it costs 25 cents a pound – now it will run you as much as $9 a pound
- An open package of Candy Corn can last 3-6 months – unopened 9 months
- How does one eat a Candy Corn? – According to the National Confectioners Association, 31% of people start at the narrow white end and nibble each color; 51% pop the whole piece in their mouth at once; 17% start with the wider yellow end and work their way up to the point
- Americans spend 8 billion dollars a year on Halloween, candy, costumes, pumpkins and decorations, making it the country’s largest commercial holiday after Christmas
- Top 10 Favorite Halloween Candy for 2021**
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- M&Ms
- Skittles
- Snickers
- Sour Patch Kids
- Kit Kat
- Twix
- Hershey’s Mini Candy Bars
- Butterfingers
- Nerds
- Top 10 Least Liked Halloween Candy for 2021
- Candy Corn (people love to hate it, but can’t stop eating it)
- Circus Peanuts
- Peanut Butter Kisses
- Smarties
- Necco Wafers
- Wax Coke Bottles
- Mary Janes
- Tootsie Rolls
- Good & Plenty
- Black Licorice
**https://www.candystore.com/blog/holidays/halloween/definitive-ranking-best-worst-halloween-candies/
Penny and her family moved to Chapel Hill in 1998. She soon joined the Town of Chapel Hill’s Telecommunications and Technology advisory board and was appointed by the town to the OWASA board of directors where she served 6 years and held the Vice Chair position. In 2009 she ran and was elected to the town council in Chapel Hill, and in 2012 ran and was elected to the BOCC where she served 8 years, the last two as chair of the board. Penny owns and operates a personal chef and catering company and has been published in Cary Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, INDY Week, Southern Neighbor and News14. She lives in Carrboro with her mom Jersey Jacky. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram
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