It’s Candy Corn Season, You Guys

It’s candy corn season, which means long debate threads on Facebook and a lot of trash can memes, so here’s some history on the candy we love to hate.

By WKBW on October 15, 2018
(Photo by Trish Lease/Getty Images)

You either love it or hate it. Halloween is probably the number one holiday for candy consumption (I made that stat up), and everyone has a favorite. Skittles, Kit-Kat, Snickers, See’s – you have your choice. Some people like candy corn, some hate candy corn. What’s clear is that it seems to be the most-debated candy of all time. National Candy Corn Day, by the way, is October 30th.

What is candy corn? Well, mostly sugar, truth be told. According to this source from last Halloween, candy corn is made up of “sugar, corn syrup, confectioner’s glaze, salt, dextrose, gelatin, sesame oil, artificial flavor, honey, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, and Red 3.” A serving portion is just 19 pieces, and that contains about 140 calories. Will it totally destroy your teeth? No actually – it’s not a “sticky” sugar. The sugars in candy corn (and chocolate) are easily cleaned off our teeth. Sugars in caramel and other stickier candies are more difficult to clean off, and thus do more damage to our teeth.

Candy corn was first made back in the 1880s, and even in the early 1900s it was a big deal. It took a crew of people months to make a supply for the year. The recipe was purchased from its inventor in 1898, and is now owned by Jelly Belly. There’s about 35 million pounds of the candy made every year, most of it for Halloween. The different colors in the candy are just visual, there’s no flavor difference, no matter what anyone says they can taste. Why do they call it Candy Corn? Well, here’s one theory:

How do you eat candy corn? There’s no proper way, but some people start with the white tip. Others start with the yellow base, biting the colors off in sections. Others do it this way:

Do you like candy corn? It turns out that it’s probably a generational thing. If you grew up in the in the ’50s, ’60s, or ’70s, you probably like the sugar cones. If you grew up in the ’90s, you were more likely raised on sweeter fruiter things like SKittles and Starburst candies (or no candy at all), and you probably hate candy corn. This kid’s probably going to hate it though:

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