Love it or hate it, it’s candy corn season
Since the start of fall, a meme bearing the words, “It’s candy corn season for all u crayon eating psychopaths” has been making the rounds on social media.
In case you hadn’t heard, the yellow, white and orange sweet sold once a year is quite the polarizing treat.
“People, either they’re candy corn lovers or they’re candy corn haters. It’s a huge debate,” laughed Kristy Vliet, owner of 5 Kidz Candy in Waynesburg. “I am anti-candy corn.”
Which means you won’t find bags of the sugary-sweet confection on 5 Kidz’s shelves. But a piece of the fake corn does appear as an accent on the shop’s cupcakes and other fall desserts. Even then, the candy sometimes raises eyebrows.
Last year, a piece of candy corn that appeared on a spooky season cupcake artfully decorated in chocolate icing and a gravestone generated debate between a couple who popped into 5Kidz for something sweet.
“We have a husband and wife, the guy was like, ‘Why would you ruin perfectly good chocolate icing by putting candy corn on it?'” Vliet laughed, adding the wife said it was the icing that ruined the candy corn.
Candy corn has been dividing sweets lovers for more than a century.
In the 1880s, candy companies went through a phase, during which they molded mellowcreme concoctions into all sorts of agricultural shapes, including chestnuts and pumpkins, marketed to country kids, since about half of working Americans were farmers.
According to the National Confectioners Association, around that time George Renninger, an employee at Philadelphia’s Wunderle Candy Co., invented a colorful piece of corn made from sugar and corn syrup.
The tri-colored candy was cheap to make and, in 1898, the Goelitz Candy Co., now Jelly Belly, crafted its own version of Renninger’s sweet. Goelitz called it Chicken Feed, since corn didn’t often grace American dinner tables, and quickly other candy companies started selling their own version of Chicken Feed as penny candy year-round.
When Halloween became a commercial holiday in the 1950s, candy corn got a makeover, becoming a delicacy associated with and sold around Oct. 31.
In fact, according to the NCA, candy corn is the third most-popular Halloween treat for the 2023 season, trailing chocolate and gummy candies.
The Springhouse Country Market and Restaurant in Washington is ready for those stocking up for Halloween or simply craving something sweet. Last week, the family-owned farm and storefront put out its candy corn stash.
“It’ll probably be gone before the end of the month,” said Marcia Minor Opp, owner-manager.
The Springhouse orders candy corn six months before the sweet hits the sales floor, Opp said, so each year it’s a guessing game of how much will sell.
“We’re hoping we guessed big enough this year,” Opp laughed. “The harvest mix is a big seller. That is probably the biggest seller of all the candy for the fall.”
Also popular are the Springhouse’s three other flavors: caramel apple, s’mores and blackberry cobbler (popularized in Eastern Canada) candy corn.
“The blackberry cobbler’s really good,” Opp said. “The first year we got it we thought, oh my gosh, this is so fun. We must get more next year.”
It’s been a staple ever since.
Candy corn is a staple at Gene & Boots in Fayette County, too, where it arrives on shelves just in time for Halloween season.
But “it’s not as popular as it used to be,” said Eric Ferguson, third-generation owner.
“We’ve noticed a lot of different things change over the years,” Ferguson said, noting some sweets that used to fly off shelves are no longer top-sellers. “It’s the way times change.”
People gravitate toward Gene & Boots’ chocolates – chocolate pumpkin plaques and jack-o’-lantern pops are made in-house – and candy apples.
“What’s selling right now is the caramel apples. We do our own caramel apples and candy apples. There’s all kinds of different varieties – “15, to be exact,” and “that’s definitely more important than candy corn for Halloween, for us,” Ferguson said.
He doesn’t personally enjoy candy corn, Ferguson laughed, but “some people want it, so we carry it.”
What makes candy corn at once so delightful and disgusting, depending on one’s taste buds, is the flavor, which is hard to put into words.
“It’s an odd taste, but it’s a good taste. It’s sweet. I don’t know how to explain it. I wish I could. I can’t,” said Carla Phillips, of Washington, who loves candy corn.
Saundra Mader tried comparing the Halloween candy to a sweets experience most can relate to.
“It kind of reminds me of those circus peanuts that melt in your mouth,” she said, noting she only eats candy corn if it’s Brach’s, which happens to be the most popular brand in the U.S.
While Phillips and Mader are OK with candy corn, Joyce Novak, of Richeyville, is not.
“It’s gross,” she said emphatically. “It’s just like eating sugar. It doesn’t have any flavor.”
Those who don’t mind the straight-sugar sweet are particular about how they consume candy corn.
“There’s a big debate each Halloween about the ‘right’ way to eat candy corn,” said Carly Schildhaus, NCA’s director of public affairs and communications. “Fifty-one percent of people eat the whole piece at once, while 31% of Americans start with the narrow white end and just 18% say they start with the wider yellow end.”
Though the flavor elicits strong disapproval from some, it’s hard to deny candy corn’s cuteness. A quick Instagram search for “candy corn” yields a variety of candy corn plushies and crochet patterns, and candy corn-inspired desserts (including chocolate-dipped strawberries dressed in yellow, orange and white).
“It looks cute but it tastes gross,” Vliet laughed. “We do custom cookies, and we do a candy corn one. It looks like candy corn, and it’s a sugar cookie. We sell a lot of those. People gravitate toward it because it is really cute looking, but we don’t make it taste like candy corn.”
Since 1986, Eat’n Park has offered a cute twist on traditional candy corn. From about Labor Day through Halloween, the jack-o’-lantern Smiley cookies, featuring candy corn kernels as eyes and noses, delight cookie lovers.
“We know some people are bigger fans of candy corn than others, but it really helps our Jack-O’-Lantern Smileys get into the spirit of spooky season and brings a smile to our guests,” said Courtney Caprara, spokesperson, Eat’n Park Restaurants. “We’ve heard from many guests that the only time they are willing to eat candy corn is when it’s on our Jack-O’-Lantern Smiley cookies.”
Love it or hate it, it’s candy corn season, and whether you’re binge-eating a bag or avoiding it altogether, the colorful piece of candy is available for enjoyment or disdain through the end of spooky season.