Cruel joke for trick-or-treaters or coveted seasonal delight? The great Halloween debate over candy corn is on.

In the pantheon of high-emotion candy, the classic shiny tricolor kernels in autumnB次元官网网址檚 white, orange and yellow are way up there. Fans and foes alike point to the same attributes: its plastic or candle-like texture (depending on who you ask) and the mega-sugar hit it packs.

B次元官网网址淚 am vehemently pro candy corn. ItB次元官网网址檚 sugar! What is not to love? ItB次元官网网址檚 amazing. ItB次元官网网址檚 like this waxy texture. You get to eat it once a year. ItB次元官网网址檚 tricolor. ThatB次元官网网址檚 always fun,B次元官网网址� comedian Shannon Fiedler gushed on TikTok. B次元官网网址淎lso, I know itB次元官网网址檚 disgusting. Candy corn is objectively kind of gross, but thatB次元官网网址檚 what makes it good.B次元官网网址�

Or, as Paul Zarcone of Huntington, New York, put it: B次元官网网址淚 love candy corn even though it looks like it should taste like a candle. I also like that many people hate it. It makes me like it even more!B次元官网网址�

Love it or loathe it, market leader BrachB次元官网网址檚 churns out roughly 30 million pounds of candy corn for the fall season each year, or enough to circle planet Earth about five times, the company says. Last year, that amounted to $75 million of $88.5 million in candy corn sales, according to the consumer research firm Circana.

When compared to top chocolate sellers and other popular confections, candy corn is niche. But few other candies have seeped into the culture quite like these pointy little sugar bombs.

While other sweets have their haters (weB次元官网网址檙e looking at you Peeps, Circus Peanuts and BrachB次元官网网址檚 Peppermint Christmas Nougats), candy corn has launched a world of memes on social media. It inspires home decor and fashion. It has its knitters and crocheters, ombre hairdos, makeup enthusiasts and nail designs.

And it makes its way into nut bowls, trail mixes, atop cupcakes and into Rice Krispie treats. Vans put out a pair of shoes emblazoned with candy corn, Nike used its color design for a pair of Dunks, and KelloggB次元官网网址檚 borrowed the flavor profile for a version of its Corn Pops cereal.

Singer-actor Michelle Williams is a super fan. She recorded a song last year for BrachB次元官网网址檚 extolling her love.

As consumers rave or rage, BrachB次元官网网址檚 has turned to fresh mixes and flavors over the years. A Turkey Dinner mix appeared in 2020 and lasted two years. It had a variety of kernels that tasted like green beans, roasted bird, cranberry sauce, stuffing, apple pie and coffee.

It wonB次元官网网址檛 be back.

B次元官网网址淚 would say that it was newsworthy but perhaps not consumption-worthy,B次元官网网址� said Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal candy and the BrachB次元官网网址檚 brand for parent Ferrara Candy Co.

The universe of other flavors has included sB次元官网网址檓ores, blueberry, cotton candy, lemon-lime, chocolate and, yes, pumpkin spice. Nerds, another Ferrara brand, has a hard-shell version.

ItB次元官网网址檚 unclear when candy corn was invented. Legend has it that Wunderle Candy Co. in Philadelphia first produced it in 1888 in collaboration with a longtime employee, George Renninger. It was called, simply, Butter Cream, with one type named Chicken Corn. That made sense in an agrarian-society kind of way.

Several years later, the Goelitz Confectionery Co., now Jelly Belly, began to produce candy corn, calling it Chicken Feed. Boxes were adorned with a rooster logo and the tagline: B次元官网网址淪omething worth crowing for.B次元官网网址� BrachB次元官网网址檚 began candy corn production in 1920.

Today, kids delight in stacking candy corn in a circle, points in, to create corncob towers. As for nutrition, 19 candy corns amount to about 140 calories and 28 grams of sugar. To be fair, many other Halloween candy staples are in the same ballpark.

Ingredient-wise, it couldnB次元官网网址檛 be more straightforward. Candy corn is basically sugar, corn syrup, confectionerB次元官网网址檚 glaze, salt, gelatin, honey and dyes, among some other things.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not any sweeter than a lot of other candy, and IB次元官网网址檝e tasted every candy there is,B次元官网网址� said Richard Hartel, who teaches candy science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

HartelB次元官网网址檚 students spend time in the lab making candy. The candy corn lab is among his most popular, he said, because itB次元官网网址檚 fun to make. His unscientific poll of the nine seniors who last made candy corn turned up no strong feelings either way on actually eating it.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 the flavor, I think, that puts some people off. It sort of tastes like butter and honey. And some people donB次元官网网址檛 like the texture, but itB次元官网网址檚 really not that much different than the center of a chocolate-covered butter cream,B次元官网网址� he said.

Candy corn fans have their nibbling rituals.

Margie Sung is a purist. SheB次元官网网址檚 been partial since childhood to the original tricolor kernels. She eats them by color, starting with the white tip, accompanied by a warm cup of tea or coffee.

B次元官网网址淭o this day, I swear the colors taste different,B次元官网网址� she laughed.

Fact check: No, according to Duffy.

DonB次元官网网址檛 get people started on BrachB次元官网网址檚 little orange pumpkin candies with the green tops. ThatB次元官网网址檚 a whole other conversation.

B次元官网网址淭he candy pumpkins? Disgusting,B次元官网网址� said the 59-year-old Sung, who lives in New York. B次元官网网址淭oo dense, too sweet, not the right consistency.B次元官网网址�

She likes her candy corn B次元官网网址渂orderline stale for a better consistency.B次元官网网址� Sung added: B次元官网网址淯nfortunately, I canB次元官网网址檛 eat too many because IB次元官网网址檓 a Type 2 diabetic.B次元官网网址�

Aaron Sadler, the 46-year-old spokesman for the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, and its mayor, doesnB次元官网网址檛 share his candy corn. He keeps stashes at home and in a desk drawer at his office.

B次元官网网址淢y fiancee canB次元官网网址檛 stand that I like candy corn,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 buy it and I get this look of disdain but I donB次元官网网址檛 care. I just keep plugging on.B次元官网网址�

Sadler has been a partaker since childhood. How does he describe the texture and flavor? B次元官网网址淪ugary bliss.B次元官网网址�

HeB次元官网网址檒l keep buying candy corn until mid-November.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 50% off after Halloween. Of course IB次元官网网址檓 going to buy it,B次元官网网址� Sadler chuckled.

After Thanksgiving, heB次元官网网址檒l move on to his Christmas candy, York Peppermint Patties. And for ValentineB次元官网网址檚 Day? Sandler is all about the candy Conversation Hearts.

And then there are the hoarders. They freeze candy corn for year-round consumption. Others will only eat it mixed with dry roasted peanuts or other salty combinations.

B次元官网网址淢y ratio is 2 to 3 peanuts to 1 piece of candy corn. ThatB次元官网网址檚 the only way I eat it,B次元官网网址� said Lisa Marsh, who lives in New York and is in her 50s. She stores candy corn in glass jars for year-round pleasure.

To the haters, 71-year-old fan Diana Peacock of Grand Junction, Colorado, scolded: B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e nuts. How can they not like it?B次元官网网址�

Au contraire, Jennifer Walker fights back. The 50-year-old Walker, who lives in Ontario, Canada, called candy corn B次元官网网址渂ig ole lumps of dyed sugar. ThereB次元官网网址檚 no flavor.B次元官网网址�

Her Ontario compatriot in Sault Ste. Marie, Abby Obenchain, also isnB次元官网网址檛 a fan. She equates candy corn with childhood memories of having to visit her pediatrician, who kept a bowl on hand.

B次元官网网址淎 bowl of candy corn looks to me like a bowl of old teeth, like somebody pulled a bunch of witchB次元官网网址檚 teeth out,B次元官网网址� said Obenchain, 63.

Candy corn isnB次元官网网址檛 just a candy, said 29-year-old Savannah Woolston in Washington, D.C.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 a big fan of mentally getting into each season, and I feel like candy corn is in the realm of pumpkin spice lattes and fall sweaters,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淎nd I will die on the hill that it tastes good.B次元官网网址�

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