Did you know that candy corn is one of the most talked-about candies during Halloween? According to a survey by CandyStore.com, many people in the U.S. consider it their least favorite candy. However, back in 2017, it was the top Halloween candy in several states based on sales. Whether you love it or not, candy corn has become a big part of Halloween traditions in the United States. But how did this happen? Let’s explore the sweet history of candy corn!
Candy corn’s story begins in the 1880s with a man named George Renninger, who worked for the Wunderle Candy Company in Philadelphia. He came up with the idea to mold a chewy candy called buttercream into the shape of a corn kernel. This buttercream was likely made from sugar and corn syrup, giving it a sweet and smooth texture.
Interestingly, the process of making corn syrup was discovered by a German chemist named Gottlieb Kirchhoff in the early 1800s. He used starch and sulfuric acid to create glucose syrup, which is similar to how corn syrup is made today. This syrup helps give candy corn its smooth texture by preventing sugar from crystallizing.
Renninger’s buttercream could be shaped into various forms, making it a cheaper alternative to marzipan, a sweet treat made from sugar, egg whites, and almonds. While Renninger initially made candies shaped like chestnuts and turnips, it was his candy corn, with its three distinct stripes, that became a hit.
By 1898, a company known today as Jelly Belly started producing candy corn on a larger scale. Back then, it was sometimes called “chicken feed” because corn was mainly used as animal feed. Despite this odd name, candy corn became very popular, especially during the fall season.
In the early 1900s, candy corn was mostly made by hand, which was a labor-intensive process. Workers had to pour each color layer separately to create the candy’s signature look. Because of this, candy corn was only made from March to November, linking it to autumn and harvest time.
Halloween trick-or-treating as we know it today began less than a century ago. Candy companies saw an opportunity to make Halloween a major candy-buying event, just like Easter and Christmas. Candy corn, with its festive fall colors and perfect size for handing out, became a Halloween favorite.
Today, about 35 million pounds of candy corn are produced each year, with most of it sold before Halloween. Modern factories use machines to create candy corn, making the process much faster. The candy is still made from sugar, corn syrup, fondant, and marshmallow, giving it a creamy texture and sweet flavor.
Despite its name, candy corn doesn’t taste like corn. Instead, it has a unique blend of creamy fondant, rich marshmallow, and warm vanilla flavors. If you haven’t tried candy corn yet, think of it as a sweet, buttery treat the next time you see it during Halloween!
Whether you love it or not, candy corn has a fascinating history and remains a Halloween staple. So, the next time you see those colorful kernels, you’ll know just how they became a part of the spooky season!
Research the history of candy corn and create a timeline that highlights key events from its invention in the 1880s to its status as a Halloween staple today. Use drawings or digital tools to illustrate each event, and present your timeline to the class.
Imagine you are a candy inventor like George Renninger. Design your own candy, considering its shape, flavors, and ingredients. Create a poster or digital presentation to showcase your candy, explaining why it would become a popular treat.
Find a simple recipe that uses candy corn as an ingredient, such as candy corn bark or cookies. Try making the recipe at home with the help of an adult, and share your results with the class. Discuss how the candy corn changes the flavor and texture of the treat.
Explore the science behind candy making, focusing on how ingredients like sugar and corn syrup affect texture and flavor. Conduct a simple experiment to observe how sugar crystallizes and how corn syrup prevents this process. Present your findings in a report or presentation.
Participate in a class debate about candy corn. Divide into two groups: one that loves candy corn and one that dislikes it. Each group should prepare arguments and evidence to support their stance. After the debate, discuss how opinions about candy can vary and what influences these preferences.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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This year, CandyStore.com surveyed 20,000 customers and determined that candy corn was America’s least favorite candy. However, a separate report from the same site back in 2017 found that it was the top Halloween candy in at least six states, according to sales data. How much of the candy corn sold each year actually gets eaten remains unknown.
Hi, I’m Justin Dubb. Welcome to Food History. Whether you view a piece of candy corn as a nostalgic treat or a disappointing candy, you can’t deny its place in the United States Halloween season. The pattern of white, orange, and yellow has practically become synonymous with the holiday. But how did that happen? What is candy corn actually made of? And how many subscribers will we lose if I admit I don’t think candy corn is that bad? Let’s find out.
Most accounts of candy corn’s history pin its invention to the 1880s. During that decade, George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderle Candy Company in Philadelphia, had the idea to mold so-called buttercream into the shape of a corn kernel. Though the exact recipe is unknown, the main ingredients in his buttercream were probably sugar and corn syrup.
In the early 1800s, a German-born chemist named Gottlieb Kirchhoff heated starch and sulfuric acid to create glucose syrup. The acid helped break down the starch molecules into individual glucose molecules. This is essentially how corn syrup is made today, although enzymes are sometimes used in place of or in addition to acids to facilitate that breakdown. The starch in corn comes from the plant’s endosperm, which nourishes the developing plant. When the starch is isolated and broken down, the resulting corn syrup inhibits the crystallization of sugar and provides a smoother texture to many sweet treats. So, candy corn does contain corn, or at least the syrupy sugar derived from corn.
Renninger’s buttercream was a chewy substance that could be molded into any shape, making it a cheap alternative to marzipan, which was generally made from sugar, egg whites, and ground almonds. Corn kernels likely weren’t the first shape Renninger’s buttercream took; inspired by nature, he made miniature chestnuts, turnips, and pea pods out of the confection. However, it was his candy corn, distinguished by three stripes painstakingly poured by hand, that would eventually become a sensation.
During his initial tinkering, Renninger conducted some interesting market research. His grandson, Ken, told the Palm Beach Post back in 2000 that the elder Renninger would sometimes throw the proto candy corn towards the family’s chickens. When the chickens finally started coming after the corn, Ken said he knew he had the perfect shape. If he had the chickens fooled, then he had the right thing.
By 1898, Goelitz, known today as Jelly Belly, was replicating Renninger’s recipe and producing candy corn on a much larger scale. Back then, it was sometimes also known as “chicken feed.” This may seem like an odd marketing choice, but the name made perfect sense at the time. Though corn has a long history in the Americas, by the late 19th century, many people in the United States viewed corn primarily as feed for livestock. In 1917, it was estimated that out of 2.7 billion bushels of corn produced in America, 86.3 percent was for animal feed, and less than 4 percent was for human consumption.
Despite the potentially less appetizing association, chicken feed was a hit. It became a common sight at candy stores, and Goelitz had trouble keeping up with demand. Due to its signature pattern, candy corn was extremely difficult to produce in the days before factory equipment did most of the work. Workers called runners had to carry buckets known as streamers that contained up to 45 pounds of the sugar and corn syrup mixture down a conveyor belt laden with candy trays. The runners would pass the streamers over the trays, allowing a small stream of liquid to drip into the mold. Candy corn consists of three layers: the white tip, orange middle, and yellow top. Back then, workers had to repeat this process with each color to make a single piece of candy.
The labor required to make candy corn made it impractical to manufacture year-round. According to Slate, candy makers started limiting the production season to March through November, which helped link candy corn to autumn and the harvest season. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s that candy corn, or any mass-produced candy for that matter, became a big deal during Halloween.
Some historians claim that antecedents of trick-or-treating can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, but the tradition as we know it today has been practiced for less than a century in the United States. In fact, if you saw a masked kid going door to door asking for handouts in late 19th century America, it was more likely to be around Thanksgiving. This tradition apparently grew out of a rather mean-spirited mimicry of poor Massachusetts residents who would go door to door asking for something for Thanksgiving. The practice grew and eventually drew such ire that some New Yorkers were known to heat up so-called “red pennies” on their stoves and throw them onto the streets to burn the fingers of children who bent down to pick them up.
How did Halloween trick-or-treating begin? A number of theories have been suggested. Some say that the door-to-door tradition was a way to connect communities, while others emphasize the trickery. One account of Halloween in 1923 commented that the usual battalion of children covered all sections of the town demanding treats or else suffering the penalty of tricks for refusal. Just four years later, a different paper reported that heavily disguised children were walking door to door demanding “trick or treat,” explaining that to “treat” was to be untricked. At that time, kids could likely expect to bring home nuts, coins, and homemade baked goods—not exactly the type of stuff that excites trick-or-treaters today.
Enter the candy companies. Through clever marketing, they had made Easter and Christmas major candy-buying events and were looking for an opportunity to push their products in the fall. Halloween was a no-brainer; people were already looking for treats to give to trick-or-treaters, and all the manufacturers had to do was downsize their offerings into bite-sized packages and slap some Halloween branding on the label. They also didn’t need to do much to rebrand candy corn for the holiday; the treat was already associated with the season, came in festive fall colors, and was the perfect size for handing out to trick-or-treaters. Halloween transformed candy corn from an agriculture-themed novelty candy to a seasonal staple.
The candy industry now produces roughly 35 million pounds, or 9 billion kernels, of candy corn a year. There are even different types for different holidays, like red and green reindeer corn for Christmas and pink and red cupid corn for Valentine’s Day. The vast majority of candy corn is sold in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Fortunately for candy makers, mass-produced candy corn is no longer poured by hand. In modern factories, machines create molds for the candy by making triangular indents in sheets of cornstarch. These cornstarch molds then pass under automated nozzles that deposit the candy corn’s layers. The three colors are still layered separately, but because machines are doing the work instead of humans, it’s much less time-consuming.
The production process has been updated, but the actual recipe hasn’t changed much over the years. Candy corn still starts with a slurry of sugar and corn syrup mixed in a large vat to create its smooth, creamy mouthfeel. Candy makers add fondant and icing made of sugar and corn syrup, as well as marshmallow (also made of sugar and corn syrup) and gelatin for texture. Gelatin is a protein made from the collagen of animal bones, skin, and connective tissue, which gives it thickening properties but also means your candy corn is not vegan-friendly. Even if you can find candy corn that leaves gelatin off the ingredients list, it may still contain something called confectioner’s glaze, which is a secretion produced by some species of insects native to Asia. This gives candy corn its glossy coating.
What is candy corn supposed to taste like? The answer isn’t plain sugar, and despite corn syrup being a main ingredient, it’s not supposed to taste like corn either. According to Jelly Belly, the company that popularized the candy more than a century ago, candy corn is a wonderful blend of creamy fondant, rich marshmallow, and warm vanilla notes. When combined, these flavors create the distinct candy corn flavor. The texture is as important as the flavor; candy corn should be creamy and smooth, never coarse. It should be like biting into butter. If you’re not on team candy corn yet, just think of it as a morsel of marshmallow butter the next time you’re offered one this Halloween. And if that doesn’t appeal to you, maybe just stick to chocolate.
Thanks for watching!
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This version removes any inappropriate language and maintains a professional tone throughout.
Candy – A sweet food made with sugar or syrup, often shaped into small pieces. – In the 1800s, candy was often handmade and considered a special treat for children.
Corn – A cereal plant that yields large grains, or kernels, set in rows on a cob; a staple food in many cultures. – Corn has been an important crop in the Americas for thousands of years, and it was a key part of the diet of Native American tribes.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs. – The history of chocolate dates back to ancient Mesoamerican cultures, where it was consumed as a bitter beverage.
Halloween – A holiday celebrated on October 31st, originally marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. – Halloween has a rich history that includes traditions from ancient Celtic festivals and Christian practices.
Sugar – A sweet crystalline substance obtained from various plants, used as a sweetener in foods and drinks. – Sugar was once so valuable that it was called “white gold” and played a significant role in global trade and colonization.
Syrup – A thick, sweet liquid made by dissolving sugar in boiling water, often used in cooking and baking. – Maple syrup, made from the sap of maple trees, has been produced by Native Americans for centuries.
Texture – The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or substance. – The texture of bread changed significantly with the invention of the mechanical dough mixer in the 19th century.
Treat – An item that is out of the ordinary and gives pleasure, often a sweet food. – In medieval times, people would bake special treats called “soul cakes” to give to the poor during festivals.
Autumn – The season between summer and winter, known for its harvests and falling leaves. – Autumn was a crucial time for early farmers, as they gathered crops to prepare for the winter months.
Traditions – Customs or beliefs passed down from generation to generation. – Many Halloween traditions, such as carving pumpkins, have roots in ancient harvest festivals.
