11 Things You Didn't Know About Candy Corn

Candy corn is, without a doubt, an iconic symbol of Halloween. But did you know candy corn wasn't always a trick-or-treating classic? Read on for 11 things you didn't know about candy corn.

Goelitz Confectionary Company (now called Jelly Belly) began making candy corn in 1898. According to the company website, the candy was such a success it "carried the company through two World Wars and the Depression."

It's the twenty-first century. You no longer have to settle for the waxy, sticky original. Now, you can enjoy candy corn flavor in an Oreo, a martini, or a bagel, among other things! 

This is a fitting name considering that in those days, corn was chicken feed. Late 1800s advertisements for candy corn depicted a rooster feasting on the candy kernels. The tagline read, "Something worth crowing over."

In 1950, Goelitz's New Jersey factory caught fire while preparing for the big Halloween candy corn rush. The fire destroyed the block-long building and 2,000 pounds of their candy corn stock. Other confectionary companies, including Brach's, took advantage of Goelitz's setback and began producing their own versions of candy corn.

A 1951 advertisement lauds candy corn as "The candy all children love to nibble on all year long." Another ad from 1957 features candy corn among other "Summertime Candies" such as circus peanuts, orange slices, and jellybeans.

Oh, how times have changed. Today, a one-pound bag of Jelly Belly candy corn costs $8.99. This explains why, according to The Atlantic, Americans have spent $2 billion on candy alone every Halloween for the past three years.

While it takes no time at all to eat a handful of candy corn, it takes a lot of time and preparation to make one! From mixing the base, to molding the pieces, to polishing them with edible wax, the entire process can take up to five days.

That's equivalent to 35 million pounds! According to CNN, if you laid each piece of candy corn end-to-end, you could circle the moon more than 20 times!

Despite our love-hate relationship with candy corn, it didn't seem fair to leave it out of the recent frenzy over national food holidays. Naturally, the National Confectioners Association named the day before Halloween National Candy Corn Day. 

Candy corn is made with just a few ingredients: sugar, fondant, corn syrup, vanilla flavor, marshmallow creme, and food coloring. The mixture is made into a slurry, then deposited into wooden trays filled with rows of candy-corn shaped indents.

Fear not, candy corn lovers! There are other varieties of candy corn produced for different holidays, including red and green "reindeer corn" for Christmas, pink and red "cupid corn" for Valentine's Day, and pastel "bunny corn" for Easter.