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 autumn91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淚 am vehemently pro candy corn. It91裸聊视频檚 sugar! What is not to love? It91裸聊视频檚 amazing. It91裸聊视频檚 like this waxy texture. You get to eat it once a year. It91裸聊视频檚 tricolor. That91裸聊视频檚 always fun,91裸聊视频� comedian Shannon Fiedler gushed on TikTok. 91裸聊视频淎lso, I know it91裸聊视频檚 disgusting. Candy corn is objectively kind of gross, but that91裸聊视频檚 what makes it good.91裸聊视频�

Or, as Paul Zarcone of Huntington, New York, put it: 91裸聊视频淚 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!91裸聊视频�

Love it or loathe it, market leader Brach91裸聊视频檚 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 (we91裸聊视频檙e looking at you Peeps, Circus Peanuts and Brach91裸聊视频檚 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 Kellogg91裸聊视频檚 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 Brach91裸聊视频檚 extolling her love.

As consumers rave or rage, Brach91裸聊视频檚 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 won91裸聊视频檛 be back.

91裸聊视频淚 would say that it was newsworthy but perhaps not consumption-worthy,91裸聊视频� said Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal candy and the Brach91裸聊视频檚 brand for parent Ferrara Candy Co.

The universe of other flavors has included s91裸聊视频檓ores, blueberry, cotton candy, lemon-lime, chocolate and, yes, pumpkin spice. Nerds, another Ferrara brand, has a hard-shell version.

It91裸聊视频檚 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: 91裸聊视频淪omething worth crowing for.91裸聊视频� Brach91裸聊视频檚 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 couldn91裸聊视频檛 be more straightforward. Candy corn is basically sugar, corn syrup, confectioner91裸聊视频檚 glaze, salt, gelatin, honey and dyes, among some other things.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 not any sweeter than a lot of other candy, and I91裸聊视频檝e tasted every candy there is,91裸聊视频� said Richard Hartel, who teaches candy science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hartel91裸聊视频檚 students spend time in the lab making candy. The candy corn lab is among his most popular, he said, because it91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 the flavor, I think, that puts some people off. It sort of tastes like butter and honey. And some people don91裸聊视频檛 like the texture, but it91裸聊视频檚 really not that much different than the center of a chocolate-covered butter cream,91裸聊视频� he said.

Candy corn fans have their nibbling rituals.

Margie Sung is a purist. She91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淭o this day, I swear the colors taste different,91裸聊视频� she laughed.

Fact check: No, according to Duffy.

Don91裸聊视频檛 get people started on Brach91裸聊视频檚 little orange pumpkin candies with the green tops. That91裸聊视频檚 a whole other conversation.

91裸聊视频淭he candy pumpkins? Disgusting,91裸聊视频� said the 59-year-old Sung, who lives in New York. 91裸聊视频淭oo dense, too sweet, not the right consistency.91裸聊视频�

She likes her candy corn 91裸聊视频渂orderline stale for a better consistency.91裸聊视频� Sung added: 91裸聊视频淯nfortunately, I can91裸聊视频檛 eat too many because I91裸聊视频檓 a Type 2 diabetic.91裸聊视频�

Aaron Sadler, the 46-year-old spokesman for the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, and its mayor, doesn91裸聊视频檛 share his candy corn. He keeps stashes at home and in a desk drawer at his office.

91裸聊视频淢y fiancee can91裸聊视频檛 stand that I like candy corn,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚 buy it and I get this look of disdain but I don91裸聊视频檛 care. I just keep plugging on.91裸聊视频�

Sadler has been a partaker since childhood. How does he describe the texture and flavor? 91裸聊视频淪ugary bliss.91裸聊视频�

He91裸聊视频檒l keep buying candy corn until mid-November.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 50% off after Halloween. Of course I91裸聊视频檓 going to buy it,91裸聊视频� Sadler chuckled.

After Thanksgiving, he91裸聊视频檒l move on to his Christmas candy, York Peppermint Patties. And for Valentine91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淢y ratio is 2 to 3 peanuts to 1 piece of candy corn. That91裸聊视频檚 the only way I eat it,91裸聊视频� 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: 91裸聊视频淭hey91裸聊视频檙e nuts. How can they not like it?91裸聊视频�

Au contraire, Jennifer Walker fights back. The 50-year-old Walker, who lives in Ontario, Canada, called candy corn 91裸聊视频渂ig ole lumps of dyed sugar. There91裸聊视频檚 no flavor.91裸聊视频�

Her Ontario compatriot in Sault Ste. Marie, Abby Obenchain, also isn91裸聊视频檛 a fan. She equates candy corn with childhood memories of having to visit her pediatrician, who kept a bowl on hand.

91裸聊视频淎 bowl of candy corn looks to me like a bowl of old teeth, like somebody pulled a bunch of witch91裸聊视频檚 teeth out,91裸聊视频� said Obenchain, 63.

Candy corn isn91裸聊视频檛 just a candy, said 29-year-old Savannah Woolston in Washington, D.C.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 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,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淎nd I will die on the hill that it tastes good.91裸聊视频�

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