(Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 2 October 2022)
For many, candy corn represents the reason for the season.
Most of the 9 billion kernels, more than 35 million pounds, produced
annually – according to past pronouncements by the National Confectioners
Association – are eaten around Halloween.
Like everything else, candy corn will likely cost more than
in the past. For instance, Brach's Candy Corn at Walmart is priced about 4.7%
higher than last year, according to consumer data financial platform Klover. However, the price increase is lower than
that for Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars (increased by 15%) and Reese's
King Size Peanut Butter Cups (up 14%), Klover found.
Higher prices won't likely deter those who love candy
corn. "I will fall.on.a.sword.for my CANDY CORN!" exclaimed
business development guru Perrin Kaplan on a Facebook thread about the candy.
That sweet, waxy texture isn't for everyone though. And
investigating how the candy is made might give some pause – confectioner's
glaze on the treat contains a bug secretion.
The ingredients in candy corn might surprise some candy
lovers. In addition to sugar, corn syrup, salt, sesame oil, honey, artificial
flavor, and food colorings, candy corn also has gelatin and confectioner's
glaze as ingredients.
Those last two items have led some candy corn detractors to
note that candy corn is made of animal hides and bones, like
Jell-O gelatin. And confectioner's glaze, also known as shellac, is made
from lac-resin, which – are you ready for this? – is a bug secretion.
The lac bug – a parasite found in tropical and subtropical regions,
according to news site Science Daily – secretes a waxy, waterproof coating to
protect itself.
Workers scrape those secretions from plants and, as
education site ThoughtCo.com notes,
some of the bugs are gathered in the process. The shellac is also used in
paints, cosmetics and plenty of other products, according to The
Vegetarian Resource Group.
Wait, bug secretions in my candy? Yes. "It's not
unusual at all," said Paul Adams, a senior editor at Cook's
Illustrated Magazine, which is published by America's Test
Kitchen. "The lac insect produces a shiny, durable resin that's used
as the basis for all kinds of coatings: the words 'shellac' and
'lacquer' both come from the name of the bug."
Typically found under the name "confectioner's
glaze" or "pure food glaze," lac coating is used in
making gum and on all sorts of shiny candies including jelly beans, Milk Duds
and Whoppers, Adams said. "It's also responsible for the glossy coating on
many pharmaceutical pills, as well as citrus fruits and cosmetics."
Good news for chocolate lovers: M&M's do not use the
substance.
The caloric breakdown: Each piece of candy corn has 4
calories, according to Jelly Belly. But Brach's puts the caloric count at about
7, since 15 pieces add up to 110 calories on its packaging of Classic Candy
Corn. That serving has 22 grams of sugar – experts recommend no more than
25 grams per day.
Candy Corn: Why Is It So Divisive?
Candy corn traditionally ranks high has a Halloween candy,
with it grabbing came in third behind chocolate and gummy candy in a survey
last year by National Confectioners Association. This year, the NCA
estimated consumers will buy 5% more chocolate and candy than in 2021.
As for candy corn, not everyone loves, or even likes, the
candy. Many despise it. "Run away.
Gross. Weird consistency. Corn isn’t candy and even kids don’t like
it," tweeted public relations executive Patrick
Seybold. "So … why does it still exist?" About 22% said, "Candy corn is the
best!" in an unscientific survey I conducted on Twitter (it
got 550 votes). But 49% disagree ("Nope. I'll pass."). For about 29%,
"Candy corn is just OK."
Perhaps those who dislike it do so because of its texture
and humdrum flavor. "From a sensory perspective, the hatred of candy
corn can be explained because, unlike many candies, its flavor profile doesn't
incorporate contrast," Adams told USA TODAY. "It's just intensely
sweet-tasting, which can produce palate fatigue, like eating spoonfuls of honey
or sugar."
Those who despise candy corn can cherish that it earned the
title of Worst Halloween Candy last year for the second
consecutive time, ahead of circus peanuts, those orange peanut-shaped
marshmallow spongy candies, according to CandyStore.com. Favorite Halloween candy? Reese's Peanut
Butter Cups. Candy corn still ranked as No. 10 among overall favorite candies. Yet, for those who love candy corn, the treat
can be transportive, says Adams, who recalls his mother eating just the white
tips of each piece. "Why is it loved as much as hated? If you grew up
eating it, it probably has delightful associations in your mind," he said.
The Origins Of Candy Corn
Candy corn was first harvested in the late 19th century.
Most histories have the Wunderle Candy Co. of Philadelphia inventing the
kernel-shaped treat in the 1880s. The
Goelitz Confectionery Co. in Cincinnati acquired the recipe and began
making candy corn about 1898, according to National Geographic. The Goelitz Confectionery Co. changed its
name to the Jelly Belly Candy Co. in 2001.
Decades ago, candy corn was a year-round candy called
"chicken feed," and aimed at agricultural and rural families,
according to History.com. (You can see Jelly Belly vice chairman Bill
Kelley, the great-grandson of Gustav Goelitz and a fourth generation candy
maker, talk about candy corn in an CBS Sunday Morning video from 2011.) "It wasn’t made for fall, but it became
a fall thing ultimately," said Marie Wright, chief global flavorist at
food processing company ADM, which makes corn syrup, sweeteners and
natural flavorings and colorings used in candy corn.
Originally, candy corn was made by hand with candy makers
pouring a sequence of passes of different colored hot edible icing called
fondant into kernel-shaped molds, according to Jelly Belly, which claims to be
the longest continuous maker of the candy and will make about 250,000 pounds,
or 125 tons, of it this year.
Today, candy corn is made the same way – using essentially
the same recipe – by machines. Where some candies' flavors change over time,
candy corn "tastes exactly how I remember it. Everybody says the flavor
doesn’t change," Wright said.
