Type | Confectionery |
---|---|
Course | Dessert, Candy, Snack |
Place of origin | United States |
Region or state | Cincinnati, Ohio |
Main ingredients | Sugar, corn syrup, carnauba wax, artificial coloring and binders |
Variations | cupid corn, bunny corn, harvest corn, reindeer corn |
Candy corn is a small, pyramid-shaped candy, typically divided into three sections of different colors, with a waxy texture and a flavor based on honey, sugar, butter, and vanilla. [1] [2] It is a staple candy of the fall season and Halloween in North America. [2]
Candy corn's traditional colors of yellow, orange, and white represent the colors of the fall harvest, [2] or of corn on the cob, [3] with the wide yellow end resembling a corn kernel. [1]
Candy corn has a reputation for generating polarizing responses, with articles referring to it as "Halloween's most contentious sweet" [1] which people either "love" or "hate". [2] [4] [5]
"Chicken Feed" was the original candy name, with production starting in the late 1880s. [6] It was first invented in the 1880s by a Wunderle Candy Company employee, George Renninger. [7] Wunderle Candy Company was the first to produce the candy in 1888. [8] The Goelitz Confectionery Company, now called Jelly Belly, began manufacturing the product in 1898. [9]
While Jelly Belly still makes candy corn, the largest manufacturer of candy corn is Brach's Confections owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. [9] Brach's makes approximately 7 billion pieces of candy corn per year and possesses 85 percent of the total share of the candy corn industry during the Halloween season. [9]
Along with other agriculture-inspired treats in the late 19th century, America's confectioners sought to market candy corn to a largely rural society. [10] During the late 19th century, "butter cream" candies molded into many types of nature-inspired shapes, including chestnuts, turnips, and clover leaves, were quite popular but what made candy corn stand out was its bright and iconic tri-color layering. [5]
Although it is currently most popular in the fall, candy corn was only sometimes associated with the fall and Halloween seasons. For the first half of the 20th century, candy corn was a well-known "penny candy" or bulk confectionery. It was advertised as an affordable and popular treat that could be eaten year-round. [5]
Candy corn developed into a fall and Halloween staple around the 1950s when people began to hand out individually wrapped candy to trick-or-treaters. The harvest-themed colors and increased advertising in October also helped candy corn become a fall staple. [5]
The National Confectioners Association has deemed October 30, the day before Halloween, "National Candy Corn Day". [7]
As of 2016 [update] , annual production in the United States was 35 million pounds, or almost 9 billion pieces of candy. [11] The majority of candy corn sales occur during the Halloween season. [1]
Originally, the candy was made by hand. [12] Manufacturers first combined sugar, corn syrup and water, and cooked them to form a slurry. Fondant was added for texture and marshmallows were added to provide a soft bite. [12] The final mixture was heated and poured into shaped molds. Three passes, one for each colored section, were required during the pouring process.[ citation needed ]
The recipe is similar today. The production method, called "corn starch modeling", [13] likewise remains the same, though tasks initially performed by hand were soon taken over by machines made for that purpose. [14]
Candy corn is made with sugar, corn syrup, salt, sesame oil, honey, artificial flavor, food colorings, gelatin, and confectioner's glaze. The confectioner's glaze is made from lac resin, a bug secretion. [15]
A popular variation called "harvest corn" adds cocoa powder; [16] it features a chocolate brown wide end, orange center, and pointed white tip. It is often available around Thanksgiving. [6] During the Halloween season, blackberry cobbler candy corn can be found in Eastern Canada, as well as candy corn shaped like pumpkins. Confectioners have introduced additional color variations suited to other holidays. [13]
The Christmas variant, sometimes called "reindeer corn", [11] typically has a red end and a green center. The Valentine's Day variant, sometimes called "cupid corn", [17] typically has a red end and a pink center. In the United States during Independence Day celebrations, corn with a blue end, white center, and red tip, named "freedom corn", can be found at celebratory cook outs and patriotic celebrations. The Easter variant, sometimes called "bunny corn", is typically a two-color candy, and comes with a variety of pastel bases, pink, green, yellow, and purple, with white tips all in one package.[ citation needed ]
There have been caramel apple and green apple, s'mores and pumpkin spice, carrot corn (green and orange, with a carrot cake flavor), and birthday cake candy corn flavors.[ citation needed ] In 2022, Brach's released a tailgate variant with fruit punch, vanilla ice cream, popcorn, hotdog, and hamburger flavored pieces. [18] Candy corn flavored snacks have become more widely available with candy corn flavored variants of snack foods and candy, including Oreos, M&M's, marshmallows, and more. [7]
Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories: bakers' confections and sugar confections.
Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called sugar confectionery, encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar candy. Vegetables, fruit, or nuts which have been glazed and coated with sugar are said to be candied.
Jelly Belly Candy Company, formerly known as Herman Goelitz Candy Company and Goelitz Confectionery Company, is an American company that manufactures Jelly Belly jelly beans and other candy.
A candy cane is a cane-shaped stick candy often associated with Christmastide, as well as Saint Nicholas Day. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint, but the canes also come in a variety of other flavors and colors.
Jones Soda Co. is a beverage company based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It bottles and distributes soft drinks, non-carbonated beverages, energy drinks, and candy.
York Peppermint Pattie is an American dark chocolate enrobed peppermint confection introduced in 1940 and currently produced by the Hershey Company.
Candy apples are whole apples covered in a sugar candy coating, with a stick inserted as a handle. These are a common treat at fall festivals in Western culture in the Northern Hemisphere, such as Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night because these festivals occur in the wake of annual apple harvests. Although candy apples and caramel apples may seem similar, they are made using distinctly different processes.
Hershey's Kisses are chocolates first produced by the Hershey Company in 1907. The bite-sized pieces of chocolate have a distinctive conical shape, sometimes described as flat-bottomed teardrops. Hershey's Kisses chocolates are wrapped in squares of lightweight aluminum foil. A narrow strip of paper, called a plume, protrudes from the top of each Hershey's Kiss wrapper. Originally designed as a flag for the "Hershey's" brand, the printed paper plumes were added to the Kisses product wrapper in 1921 to distinguish the Hershey's Kiss from its competitors who were offering similar products.
Laffy Taffy is an American brand of taffy candies produced by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero. The candies are small, individually wrapped taffy rectangles available in a variety of colors and fruit flavors, including banana, strawberry, green apple, grape, blueberry, watermelon, blue raspberry, and cherry. Rarer flavors include caramel apple, coconut, strawberries & cream, apple crisp, chocolate mousse, pumpkin donut, pineapple, guava, orange sorbet, and lemon raspberry. Discontinued flavors include fruit punch, mango, strawberry banana, peppermint, and hot cocoa.
Brach's is a candy and sweets brand of Ferrara Candy Company.
Sweethearts are small heart-shaped sugar candies sold around Valentine's Day. Each heart is printed with a message such as "Be Mine", "Kiss Me", "Call Me", "Let's Get Busy", "Miss You", or "I'm Yours". Sweethearts were made by the New England Confectionery Company, or Necco, before being purchased by the Spangler Candy Company in 2018. They were also previously made by the Stark Candy Company. Necco manufactured nearly 8 billion Sweethearts per year. Similar products are available from Brach's and other companies. A similar type of candy is sold in the UK under the name Love Hearts; while similar in formulation to Sweethearts, Love Hearts are round, with the heart design and message embossed on their surface.
In the United States, Smarties are a type of tablet candy produced by Smarties Candy Company, formerly known as Ce De Candy Inc., since 1949. Smarties are produced in factories in both Union Township, New Jersey, and Newmarket, Ontario. The candies distributed in Canada are marketed as Rockets, to avoid confusion with Smarties, a chocolate candy produced by Nestlé which holds the trademark in Canada. The New Jersey factory produces approximately 1 billion rolls of Smarties annually, and in total the company produces over 2.5 billion in a year.
Sour Patch Kids are a brand of soft candy with a coating of invert sugar and sour sugar. The tartaric and citric acids provide the candy with a sharp burst of tartness, while the inverted sugar gives the soft gummy its sweet flavor. Sour Patch Kids Extreme, which contains malic acid in addition to the tartaric and citric acids, is considered the sourest variation in the Sour Patch line of candies. The slogans "Sour Then Sweet" and "Sour. Sweet. Gone." refer to the candy's sour-to-sweet taste.
Circus peanuts are American peanut-shaped marshmallow candy. They date to the 19th century, when they were one of a large variety of unwrapped "penny candy" sold in such retail outlets as five-and-dime stores.
The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group.
Dots, or Mason Dots, is an American brand of gum drops marketed by Tootsie Roll Industries. According to advertisements, more than four billion dots are produced from the Tootsie Roll Industries Chicago plant each year. Dots are vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, and kosher. They come in various flavors and varieties.
A candy pumpkin is a small, pumpkin-shaped, mellow crème confection primarily made from corn syrup, honey, carnauba wax, chocolate, and sugar. Traditionally colored with an orange base and topped with a green stem to make candy pumpkins largely identifiable with Halloween, a candy pumpkin is considered a mellow crème by confectioners since the candy has a marshmallow flavor. Sometimes called candy corn's first cousin, candy pumpkins are made through a starch casting process similar to that for candy corn. Brach's candy pumpkin, known by the trademarked name "Mellowcreme" Pumpkins, is the most popular candy pumpkin. Brach's Confections is now owned by Ferrara Candy Company.
Halloween is a celebration observed on October 31, the day before the feast of All Hallows, also known as Hallowmas or All Saint's Day. The celebrations and observances of this day occur primarily in regions of the Western world, albeit with some traditions varying significantly between geographical areas.
A pumpkin is a cultivated winter squash in the genus Cucurbita. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many different squashes of varied appearance and belonging to multiple species in the Cucurbita genus.
Mountain Dew Voo-Dew is a series of Halloween-themed mystery-flavored variants of the carbonated soft drink Mountain Dew, released annually since 2019. Every variant has a cloudy white color and similar artwork depicting the mascot of the line. The company unveils the new flavor at the end of every October.